37.3581, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2027 - Birth-Order Name Series across Languages and Cultures (Slovakia)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3581. Mon 02 Nov 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3581, Confs: Workshop at SLE 2027 - Birth-Order Name Series across Languages and Cultures (Slovakia)

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Date: 30-Oct-2026
From: Étienne Baudel [etienne.baudel at ehess.fr]
Subject: Workshop at SLE 2027 - Birth-Order Name Series across Languages and Cultures


Workshop at SLE 2027 - Birth-Order Name Series across Languages and
Cultures

Date: 25-Aug-2027 - 28-Aug-2027
Location: Košice, Slovakia

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics; Typology

Submission Deadline: 10-Nov-2026

While the assignment of personal names to newborn children is often
treated as a matter of idiosyncratic cultural preference, a
significant number of languages across the globe exhibit a remarkable
phenomenon commonly known as birth-order names or BONs (see, for
instance Bradley, 2007 or Sarvasy, 2013) or kin numeratives (following
Benedict, 1945): that is, a closed, paradigmatic set of names or
labels assigned to a child according to his birth order.
Despite their presence in across diverse linguistic macro-areas
(including North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Mainland Southeast Asia,
New Guinea, and Australia) birth-order name series remain
under-researched in mainstream typological and morphosyntactic
literature. Existing studies tend to treat them either as localised
anthropological curiosities, or as marginal features of specific
language descriptions. This workshop aims at providing the first
attempt of a cross-linguistic typology of birth-order name series,
based upon the description of this phenomenon in different languages
and different regions.
This workshop aims at moving beyond simple onomastics to examine these
systems through a morpholexical and functional lens. Thus, we welcome
submissions that address – but are not limited to – the four following
core research questions:
1. Morphological Strategies, i.e. how are BON series constructed
morphologically?
In this perspective, we will distinguish between:
 - Ordinal-derived systems (transparently linked to cardinal/ordinal
numerals),
 - Comparative systems (transparently linked to adjectives or
age-relative kinship terms)
 - Suppletive and lexically obscure systems (based on unsegmentable
paradigmatic roots)
2. Gender-division, i.e.: How do languages structure gender
distinction within BON paradigms?
In that regard, we will compare:
 - Single gender-neutral series
 - Parallel binary series (distinct male vs. female series)
 - Gender-asymmetric systems (e.g., gendered markers affixed to
gender-neutral birth-order roots).
3. Series’ size and composition, i.e.: What are the cognitive and
structural limits of BON series?
We will notably explore:
 - Threshold sizes (e.g., capping at a given number of children)
 - Strategies for overflow children (e.g., recursive cycles, generic
primary or terminal markers, resumption of default nominals, etc.)
 - Areal interactions, including language contact and borrowing of BON
series.
 - etc.
4. Anthropological dimension, i.e.: How do BONs function within local
kinship and address systems?
Finally, our workshop will also tackle the complex question of the use
of birth-order names within the different linguistic communities, and
of their link with the local kinship system, especially its possible
correlation with social primogeniture, age hierarchies or lineage
structures.
Geographical & Typological Scope:
In order to establish a comprehensive typological spectrum, this
workshop hopes to bring together specialists working on diverse
language families across several major linguistic areas, including:
 - North America (Mississippi Valley region – Siouan Languages)
 - West Africa (from coastal regions up to the Mali plateau –
Atlantic, Mande and Gur languages)
 - East Africa (Nuba Mountain region of Sudan – ‘Kordofanian’
languages)
 - East and South East Asia (especially in the Mainland Southeast Asia
linguistic area: Transhimalayan, Austroasiatic, Hmong-Mien, Kra-Dai
and Austronesian languages)
 - Eastern New Guinea (especially the Finisterre Range – TNG and
Austronesian languages)
 - Southern Australia (Spencer Gulf and Gulf Saint-Vincent regions –
Thura-Yura Pama-Nyungan)
By integrating empirical data from these regions into a cohesive
typological framework, we aim at establishing birth-order names as a
distinct category in nominal typology and inspire systematic future
research bridging onomastics, linguistic anthropology and
cross-linguistic semantics.
Please note that the working language of this workshop is solely
English. We invite contributions dealing with the above questions
either in individual languages, specific areas or families, or through
a more theoretical perspective. However, priority will be given to
contributions addressing that topic within a broader perspective.
Please send your preliminary abstract of no more than 100-words to the
workshop convenors (etienne.baudel at ehess.fr, woutervanbeek at hetnet.nl)
by November 10th 2026. Please include four to five keywords as well as
your affiliation and email address. Your short abstract will be
included in the workshop proposal and if the proposal is accepted,
contributors will be asked to submit a 500-word abstract by January
15th 2027.


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