37.1997, Confs: Workshop at DGfS 2027: Was Kopula? Atypical Copular Constructions (Germany)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1997. Fri Jun 05 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1997, Confs: Workshop at DGfS 2027: Was Kopula? Atypical Copular Constructions (Germany)

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Date: 04-Jun-2026
From: Marianna Lohmann [marianna.lohmann at fu-berlin.de]
Subject: Workshop at DGfS 2027: Was Kopula? Atypical Copular Constructions


Workshop at DGfS 2027: Was Kopula? Atypical Copular Constructions

Date: 03-Mar-2027 - 05-Mar-2027
Location: Jena, Germany
Contact: Marianna Lohmann
Contact Email: marianna.lohmann at fu-berlin.de
Meeting URL: https://ogy.de/acc

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories;
Semantics; Syntax

Submission Deadline: 20-Aug-2026

This workshop is organized by Marianna Lohmann and Barbara Schlücker
(Freie Universität Berlin) as part of the 49th Annual Conference of
the German Linguistic Society (49. Jahrestagung der DGfS 2027 „Sprache
unter dem Mikroskop – Beobachtung, Analyse, Theorie“), which will take
place in Jena from 3 to 5 March 2027.
Workshop Description:
Copular clauses are simple syntactic structures. They consist
minimally of a (referential) NP as subject and a (non-verbal)
predicate which, in many languages though not always, are linked by a
copular verb, prototypically a form of "be" – thus, sentences of the
form A is B. Copular clauses are cross-linguistically the most common
type of non-verbal predication (Creissels et al. 2026: 16). Although
they have been discussed extensively from both a syntactic and
semantic perspective, there are still many unresolved issues, such as
agreement properties or the meaning of the copula (Den Dikken &
O’Neill 2017). However, rather than discussing unanswered questions of
copular constructions beyond dispute, we focus on constructions that
cannot be clearly classified as copular, i.e. “kopulaverdächtige
Konstruktionen” (‘constructions suspected of being copular’; Geist &
Rothstein 2007: 227). Obviously, the question of what constitutes a
prototypical copular construction and what are (im-)possible
deviations, varies greatly across languages. Atypical copular
properties may, among other things, relate to the following aspects:
 - Constructions with an unexpected absence or presence of the copula
 - Atypical copular verbs
 - Locative PP predicates vs. adverbials (Ich bin im Kino ‘I am at the
cinema’)
 - Locative PP vs. directional PP predicates (Ich bin ins Kino lit.: I
am to the cinema, ‘I am off to the cinema’)
 - Verbal predicates such as the absentive (Ich bin joggen ‘I am off
running’) and adjectival passives
By examining which of these constructions can actually be regarded as
copular and which cannot, we aim at better understanding copular
constructions in general. Contributions on these and other topics and
on any language are welcome. We specifically welcome research from
different methodological backgrounds (e.g., theoretical linguistic,
corpus linguistic, psycholinguistic).
References:
Creissels, Denis, Pier Marco Bertinetto & Luca Ciucci. 2026.
Non-verbal predication: An analytical framework. In Pier Marco
Bertinetto, Luca Ciucci & Denis Creissels (eds.), Non-verbal
Predication in the World’s Languages, vol. 1, 1–56. Berlin, Boston: De
Gruyter.
Dikken, Marcel den & Teresa O’Neill. 2017. Copular Constructions in
Syntax. In Mark Aronoff (ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of
Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Geist, Ljudmila & Björn Rothstein. 2007. Kopulaverben und Kopulasätze:
Intersprachliche und intrasprachliche Aspekte. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Call for Papers:
We invite submissions of abstracts for 20-minute presentations (+ 10
minutes for discussion). Abstracts must include the authors’ names and
their affiliations. They must not exceed 500 words (excluding
references) and should be sent to marianna.lohmann at fu-berlin.de by
August 20, 2026 in both word and pdf formats.
Please note that speakers at DGfS 2027 may only give one presentation
in a single workshop. However, they may be listed as co-authors on
several presentations at the conference. Further information on DGfS
2027 can be found on the conference website:
https://www.gw.uni-jena.de/101200/dgfs-2027.
Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: August 20, 2026
Notification of acceptance: early September 2026
Information on the workshop: https://ogy.de/acc



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