37.32, Calls: Workshop at SLE 2026: Constructions With Multiple Wh-words Across Languages (Germany)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-32. Tue Jan 06 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.32, Calls: Workshop at SLE 2026: Constructions With Multiple Wh-words Across Languages (Germany)

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Date: 26-Dec-2025
From: Piotr Sobotka [piotr.sobotka at ispan.edu.pl]
Subject: Workshop at SLE 2026: Constructions With Multiple Wh-words Across Languages


Full Title: Workshop at SLE 2026: Constructions With Multiple Wh-words
Across Languages

Date: 26-Aug-2026 - 29-Aug-2026
Location: Osnabrück, Germany
Meeting Email: ktokudachego at gmail.com
Web Site: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/wh-words-cle2026/

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Pragmatics; Semantics;
Syntax; Typology

Call Deadline: 15-Jan-2026

Final Call for Papers:
Abstracts are invited for 20-minute talks at the workshop
"Constructions with multiple wh-words across languages", to be held as
part of the 59th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea
(SLE) in Osnabrück, Germany, August 26–29, 2026.
This workshop invites contributions addressing the syntax, semantics,
and pragmatics of constructions with multiple wh-words across
languages. We understand multiple wh-word constructions as
configurations containing two or more wh-elements that may fulfil
different grammatical and discourse functions and that typically
receive distributive rather than collective interpretations (cf.
Moravcsik 1978; Haspelmath 1997: 180).
In English, such constructions are familiar from interrogatives like
Who did what? or I don’t know who went where. Cross-linguistically,
however, constructions with multiple wh-words exhibit remarkable
diversity in both formal realization and functional range. They have
been extensively studied from a syntactic perspective, particularly
with respect to wh-movement, wh-in-situ, and superiority effects (e.g.
Rudin 1988; Grewendorf 2001; Aoun & Li 2003; Grebenyova 2006;
Gruet-Skrabalova 2011; Tomaszewicz 2011), revealing substantial
variation across languages.
By contrast, the semantic and pragmatic dimensions of multiple wh-word
constructions—especially in lesser-studied languages and in
non-canonical construction types—remain comparatively underexplored.
The workshop aims to address this gap by bringing together approaches
from linguistic typology, semantics, pragmatics, construction grammar,
and discourse analysis.
Empirical scope:
Across languages, multiple wh-word constructions occur in a wide range
of formal configurations, including wh-reduplication, and combinations
of distinct wh-items. Functionally, they extend far beyond standard
interrogatives and include (indirect) questions, quasi-relatives,
indefinites, free-choice expressions, distributive constructions, as
well as idiomatic and formulaic patterns.
For instance, wh-reduplication may signal emphasis, exhaustivity, or
generalized reference. In colloquial Mandarin, shéi shéi ‘who-who’ is
used to inquire about a group rather than a single individual, whereas
in Yiddish and Russian wh-reduplication may express rhetorical,
inferential, concessive, or contrastive meanings (cf. Apresjan &
Iomdin 2022). Comparable constructions are attested in Polish and
other Slavic languages (Dobaczewski, Sobotka & Żurowski 2018), as well
as in Finno-Ugric, Baltic, BCMS, and other language families, often
with language-specific semantic and pragmatic properties.
Another major construction type involves combinations of different
wh-pronouns, which occur in distributive questions (both direct and
indirect), quasi-relative constructions, and highly lexicalized or
idiomatic expressions. In Slavic languages in particular, such
combinations may develop into lexicalized indefinites, free-choice
expressions, or syntactic phrasemes with restricted collocational
behavior (cf. Apresjan & Kopotev 2022). In rarer cases, constructions
may even contain three or more wh-elements, raising questions about
structural limits, interpretation, and discourse function.
Topics of interest:
We particularly welcome papers addressing (but not limited to) the
following questions:
— What semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic factors constrain the
selection, pairing, and interpretation of wh-variables in multiple
wh-word constructions, especially in distributive readings?
— Under what semantic and pragmatic conditions are such constructions
licensed in discourse, and what communicative functions do they
perform across languages?
— What syntactic positions can multiple wh-word constructions occupy
within the clause, and how do they interact with predicate valency and
argument structure?
— How do frequency, idiomatization, and formulaicity influence the
grammatical status and interpretation of these constructions across
languages?
— What are the historical sources of multiple wh-word constructions
(e.g. indirect questions > quasi-relatives > distributives), and which
grammaticalization paths can be identified cross-linguistically?
— Can we detect areal or genealogical patterns in their distribution
and structure, and what do such patterns reveal about contact-induced
change versus independent development?
— How do multiple wh-word distributive constructions compare with
other distributive strategies (lexical, morphological, or clausal)
across languages?
Submission guidelines:
Researchers wishing to contribute to any of the topics outlined above
are invited to submit an anonymous abstract of no more than 500 words,
including examples but excluding references, via the SLE submission
system by 15 January 2026.
Please note that SLE membership is required to submit an abstract.
Scholars who are not yet members must join the SLE prior to submission
via the SLE website (https://societaslinguistica.eu). When
submitting, please select the workshop “Constructions with multiple
wh-words across languages” (WS 4).
For further details, see the general SLE 2026 Call for Papers and
submission guidelines at
https://societaslinguistica.eu/sle2026/third-call-for-papers/
and the full list of workshops at
https://societaslinguistica.eu/sle2026/list-of-workshops/
References:
Apresjan Valentina Y. & Boris L. Iomdin. 2022. Russian interrogative
pronouns as a lexicographic type. Russian Journal of Linguistics
26(4). 1078–1113. doi: 10.22363/2687-0088-30714
Apresjan, Valentina & Mikhail Kopotev. 2022. Avtonomnye distributivnye
konstrukcii s voprositel’no-odnositel’nymi mestoimenijami v russkom
jazyke [Autonomous bi‑pronominal distributive constructions in
Russian]. Voprosy jazykoznanija 4. 115–142.
Aoun, Joseph E., & Li, Yen-hui Audrey. 2003. Essays on the
Representational and Derivational Nature of Grammar: The Diversity of
Wh-Constructions. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.
Dobaczewski, Adam, Piotr Sobotka & Sebastian Żurowski. 2018. Słownik
reduplikacji i powtórzeń polskich: Od zleksykalizowanych podwojeń do
regularnych układów repetycyjnych [Dictionary of Polish reduplication
and repetition: From lexicalized doublets to regular repetitive
patterns]. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika.
Grebenyova, Lydia. 2006. Multiple Interrogatives: Syntax, Semantics,
and Learnability. PhD Dissertation, University of Maryland.
Grewendorf, Günther. 2001. Multiple Wh-Fronting. Linguistic Inquiry
32(1). 87–122.
Gruet-Skrabalova, Hana. 2011. Czech questions with two wh-words. In
Peter Kosta & Lilia Schürcks (eds.), Formalization of Grammar in
Slavic Languages, 179-192. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Haspelmath, Martin. 1997. Indefinite pronouns (Oxford studies in
typology and linguistic theory). Oxford/New York: Clarendon Press —
Oxford University Press.
Moravcsik, Edith. 1978. Reduplicative Constructions. In Joseph H.
Greenberg, Charles A. Ferguson & Edith A. Moravcsik (eds.), Universals
of Human Language, vol. 3: Word Structure, 297–334. Stanford: Stanford
University Press.
Rudin, Catherine. 1988. On multiple questions and multiple WH
fronting. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 6. 445–501.
Tomaszewicz, Barbara. 2011. Against Spurious Coordination in Multiple
Wh-questions. In Mary Byram Washburn et al., Proceedings of the 28th
West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, 186-195. Somerville, MA:
Cascadilla Proceedings Project.



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