36.3327, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2026: Maps and Visualisations. Modelling Functional Networks in Usage-based Approaches to Language (Online)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3327. Fri Oct 31 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3327, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2026: Maps and Visualisations. Modelling Functional Networks in Usage-based Approaches to Language (Online)

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Date: 31-Oct-2025
From: Katharina König [katharina.koenig at uni-muenster.de]
Subject: Workshop at SLE 2026: Maps and Visualisations. Modelling Functional Networks in Usage-based Approaches to Language


Workshop at SLE 2026: Maps and Visualisations. Modelling Functional
Networks in Usage-based Approaches to Language

Date: 26-Aug-2026 - 29-Aug-2026
Location: Online
Meeting URL: https://societaslinguistica.eu/sle2026/

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Discipline of Linguistics;
Linguistic Theories

Submission Deadline: 17-Nov-2025

Workshop conveners:
Oliver Ehmer, Osnabrück University, oliver.ehmer at uni-osnabrueck.de
Katharina König, Münster University, katharina.koenig at uni-muenster.de
Jörg Zinken, Leibniz-Institute for the German Language,
zinken at ids-mannheim.de
Keywords: semantic maps, polysemy and functional networks, qualitative
and quantitative analysis, language change and grammaticisation,
interaction and interactional linguistics
Semantic maps have been around for over 40 years (Anderson, 1982) and
have proved to be a useful tool for understanding similarities and
differences in the pairing of forms and functions across languages,
typological trends, and pathways of language change (Haspelmath, 1997;
Georgakopoulos/Polis, 2018; Narrog/van der Auwera 2011). During that
period, other methods for exploring and visualising complex
relationships of meanings in language and across lan-guages have
entered the picture, often involving statistical methods – such as
multi-dimensional scaling (Croft 2022, Croft/Poole 2008; van der
Kli/Tellings 2022; Wälchli/Cysouw 2012) or network and cluster
analyses (Lanwer 2020) – in order to reflect the quantitative
distribution of the association of forms with selected functions.
This workshop provides a dedicated arena for taking stock of such
methodological ad-vances and discussing ways forward in the use of
(various kinds of) semantic maps for explor-ing and visualising
functional networks. The focus will be on approaches to the study of
lan-guage that prioritise language use in their theorising, such as
interactional or usage-based ap-proaches to language, cognition and
change.
These approaches have accumulated rich bodies of empirical
descriptions of language structures and practices. Their empirical
descriptions come with challenges and potentials that make a mapping
of semantic concepts or discursive functions attractive
(Zinken/Küttner 2022). (1) Within a field, semantic maps can play a
role similar to that of meta-analyses in the social sciences, making
it possible to assess convergences across accumulated studies; (2)
across fields, semantic maps can enhance the accessibility of
analyses, and work as a meta-language (or even work as a “nonverbal
tool for describing and comparing meaning”, Wälchli/Cysouw 2012: 679)
bringing together different descriptive endeavours in our relatively
fragmented and terminologi-cally heterogeneous/diverse field; (3)
regarding semantic change, they can help to explore com-plex pathways
in diachrony instead of assuming a purely linear progression; (4) last
but not least, the rich and detailed analyses provided by descriptive
linguists can become an asset for the very methodology of semantic
maps, for example, by providing converging or corrective evidence on
the nodes of a map.
To date, lots of questions remain open in the process of realising the
analytic potential of semantic maps and visualizations for usage-based
approaches to language. These include (1) a better understanding of
the relative use of ‚implicational‘ or ‘probabilistic’ semantic maps
and other quantitative data explorations and visualisations; (2) the
viability of maps for studies in-cluding relatively small sample sizes
and/or numbers of languages, as is usually the case in de-tailed
descriptive work; (3) adapting mapping procedures, for example, the
discovery of nodes, to the strengths and difficulties of usage-based
approaches. To this end, the workshop provides a forum for discussing
these and other methodological challenges and sharing work that
attempts to bring maps and other visualisations to bear on usage data.
We welcome submissions that
 - offer a methodological reflection of the potentials and challenges
that arise in visualising functional networks as they emerge from
qualitative and/or quantitative data-driven analyses of usage data;
 - employ a range of methodological and theoretical frameworks,
including but not limited to Interactional Linguistics, Construction
Grammar, usage-based linguistics, grammati-calisation and semantic
change, linguistic/pragmatic typology.
We are particularly interested in studies that
 - cross-connect their findings and reflections to different fields of
linguistics, emphasising the potential role of semantic maps for
connecting different subdisciplines;
 - reflect on the epistemological potential for both, ‘implicational’
and ‘probabilistic’ forms of mapping and visualising functional
networks.
Roadmap:
 - 06 November 2025 - feedback if you are interested in joining the
workshop
 - 17 November 2025 - send a short abstract of max. 300 words
(including examples but excluding references) to one of the workshop
organizers
 - 20 November 2025 - submission of workshop proposal by us
 - 15 December 2025 - notification of acceptance/rejection of workshop
 - 15 December 2025 - deadline for submitting a full abstract of your
workshop contributions via EasyChair, see the SLE webpage for more
details (note that first authors have to be SLE members, annual fee of
approx. 30€)
 - 31 March 2026 - notification of acceptance/rejection of abstracts
References:
Anderson, Lloyd B. 1982. The 'perfect' as a universal and as a
language-specific category. In Paul J. Hopper (ed.), Tense-Aspect:
Between Semantics & Pragmatics, 227–264. Amster-dam: Benjamins.
Croft, William. 2022. On two mathematical representations for
“semantic maps”. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 41(1). 67–87.
Croft, William/Poole, Keith T. 2008. Inferring universals from
grammatical variation: Multidi-mensional scaling for typological
analysis. Theoretical Linguistics 34(1). 1–37.
Georgakopoulos, Thanasis/Polis, Stéphane. 2018. The semantic map
model: State of the art and future avenues for linguistic research.
Language and Linguistics Compass 12(2). Article e12270.
Haspelmath, Martin. 1997. Indefinite Pronouns. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Lanwer, Jens P. 2020. Appositive Syntax oder appositive Prosodie? In
Wolfgang Imo & Jens Lanwer (eds.), Prosodie und
Konstruktionsgrammatik, 233–281. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Narrog, Heiko/van der Auwera, Johan . 2011. Grammaticalization and
semantic maps. In Bernd Heine & Heiko Narrog (eds.), The Oxford
Handbook of Grammaticalization, 318–328. Ox-ford: Oxford University
Press.
van der Klis, Martijn/Tellings, Jos. 2022. Generating semantic maps
through multidimensional scaling: linguistic applications and theory.
Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 18(3). 627–665.
Wälchli, Bernhard/Cysouw, Michael. 2012. Lexical typology through
similarity semantics: To-ward a semantic map of motion verbs.
Linguistics 50(3). 671–710.
Zinken, Jörg/Küttner, Uwe-A. 2022. Offering an interpretation of prior
talk in everyday interac-tion: A semantic map approach. Discourse
Processes 59(4). 1–28.



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