36.1793, Confs: Tracing the patterns of (non-)splittability in Germanic. Structures, methods, comparison (DGfS 2026 Workshop) (Germany)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1793. Mon Jun 09 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.1793, Confs: Tracing the patterns of (non-)splittability in Germanic. Structures, methods, comparison (DGfS 2026 Workshop) (Germany)

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Date: 07-Jun-2025
From: Nicholas Catasso [catasso at uni-wuppertal.de]
Subject: Tracing the patterns of (non-)splittability in Germanic. Structures, methods, comparison (DGfS 2026 Workshop)


Tracing the patterns of (non-)splittability in Germanic. Structures,
methods, comparison (DGfS 2026 Workshop)

Date: 24-Feb-2026 - 27-Feb-2026
Location: Trier, Germany
Contact: Nicholas Catasso
Contact Email: catasso at uni-wuppertal.de

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Linguistic Theories;
Morphology; Sociolinguistics; Syntax
Language Family(ies): Germanic

Submission Deadline: 15-Aug-2025

All Germanic languages exhibit patterns in which two components of a
constituent interpreted as a semantic complex surface in a
discontinuous syntactic configuration. Such constructions include,
e.g., so-called what-for-phrases (1), locative adverbs featuring
indexical particles (2), prepositional adverbs (3) and aggressively
non-D-linked expressions (4):
(1) Norwegian
[Hva](i) har du lest [t(i) for slags bok]?
what have you read for sorts book
‘What kind of book did you read?’
(Leu 2008: 5)
(2) Afrikaans
[Waar](i) is jy op pad [t(i) heen]?
where are you on way LOC.PRT
‘Where are you going?’
(Donaldson 1993: 323)
(3) German
[Da](i) richten sich die Leute [t(i)nach].
there follow REFL the people to
‘People act accordingly.’
(Negele 2012: 79)
(4) Dutch
[Waarom](i) heb je [t(i) in godsnaam] toch Obama geïnterviewd?
why have you in God’s.name PRT Obama interviewed
‘Why on Earth did you interview Obama?’
(Corver 2021: 166)
These patterns, which are all optional and compete with their
non-split counterpart, are interesting for a number of reasons.
Syntactically, they appear to challenge the Left-Branch Condition
(Ross 1967) – the most leftward element should not be extractable from
the original NP – and, possibly, the Subjacency Condition (Chomsky
1973) unless explained away via explicit formal postulations (Corver
1990).
As for the environmental conditions governing their use, the
alternation between these constructions and their non-split
competitors in individual languages is subject to strong dialectal,
sociolinguistic and interspeaker variation (e.g., Donaldson 1993: 223,
Fleischer 2002, Leu 2008: 16, Negele 2012). However, the specific
(conspiracies of) conditions that license the split patterns are yet
to be fully and satisfactorily unveiled. Furthermore, many aspects
concerning their diachronic development are still lacking in-depth
investigation (Cirkel & Freywald 2021).
The aim of this workshop is to bring together linguists from different
areas of morphosyntax and of different theoretical persuasions who are
interested in exploring the factors influencing the realization of
these patterns both in synchrony and in diachrony.
The workshop will focus on ‒ but will not be limited to ‒ the
following research questions:
(i) What factors favor or hinder split vs. non-split patterns?;
(ii) What structural correlates of (individual) Germanic (languages)
license the use of the discontinuous patterns and why is this optional
splittability excluded in other language groups (e.g. in Romance)?;
(iii) Which empirical methods are most effective for investigating
such patterns?;
(iv) Are such alternations evidence for genuine syntactic optionality
(cf. Biberauer & Richards 2006)?
This meeting is open to contributions on all Germanic languages and
varieties, as well as to all theoretical and methodological
approaches.
Submission:
Please submit your abstract in both .doc and .PDF formats to
catasso at uni-wuppertal.de and/or fromm at uni-wuppertal.de. Abstracts
should not exceed one page, including references (DIN A4, 2.5 cm
margins, 12 pt font). Each talk will be allotted 20 minutes + 10
minutes for discussion. Be sure to include the names and affiliations
of all authors either at the top of the abstract or in the body of
your submission email.
Please note that speakers are only permitted to present in one
workshop at this conference. They may, however, be listed as
co-authors on talks in other workshops.
The language of the workshop is English.
Each author may submit one single-authored and one co-authored
abstract at most.
Important Dates:
 - Deadline for abstract submission: August 15, 2025
 - Notification of acceptance: no later than September 5, 2025
 - Conference dates: February 24-27, 2026
Organisation and Contacts:
Nicholas Catasso, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
(catasso at uni-wuppertal.de)
Nathalie Fromm, Bergische Universität Wuppertal
(fromm at uni-wuppertal.de)
Benjamin L. Sluckin, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
(benjamin.lowellsluckin at rub.de)
Selected References:
Biberauer, Th. & M. Richards. 2006. True optionality: When the grammar
doesn’t mind. In C. Boeckx (ed.), Minimalist essays, 35–67. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Chomsky, N. 1973. Conditions on Transformations. In S. Anderson & P.
Kiparsky (eds.). A Festschrift for Morris Halle, 232–286. New York:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Cirkel, P. & U. Freywald 2021. In Stadt und Stadt: Berlin und
Ruhrgebiet im Vergleich. Linguistik Online 110/5: 193–227.
Corver, N. 1990. The Syntax of Left Branch Extractions, Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Tilburg.
Corver, N. 2021. Why in Dutch? On why-stripping and high and low
adverbials. In G. Soare (ed.), Why is ‘why’ unique? Its syntactic and
semantic properties, 151–193. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Donaldson, B. C. 1993. A grammar of Afrikaans. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Fleischer, J. 2002. Die Syntax von Pronominaladverbien in den
Dialekten des Deutschen: Eine Untersuchung zu Preposition Stranding
und verwandten Phänomenen. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Höder, S. 2014. Constructing diasystems. Grammatical organisation in
bilingual groups. In T. A. Åfarli & B. Mæhlum (eds.), The
sociolinguistics of grammar (Studies in Language Companion Series
154), 137–152. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Leu, Th. 2008. What for internally. Syntax 11/1: 1–25.
Negele, M. 2012. Varianten der Pronominaladverbien im
Neuhochdeutschen: Grammatische und soziolinguistische Untersuchungen.
Berlin: de Gruyter.
Ross, J. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. Doctoral
dissertation, MIT.



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