37.2492, Confs: Panel at IPC20 - Explaining the Emergence of Pragmatic Markers: Cooptation, Pragmaticalization, Constructionalization? (Finland)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2492. Mon Jul 27 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2492, Confs: Panel at IPC20 - Explaining the Emergence of Pragmatic Markers: Cooptation, Pragmaticalization, Constructionalization? (Finland)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, 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: 24-Jul-2026
From: Stefan Schneider [mail at stefan-schneider.at]
Subject: Panel at IPC20 - Explaining the Emergence of Pragmatic Markers: Cooptation, Pragmaticalization, Constructionalization?


Panel at IPC20 - Explaining the Emergence of Pragmatic Markers:
Cooptation, Pragmaticalization, Constructionalization?

Date: 27-Jun-2027 - 02-Jul-2027
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact: Stefan Schneider
Contact Email: mail at stefan-schneider.at
Meeting URL: https://pragmatics.international/page/IPC20Helsinki

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Linguistic Theories;
Pragmatics

Submission Deadline: 15-Oct-2026

Title: Explaining the emergence of pragmatic markers: Cooptation,
pragmaticalization, constructionalization?
Panel organizers: Wiltrud Mihatsch (Tübingen), Inga Hennecke
(Tübingen), Gunther Kaltenböck (Graz), Stefan Schneider (Graz)
Pragmatic markers, a heterogeneous class of extra-clausal expressions
including discourse markers, stance adverbials, interjections, and
formulae of social exchange, occupy a peculiar position in linguistic
analysis. While their functional properties are relatively well
described, the mechanisms underlying their diachronic or synchronic
emergence remain a matter of ongoing debate.
To explain their development, different processes have been proposed,
especially cooptation, pragmaticalization, constructionalization, and
grammaticalization. The framework of Discourse Grammar (e.g. Heine et
al. 2013) assumes that their development involves cooptation, an
instantaneous redeployment of sentence grammar material as
interpersonal, discourse-managing elements, which may subsequently
undergo grammaticalization. Pragmaticalization, on the other hand,
treats the emergence of pragmatic markers as a distinct pathway,
parallel to grammaticalization (e.g. Erman & Kotsinas 1993). Another
approach, rooted in Construction Grammar, reframes the development as
constructionalization (e.g. Traugott & Trousdale 2013): the formation
of a new form-meaning pairing with procedural meaning as a new node in
the construct-i-con. The development of pragmatic markers has also
been explained by drawing on the process of grammaticalization (e.g.
Boye & Harder 2007). Emergent grammar (e.g. Hopper 1998) offers a
framework for the use of pragmatic markers by relocating the locus of
emergence from the diachronic dimension to the interactional moment
itself.
This workshop brings together theoretical and empirical perspectives
on how pragmatic markers arise. The focus is on the competing (but
potentially complementary) explanatory frameworks of cooptation,
pragmaticalization, and constructionalization. The workshop invites
contributions that examine these mechanisms through diverse data types
and across a range of languages and marker types in order to foster
dialogue between different frameworks, including Discourse Grammar,
grammaticalization theory, Interactional Linguistics, and usage-based
Construction Grammar.
Possible research topics and questions
- Comparing frameworks: To what extent are they compatible or do they
make conflicting claims about the emergence?
- Comparing pragmatic markers: Do different types of pragmatic markers
favour different pathways?
- Cooptation and constructionalization: How does cooptation relate to
Diachronic Construction Grammar?
- Cooptation and subjectification/intersubjectification: Are there
points of
convergence?
- Diachronic case studies: Tracing the emergence of discourse markers,
parentheticals, comment clauses, etc. through corpus-based methods
- Synchronic variation: Does the emergence of pragmatic markers differ
across registers,
genres, and interactional contexts?
- Cross-linguistic scope: Does the formation of pragmatic markers
operate uniformly across typologically different languages, or is its
application language- or structure-specific?
References:
Boye, Kasper and Peter Harder. 2007. Complement-taking predicates:
Usage and linguistic structure. Studies in Language 31, 3: 569–606.
Erman, Britt and Ulla-Britt Kotsinas. 1993. Pragmaticalization: the
case of ba' and you know. Studier i modern språkvetenskap 10: 76–92.
Heine, Bernd, Gunther Kaltenböck, Tania Kuteva, and Haiping Long.
2013. An outline of discourse grammar. In Shannon Bischoff and Carmen
Jany (eds.). Functional Approaches to Language. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter, 175–233.
Hopper, Paul J. 1998. Emergent grammar. In Michael Tomasello (ed.).
The new psychology of language. Cognitive and functional approaches to
language structure. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 155–175.
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs and Graeme Trousdale. 2013.
Constructionalization and constructional changes. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Abstract Submission:
Abstracts for oral presentations should be based on research that is
(nearly) completed, with a well-formulated research question, and with
a good description of the types of data used (if the work is
empirical) and of the approach. For our panel, we would further like
to ask you to include a focus on theoretical aspects of the mechanisms
of emergence of pragmatic markers. Please submit your abstract (max.
500 words) through the conference website
(https://ipra2027.exordo.com/) by October 15th 2026. Please select our
panel "Explaining the emergence of pragmatic markers" in step 4
(Topics). Please note that IPrA membership is required for submitting
an abstract (with all deadlines in 2026) as well as for presenting
during the conference (in 2027), and that membership always runs from
1 January to 31 December. Membership can be arranged instantly by
clicking ‘JOIN IPRA’ on top of the IPrA home page and following all
the necessary steps. Further information on the submission process can
be found in the official IPC20 call for papers
(https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP2027). General information
on the conference is available on the IPra website
(https://pragmatics.international/page/IPC20Helsinki).
Please contact Wiltrud Mihatsch (w.mihatsch at uni-tuebingen.de) or
Stefan Schneider (mail at stefan-schneider.at) for questions regarding
the panel.



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

********************** 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:

Australian Linguistics Society https://als.asn.au/Home

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

SIL International Publications http://www.sil.org/resources/publications


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2492
----------------------------------------------------------