36.2722, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2026: Relative Clauses Across and Within Languages: Connecting Linguistic Typology and Variationist Sociolinguistics (Germany)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-36-2722. Mon Sep 15 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.2722, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2026: Relative Clauses Across and Within Languages: Connecting Linguistic Typology and Variationist Sociolinguistics (Germany)

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Date: 12-Sep-2025
From: Silvia Ballarè [silvia.ballare at unibo.it]
Subject: Workshop at SLE 2026: Relative Clauses Across and Within Languages: Connecting Linguistic Typology and Variationist Sociolinguistics

Workshop at SLE 2026: Relative Clauses Across and Within Languages:
Connecting Linguistic Typology and Variationist Sociolinguistics

Date: 26-Aug-2026 - 29-Aug-2025
Location: Universität Osnabrück, Germany
Contact: Silvia Ballarè
Contact Email: silvia.ballare at unibo.it
Meeting URL: https://societaslinguistica.eu/sle2026/

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics; Typology

Submission Deadline: 31-Oct-2025

Description of the topic and research questions
Linguistic typology and variationist sociolinguistics: bridging
approaches to variation
Variation is a fundamental characteristic of natural languages that
occurs across languages, within speech communities, and in the
linguistic behaviour of individual speakers. It can be simultaneously
diachronic, diatopic, and diastratic, manifesting across difference
levels of the linguistic architecture. Broadly defined, linguistic
variation refers to the coexistence of formally distinct linguistic
forms or structures that convey the same meaning (Labov 1972).
Importantly, the nature of variation remains consistent, regardless of
where it manifests. As Croft (2022: 27) points out, “the patterns of
variation and change found in [...] a particular language are in many
cases simply instances of patterns of variation and change found
across languages.” The two main branches of linguistics that deal with
language variation, although from different perspectives and different
aims, are linguistic typology and variationist sociolinguistics.
Typology focuses on cross-linguistic variation with the goal of
investigating the limits and borders of linguistic varieties. By
examining which linguistic structures are attested across the world’s
languages and which are not, typologists seek to categorise different
linguistic varieties and uncover the universal properties of human
language. In contrast, variationist sociolinguistics is concerned with
linguistic phenomena that carry social meaning, aiming to reveal “the
mechanisms which link extra-linguistic phenomena (the social and
cultural) with patterned linguistic heterogeneity (the internal,
variable, system of language)” (Tagliamonte 2012: xiv). What both
fields share is the aim to demonstrate that language variation, in all
its forms, is not random but occurs systematically within well-defined
boundaries. Over time, variationist sociolinguistics and linguistic
typology have developed theoretical models and analytical tools that
show striking similarities (see Inglese & Ballarè 2023 for a
discussion). Still, despite some recent studies that have addressed
the relationship between the two fields (e.g. Kortmann 2004, Trudgill
2011), a comprehensive and systematic discussion on how these
disciplines can interact has yet to be fully developed.
The case of relative clauses: a 360-degree view on variation
In this workshop, we aim to explore the relationship between typology
and variation crosslinguistically, using relative clauses as a case
study. Relative clauses have been extensively examined in the
literature from a variety of perspectives (see e.g., Alexiadou et al.
2000; Beaman 2021; Kidd 2011; Henderey 2012; Ackerman & Nikolaeva
2013; Comrie & Kuteva, 2013; Cinque 2020). From a typological
perspective, relative clauses: (i) represent a well‑suited
‘comparative concept’ (in the sense of Haspelmath 2010, 2018), as they
can be relatively straightforwardly recognised across languages (cfr.
Comrie & Kuteva 2013); (ii) they exhibit cross‑linguistic
distributional patterns that can be explained by resorting to specific
functional and cognitive factors (see, e.g., the well-known
accessibility hierarchy of relativisation; Keenan & Comrie 1977);
(iii) they can also be analysed with quantitative methods using a
‘corpus‑based’ (cf. Levshina 2022; Schnell & Schiborr 2022) or
‘token‑based’ (cf. Levshina 2019; see also Haspelmath 2018) approach;
and, (iv) they display a wide range of morphosyntactic variants with
well‑documented diachronic relations, such that variants follow along
a clear evolutionary path (e.g., from demonstratives to relativisers,
from parataxis to subordination, etc.; cf. Kuteva et al. 2019).
>From a sociolinguistic perspective, relative clauses (i) can be
studied within the framework of the “(socio)linguistic variable” (as
defined by Labov 1972) by virtue of their functional comparability
among different morphosyntactic variants (see, e.g., Tagliamonte
2022); (ii) have been shown to be sensitive to internal linguistic,
external linguistic (i.e., contact-induced), and extra-linguistic
(i.e., socio-stylistic) and cognitive factors (see, e.g., Guy & Bayley
1995; Tagliamonte & Smith 2005; D’Arcy & Tagliamonte 2010; Hinrichs,
Szmrecsanyi & Bohmann 2014); (iii) are frequent enough to be
investigated with quantitative methods in relatively small corpora (as
shown, for instance, by recent studies on small-sized spoken Italian
(e.g., Ballarè 2024) and Swabian German (Beaman 2021) corpora); and,
(iv) have been the subject of considerable research on how
sociolinguistic variation is often the outcome of diachronic processes
and can, at the same time, foreshadow future changes (see, e.g.,
Cheshire, Adger & Fox 2013).
Call for Papers:
The workshop welcomes contributions that combine the investigation of
cross-linguistic and intra- linguistic variation. In particular, this
workshop focuses on the interplay of typological and sociolinguistic
perspectives to model the effect of “multiple causes” (in the sense of
Bayley 2013), i.e., internal linguistic, external linguistic (Jones &
Esch 2002; Braunmüller, Hoder & Kühl 2014), as well as cognitive
conditioning (more generally, physiological and psychological, cf.
Tamminga, MacKenzie & Embick 2016), and the effect such factors have
on both the cross-linguistic and intra- linguistic distribution of
different relativisation strategies.
Relevant questions this workshop will address include the following:
 - Which relativisation strategies identified cross-linguistically
(relative pronoun, pronoun retention, gap, etc.) occur in the
standard/written usage of a language? And which ones occur in its
nonstandard/spoken varieties?
 - To what extent do the relativisation patterns identified
cross-linguistically (e.g., [-Case] strategies tend to relativise
higher syntactic positions, while [+Case] strategies tend to encode
lower ones) hold true across the different varieties within a single
language?
 - To what extent do the relativisation patterns attested in a single
language (e.g., relativisation strategies exacting lower processing
costs tend to occur in nonstandard varieties) hold true across
languages?
 - Can the investigation of relativisation strategies across the
varieties of a language contribute to broadening and improving the
typology of relativisation strategies identified cross-
linguistically?
 - Can the investigation of relativisation strategies using a
‘token-based’ approach contribute to broadening/improving the typology
of relativisation strategies identified through a ‘type- based’
approach?
 - Are there other contextual parameters (e.g., of a discursive
nature) that may trigger the selection of a certain relativisation
strategy?
 - Is it possible to identify other functional types of relative
clauses (in addition to those previously described in the literature)?
 - What other strategies are available within a single language and/or
across languages to perform functions similar to relativisation?
Important Dates (first stage):
 - As soon as possible: informal e-mail with manifestation of
interest;
 - 31 October 2025: abstract submission (see format below);
 - 30 October 2025: notification of acceptance.
Important Dates (second stage; the convenors will be looking after the
finalisation of the proposal):
 - 20 November 2025: submission of the theme session proposal to the
SLE committee
 - 15 December 2025: notification of acceptance from the SLE committee
Format of Abstracts:
The selection of abstracts will be made on the basis of quality and
relatedness to the topic and objectives of the theme session. The
submitted abstracts (in PDF) should be anonymous and max 300-words
long. The authors are expected to provide an overview of the goal,
methodology, and data of their research. Abstracts should be sent to
all convenors to the following e-mail addresses:
silvia.ballare at unibo.it; karenbeamanvslx at gmail.com;
massimosimone.cerruti at unito.it; caterina.mauri at unibo.it
All the abstracts will be anonymously reviewed by the program
committee of the theme session (see below) before finalising the
proposal. More information about the theme session (list of selected
papers, invited speakers, etc.) will be circulated amongst the
prospective participants right before the submission of the proposal
to the SLE committee.
Please include the following data in the body of the mail: (i)
Author(s); (ii) Title; (iii) Affiliation; (iv) Contacts.
Publication: if the theme session is accepted it is our intention to
publish a selection of the papers with an international publisher.
References:
Ackerman, Farrell & Irina Nikolaeva. 2013. Descriptive typology and
linguistic theory: a study in the morphosyntax of relative clauses.
Stanford: CSLI.
Alexiadou, Artemis, Paul Law, André Meinunger & Chris Wilder (eds.).
2000. The syntax of relative clauses. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Ballarè, Silvia. 2024. Relativization strategies and sociolinguistic
variation in spoken Italian: a typological account. Linguistic
typology at the crossroads 4(2), 125-157.
Ballarè, Silvia & Guglielmo Inglese. 2023. Analyzing language
variation: where sociolinguistics and linguistic typology meet. In:
Ballarè, Silvia & Inglese, Guglielmo (eds.), Sociolinguistic and
Typological Perspectives on Language Variation, Berlin: De Gruyter,
1-28.
Bayley, Robert. 2013. The quantitative paradigm. In: Chambers, JK &
Schilling, Natalie, eds., The handbook of language variation and
change, 85–107, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Beaman, Karen V. 2021. Swabian Relatives: Variation in the Use of the
wo-relativiser. In: Beaman, Karen V., Buchstaller, Isabelle. Fox, Sue
& Walker, James A. (eds.), Advancing Socio- grammatical Variation and
Change: In Honour of Jenny Cheshire, Routledge, 134–164.
Braunmüller, Kurt, Höder, Steffen & Kühl, Karoline (eds.). 2014.
Stability and divergence in language contact. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:
John Benjamins.
Cheshire, Jenny, Adger, David & Fox, Sue. 2013. Relative who and the
actuation problem. Lingua
126, 51-77.
Cinque, Guglielmo. 2020. The syntax of relative clauses: a unified
analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Comrie, Bernard & Tania Kuteva. 2013. Relativization Strategies. In:
Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath,    Martin  (eds.), WALS    Online
(v.2020.4), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13950591.
Croft, William. 2022. Morphosyntax. Constructions of the World’s
Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
D’Arcy, Alexandra & Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2010. Prestige, accomodation,
and the legacy of relative
who. Language in society 39, 383-410.
Guy, Gregory R. & Bayley, Robert. 1995. On the choice of relative
pronouns in English. American Speech 70, 148-162.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2010. Comparative concepts and descriptive
categories in crosslinguistic studies. Language 86(3), 663-687.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2018. How comparative concepts and descriptive
linguistic categories are different. In: Van Olmen, Martin,
Mortelmans, Tanja & Brisard, Frank (eds.), Aspects of linguistic
variation. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. 83-114.
Henderey, Rachel. 2012. Relative clauses in time and space: a case
study in the methods of diachronic typology. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:
John Benjamins.
Hinrichs, Lars, Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt & Bohmann, Axel. 2014.
Which-hunting and the standard English relative clause. Language
91(4), 806-836.
Inglese, Guglielmo & Ballarè, Silvia. 2023. Analyzing language
variation: where sociolinguistics and linguistic typology meet. In:
Ballarè, Silvia & Inglese, Guglielmo (eds.), Sociolinguistic and
Typological Perspectives on Language Variation, Berlin: De Gruyter,
1-28.
Jones, Mari & Esch, Edith, ed. (2002), Language Change: The Interplay
of Internal, External and Extra-Linguistic Factors, Berlin/New York:
Mouton de Gruyter.
Keenan, Edward & Comrie, Bernard. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and
universal grammar.
Linguistic inquiry 8, 63-99.
Kidd, Evan (ed.). 2011. The acquisition of relative clauses:
processing, typology and function.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Kortmann, Bernd (ed.). 2004. Dialectology Meets Typology: Dialect
Grammar from a Cross- Linguistic Perspective. Berlin/New York: De
Gruyter Mouton.
Kuteva, Tania, Heine, Bernd, Hong, Bo, Long, Haiping, & Narrog Heiko &
Rhee Seongha. 2019. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Second
Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. University of
Pennsylvania.
Levshina, Natalia. 2019. Token-based typology and word order entropy.
A study based on Universal Dependecies. Linguistic typology 23(3),
533-572.
Levshina, Natalia. 2022. Corpus-based typology: applications,
challenges and some solutions.
Linguistic Typology 26(1): 129–160.
Schnell, Stefan & Schiborr, Nils Norman. 2022. Crosslinguistic corpus
studies in linguistic typology.
Annual review of Linguistics 8(1), 171-191.
Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2012. Variationist sociolinguistics. Change,
observation, interpretation.
Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2022. Comparing Syntactic Variables. In:
Christensen, Tanya Karoli & Juel Jensen Torben, eds., Explanations in
Sociosyntactic Variation. Studies in Language Variation and Change,
30-57, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tagliamonte, Sali A. & Smith, Jennifer. 2005. No momentary fancy! The
zero ‘complementizer’ in English dialects. English Language and
Linguistics. 2005 9(2), 289-309.
Tamminga, Meredith, MacKenzie, Laurel, & Embick, David. 2016. The
dynamics of variation in individuals. Linguistic Variation, 16(2),
300–336. https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.16.2.06tam
Trudgill, Peter. 2011. Sociolinguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

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