36.3392, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2026: Dissolving Boundaries: Continua Across Synchrony and Diachrony, Lexicon and Syntax, in Language Contact (Germany)

Thu Nov 6 10:05:03 UTC 2025

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3392. Thu Nov 06 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3392, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2026: Dissolving Boundaries: Continua Across Synchrony and Diachrony, Lexicon and Syntax, in Language Contact (Germany)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Mara Baccaro, Daniel Swanson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Valeriia Vyshnevetska <valeriia at linguistlist.org>

================================================================

Date: 05-Nov-2025
From: Valentina Del Vecchio [v.delvecchio at tilburguniversity.edu]
Subject: Workshop at SLE 2026: Dissolving Boundaries: Continua Across Synchrony and Diachrony, Lexicon and Syntax, in Language Contact

Workshop at SLE 2026: Dissolving Boundaries: Continua Across Synchrony
and Diachrony, Lexicon and Syntax, in Language Contact
Short Title: SLE 2026

Date: 26-Aug-2026 - 29-Aug-2026
Location: Osnabrück, Germany
Contact: Valentina Del Vecchio
Contact Email: v.delvecchio at tilburguniversity.edu

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

Submission Deadline: 17-Nov-2025

Convenors
Valentina Del Vecchio1, Laura Tramutoli2, Margherita Di Salvo3, Ad
Backus1
1 Tilburg University, NL
2 University of L’Aquila, IT
3 University of Naples, IT
Keywords
language contact; usage-based approaches; code-switching; borrowing;
multiword units.
1. Introduction
The study of language contact has long been structured by foundational
dichotomies: the analysis of synchronic speech phenomena versus
diachronic contact-induced change, on the one hand, and of lexical
phenomena versus grammatical outcomes, on the other, have
traditionally been conducted separately (Backus 2020b). While these
divisions have provided analytical clarity, they risk obscuring the
dynamic interplay that underlies contact-induced linguistic behaviour
and change.
Building on usage-based approaches to language contact (Zenner et al.
2019; Backus 2015; 2020a; Hakimov & Backus 2021; Hakimov 2021; Lantto
2021), this workshop aims to dissolve such boundaries, framing
code-switching, lexical borrowing, structural interference/borrowing,
and calquing as phenomena distributed along interconnected continua –
both across temporal axes and levels of linguistic structure – rather
than as discrete phenomena. Through this lens, the workshop explores
how synchronic usage and diachronic change are interconnected, as well
as how lexical and syntactic mechanisms interact.
2. Theoretical Premises
While earlier research attempted to account for different dimensions
of language contact together, considering both temporal axes, both
forms and functions of phenomena, and multiple levels of linguistic
structure (e.g., Weinreich, 1953; Johanson, 2002; Matras, 2009;
Muysken 2013), the usage-based paradigm most clearly rejects a strict
separation between these domains and integrates them within a unitary
account (Langacker 1987; Bybee 2010; 2023; Backus 2020b; Schmid 2020).
This approach views linguistic knowledge as a systematic inventory of
units (or constructions), conceived as form-meaning pairings
entrenched in speakers’ memories through repeated use and exposure
(Langacker 1987; 2017; Goldberg 2006; Bybee 2010; Ibbotson 2013).
Units vary in size, from single words to multiword sequences, and in
schematicity, from fully lexically specific items, via partially
schematic, to fully schematic constructions. A unit’s level of
entrenchment, and consequently its ease of activation during speech
production, depends on its frequency of use: the more frequently a
unit is used, the more deeply it becomes entrenched, and the more
easily it can be retrieved.
This model has some crucial implications. Firstly, it dissolves the
synchrony-diachrony divide: every linguistic element used
synchronically both reflects past usage and has the potential to alter
a speaker's mental representation or to become conventionalised within
a speech community, thereby potentially leading to diachronic change
(Díaz-Campos & Balasch 2023; Backus 2020a). Secondly, it erodes the
traditionally strict boundary between lexicon and syntax, since
similar mechanisms govern all kinds of units, allowing complex
sequences to be stored, processed, and retrieved as holistic chunks.
Consequently, traditional oppositions among contact phenomena –
whether based on their association with one temporal axis rather than
the other, or with one level of linguistic structure instead of
another – need to be reconceptualised as interrelated points along the
continua summarised below.
2.1. The Synchrony-Diachrony Continuum
- Code-switching vs. borrowing
Contact linguistics has traditionally distinguished between
code-switching – the synchronic alternation by a speaker of two or
more languages within the same conversation – and lexical borrowing –
the diachronic outcome whereby a lexical item from one language
becomes established in another (Myers-Scotton 1992; Muysken 1995).
However, not only is distinguishing a genuine instance of
code-switching from a fully-fledged borrowing difficult, but a rigid
distinction between the two may also be impractical for several
reasons:
a)      Every synchronically used unit both reflects past usage and
can immediately affect mental representations, thereby contributing to
changes in its degree of entrenchment and conventionalisation
(Langacker 1987; Backus 2020b).
b)      Entrenchment and conventionalisation are a matter of degree:
interindividual variation in entrenchment levels can persist despite a
certain degree of conventionalisation (Lantto 2015).
c)      Strong variation often persists between at least partially
equivalent forms in the two languages (Muysken 2000; Hlavac 2006; Dal
Negro 2015).
d)      Even when certain elements are well established, bilingual
speakers may still recognise their ‘foreignness’ (Lantto 2015) and
strategically use them in the other language for social or pragmatic
purposes, much like typical code-switching (Backus 2005).
e)      Patterns can also shift direction: fossilised forms may
regress and return to being variable features of speech due to
sociolinguistic factors (Smith-Christmas 2016).
- Code-switching as a driving factor for contact-induced language
change
Code-switching is rarely considered as a potential driver of language
change, especially at the structural level. A few exceptions, however,
have both theoretically and empirically examined how patterns of
code-switching – both insertional and alternational (Muysken 2000) –
can become conventionalised (Auer 1999; Goria 2021), and how even
structural patterns may be borrowed as a result of frequent
code-switching (Backus 2005). Therefore, understanding interactional
dynamics is crucial for explaining language change (Matras 2021).
2.2.    The Lexicon-Syntax Continuum
As observed by Backus and Verschik (2012), traditional borrowability
hierarchies claim that content words are more borrowable than function
words, yet they fail to explain the reasons for this, intra-category
variation, and why structural patterns are sometimes also “copied”
(Johanson 2002). The authors suggest that copying operates along a
continuum of semantic-pragmatic specificity and frequency: highly
specific elements, or those well entrenched due to high frequency, are
especially “attractive” for copying. Meaning and frequency thus
predict borrowability better than parts of speech.
This perspective, grounded in usage-based models of language, blurs
the traditional modular boundary between lexicon and syntax and
positions multiword units as a critical testing ground for this
continuum. Multiword units can be switched, borrowed, or calqued as
holistic chunks, behaving like single processing units, if they are
“attractive” (Backus & Verschik 2012). This explains a key empirical
finding: multiword units can be more frequently borrowed or switched
than single words (Backus 2003; Treffers-Daller 2025), as they often
encode more specific meanings (e.g. ‘high school’ is more specific
than ‘school’; Backus & Verschik 2012: 137). This challenges the
traditional single-word bias in borrowing studies (Poplack 2018) and
demonstrates that structurally complex items may behave like simpler
ones when subject to the same social and cognitive mechanisms.
Interestingly, not only can specific multiword units be fully borrowed
or calqued, but they can also undergo intermediate processes whereby
globally copied morphemes and selectively copied patterns appear
within a single instance (Johanson 2002; Backus & Verschik 2012).
The continuum is further exemplified by partially schematic units,
which combine lexically fixed items with variable, abstract slots and
can, in bilingual speech, accommodate material from multiple languages
(Demirҫay & Backus 2014; see also Ciccolone 2015).
Therefore, maintaining a strict separation between lexical and
structural phenomena is untenable. Growing evidence highlights
connections among code-switching, calquing, lexical borrowing, and
structural borrowing (Backus & Dorleijn 2009; Doğruöz & Backus 2009).
Reinforcing this view, recent studies emphasise the central role of
multiword units in both code-switching and calquing and propose a
continuum between the two, arguing that these phenomena are best
explained by the same usage-based principles, rather than accounted
for separately (Hennecke & Wiesinger 2025).
3.      Call for Abstracts
This workshop provides a forum to explore the continua outlined above,
both empirically and theoretically. Our aim is to move beyond the mere
classification of surface phenomena and to investigate the cognitive
and social processes that underlie the full spectrum of
contact-induced innovations, from single-word insertions to structural
change. Ultimately, the workshop promotes a perspective on language
contact as an arena in which synchrony and diachrony, cognition and
sociality, and lexicon and syntax are continuously co-constructed.
We welcome papers for 20-minute presentations that address, both
empirically and theoretically, the dissolution of traditional
boundaries in contact linguistics. Relevant topics include, but are
not limited to:
 - Theoretical and methodological challenges in distinguishing
synchronic and diachronic phenomena, as well as lexical and syntactic
phenomena in language contact situations;
 - Empirical studies of contact phenomena, including code-switching,
borrowing, calquing, and structural interference, considered along the
synchrony–diachrony and/or lexicon–syntax continua;
 - Empirical evidence of the sedimentation of code-switching patterns;
 - Multiword units in language contact phenomena;
 - Discourse markers at the interface of code-switching and
conventional patterns;
 - Comparative studies across different contact settings;
Studies employing diverse methodologies – corpus-based, experimental,
or a combination of the two – are encouraged.
Submission Guidelines:
Please send your provisional abstracts (max. 300 words, excluding
references) to the workshop convenor Valentina Del Vecchio
(v.delvecchio at tilburguniversity.edu) before 17 November 2025.
After the submission, if the workshop is accepted by the SLE
organising committee, the authors will need to submit their final
abstracts by 15 January 2026 through the EasyChair platform.
Important Dates:
17 November 2025: deadline for the submission of provisional
abstracts;
20 November 2025: notification of (provisional) acceptance and
workshop submission;
15 December 2025: notification of workshop acceptance/rejection;
15 January 2026: deadline for abstract submission via EasyChair.
References (available at the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nb-TKjT0OqCO8eSas-CTCtYoEtebmEXc/view?usp=sharing)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not for profit organization:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Brill https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3392
----------------------------------------------------------