37.1978, Confs: Workshop at DGfS 2027: How to Investigate and Explain Morpho-syntactic Contact-induced Language Change? (Germany)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1978. Thu Jun 04 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1978, Confs: Workshop at DGfS 2027: How to Investigate and Explain Morpho-syntactic Contact-induced Language Change? (Germany)

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Date: 02-Jun-2026
From: Melanie Hobich and Nelli Kerezova [hobich at lingua.uni-frankfurt.de]
Subject: Workshop at DGfS 2027: How to Investigate and Explain Morpho-syntactic Contact-induced Language Change?


Workshop at DGfS 2027: How to Investigate and Explain Morpho-syntactic
Contact-induced Language Change?
Short Title: DGfS 2027

Date: 02-Mar-2027 - 05-Mar-2027
Location: Jena, Germany
Contact: Melanie Hobich und Nelli Kerezova
Contact Email: hobich at lingua.uni-frankfurt.de

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Morphology; Syntax

Submission Deadline: 20-Jul-2026

Workshop Description:
There is no single definition of what language contact is. Language
contact(s) exist in a diffuse form at various levels - from the
individual level of a bilingual person to the global level of a world
society, resulting in a heterogeneity in the field of contact
linguistics (cf. Bidese 2023: 2). Language contact can be studied by
different (sub)disciplines and from different perspectives.
Researchers have pointed out that despite the enormous interest that
the field has attracted, there is still no consistent methodology
developed for the investigation of language contact (cf. Bidese 2023).
Why should we look at language contact? As Grant (2020: 2) points out,
it is impossible to look at a language in isolation: “there has
probably never been, nor is, nor ever will be, a linguistic system
that has not been modified in some way by the incorporation of
elements from at least one other linguistic system.”
In order to fully understand the principles guiding language change in
general, it is therefore necessary to look at how linguistic contact
may influence a language system. This workshop addresses questions
w.r.t. how best to approach the study of contact-induced language
change.
Our aim is to discuss and provide new empirical and theoretical
insights on the concept of language contact from a diachronic and
methodological perspective. Abstract submissions to the AG can focus
on one of the following issues, among others:
1. How do we get comparable and reproducible data on morpho-syntactic
change?
2. What methods failed?  What methods worked?
3. Under what language-internal and/or language-external conditions
can language contact trigger a morpho-syntactic change and under what
conditions not (e.g., structural (dis)similarity, forms of
bilingualism)?
4. Are certain syntactic features more likely to undergo a
contact-induced change?
5. In what forms can morpho-syntactic contact-induced language change
appear (e.g., borrowing of functional elements, transfer of pattern)?
References:
Bidese, E. (2023). Sprachkontakt generativ: Eine Untersuchung
kontaktbedingten syntaktischen Wandels im Zimbrischen. Berlin: De
Gruyter. Grant, A. (2020). The Oxford Handbook of Language Contact.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Invited Speakers:
Ermenegildo Bidese (University of Trento)
Göz Kaufmann (University of Freiburg)



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