37.2991, FYI: Call for Book Chapters: OUP Edited Volume: Pronominal Constructions across Languages: Lexicalisation, Grammaticalisation and Pragmaticalisation

Thu Sep 17 17:05:02 UTC 2026

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2991. Thu Sep 17 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2991, FYI: Call for Book Chapters: OUP Edited Volume: Pronominal Constructions across Languages: Lexicalisation, Grammaticalisation and Pragmaticalisation

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Date: 17-Sep-2026
From: Piotr Sobotka [piotr.sobotka at ispan.edu.pl]
Subject: Call for Book Chapters: OUP Edited Volume: Pronominal Constructions across Languages: Lexicalisation, Grammaticalisation and Pragmaticalisation

Background and rationale
This proposed edited volume grows out of the workshop ‘Constructions
with Multiple Wh-Words across Languages’, held at the 59th Annual
Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea in Osnabrück, Germany, on
26–29 August 2026. The workshop examined how the reduplication,
repetition and combination of multiple wh-elements give rise to a wide
range of functions across languages, including interrogatives,
quasi-relatives, indefinites, free-choice items and idiomatised
distributive constructions.
Prepared at the invitation of Oxford University Press, this volume
broadens the focus from wh-word constructions to pronominal
constructions more generally and to constructional change involving
pronouns. It treats pronominal constructions with multiple wh-elements
as one manifestation of a wider phenomenon, namely, constructions
involving other types of pronominal elements—such as demonstrative,
interrogative, indefinite, relative, personal, reciprocal, and
reflexive pronouns—in which these elements undergo systematic changes
in form and function through lexicalisation, grammaticalisation, and
pragmaticalisation (Hopper and Traugott 2003; Bhat 2004; Brinton and
Traugott 2005; Diewald 2011; Traugott and Trousdale 2013).
The volume is guided by the premise that pronominal systems, although
typically composed of small, closed inventories, are productive sites
of grammatical and pragmatic innovation. Pronominal elements may
combine or reduplicate, shift their reference, undergo semantic
bleaching, and develop discourse-organising or subjective meanings.
These processes often follow recurrent pathways (Hopper and Traugott
2003; Traugott 2003), whilst displaying substantial cross-linguistic
and typological variation.
Scope and topics
We invite proposals for chapters on conventionalised constructions
involving pronominal elements whose form–function pairing cannot be
straightforwardly reduced to the ordinary paradigmatic functions of
the pronouns involved.  We welcome studies of such constructions in
any language and from any relevant theoretical or methodological
perspective, including functional, formal, typological, usage-based,
and construction-grammar approaches. Contributions may address, but
are not limited to, the following areas.
Interrogative and wh-based constructions
Constructions with multiple wh-elements involving reduplication,
repetition or combination; distributive, indefinite, free-choice and
rhetorical interpretations; syntactic constraints on multiple
wh-fronting and coordination; and pathways from indirect questions
through quasi-relative constructions to distributive expressions
(Bošković 2002, 2025; Rudin 1988).
Indefinite pronoun constructions
The formal and functional typology of indefinites, including work
building on Haspelmath (1997); the sources and grammaticalisation
pathways of indefinite-pronoun series; and cross-linguistic
relationships between interrogative and indefinite paradigms.
Relative and free-relative constructions
Multiple or coordinated relative pronouns; constraints on
relativisation involving more than one wh-element; and
cross-linguistic variation between coordinated wh-questions and
coordinated relative constructions (Citko and Gračanin-Yuksek 2013,
2016).
Person marking and pronominal paradigms
The paradigmatic structure of person markers (Siewierska 2004),
including compound and cognate pronouns, group and number marking, and
diachronic relationships between paradigms; and the interaction of
pronominal subsystems within a language’s wider pronominal inventory.
Synchronic paradigm descriptions are relevant insofar as they explain
constructional change
Reciprocal, reflexive and other non-canonical pronouns
The grammaticalisation and subjectification of reciprocal and
reflexive markers, including semantic extensions from reciprocity to
functions such as competition, distributivity and emphasis
(Frajzyngier and Curl 2000; Heine and Miyashita 2008; Evans et al.
2011).
Changes in pronominal form and function
Case studies tracing pronominal constructions from compositional or
syntactic sources to lexicalised idioms, discourse markers or
pragmatic operators; the grammaticalisation and functional extension
of demonstratives and related deictic expressions (Diessel 1999); the
discourse and information-structural functions acquired by
conventionalised pronominal constructions; and areal or
contact-induced pathways of change in pronominal systems.
We particularly welcome chapters that combine typological breadth with
corpus-based or experimental evidence, as well as studies of less
well-described or under-represented languages and language families.
Submission guidelines
Prospective contributors are invited to submit an abstract of 500–800
words. The proposal should identify the language or languages and data
to be examined, explain the theoretical framework or methodological
approach adopted, and demonstrate clearly how the proposed chapter
will contribute to the volume’s central themes. All abstracts must be
written in British English.
Contributors whose proposals are accepted will be invited to submit a
full chapter. The expected word length and any additional formatting
requirements will be communicated at the invitation stage. Full
chapters will be subject to double-blind peer review.
- Deadline for proposals: 30 October 2026
- File format: a single PDF or Word document (.pdf or .docx)
- Submission: send the proposal to all three editors
- Language: British English throughout (abstract, chapter proposal and
full chapter)
- Style and referencing: The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition,
author–date system
Contact
Enquiries and submissions should be addressed to all three editors:
Mihail Kopotev: mihail.kopotev at helsinki.fi
Piotr Sobotka: piotr.sobotka at ispan.edu.pl
Mladen Uhlik: Mladen.Uhlik at ff.uni-lj.si
References
Bhat, D. N. S. 2004. Pronouns. Oxford Studies in Typology and
Linguistic Theory. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Bošković, Željko. 2002. "On Multiple Wh-Fronting." Linguistic Inquiry
33 (3): 351–383. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4179196.
——. 2025. "Multiple wh-fronting in a typological setting: What is
behind multiple wh-fronting? ." In Advances in formal Slavic
linguistics 2022, edited by Berit Gehrke, Denisa Lenertová, Roland
Meyer, Daria Seres, Luka Szucsich and Joanna Zaleska, 129–153. Berlin:
Language Science Press.
Brinton, Laurel J., and Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 2005. Lexicalization
and Language Change.Research Surveys in Linguistics. Cambridge/New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Citko, Barbara, and Martina Gračanin-Yuksek. 2013. "Towards a new
typology of coordinated wh-questions." Journal of Linguistics 49 (1):
1–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226712000175.
——. 2016. "Multiple (coordinated) (free) relatives." Natural Language
and Linguistic Theory 34 (2): 393–427.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-015-9306-8.
Diessel, Holger. 1999. Demonstratives: Form, function, and
grammaticalization. Vol. 42 Typological Studies in Language.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Diewald, Gabriele. 2011. "Pragmaticalization (defined) as
grammaticalization of discourse functions." Linguistics 49 (2):
365–390. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2011.011.
Evans, Nicholas, Alice Gaby, Stephen C. Levinson, and Asifa Majid,
eds. 2011. Reciprocals and Semantic Typology, Typological Studies in
Language. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Frajzyngier, Zygmunt, and Traci S. Curl, eds. 2000. Reflexives: Forms
and functions, Typological Studies in Language.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Haspelmath, Martin. 1997. Indefinite pronouns.Oxford studies in
typology and linguistic theory. Oxford/New York: Clarendon Press —
Oxford University Press.
Heine, Bernd, and Hiroyuki Miyashita. 2008. "The intersection between
reflexives and reciprocals: A grammaticalization perspective." In
Reciprocals and Reflexives: Theoretical and Typological Explorations,
edited by Ekkehard König and Volker Gast, In Trends in Linguistics,
169–224. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hopper, Paul J., and Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 2003.
Grammaticalization. 2nd ed.Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.
Cambridge, UK/ New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Rudin, Catherine. 1988. "On multiple questions and multiple WH
fronting." Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 6: 445–501.
Siewierska, Anna. 2004. Person. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.
Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 2003. "Constructions in
Grammaticalization." In The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, edited
by Brian D. Joseph and Richard D. Janda, In Blackwell Handbooks in
Linguistics, 624–647. Malden/Oxford/Melbourne/Berlin: Blackwell
Publishing.
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs, and Graeme Trousdale. 2013.
Constructionalization and constructional changes. Vol. 6 Oxford
Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Call Deadline: 30-Oct-2026

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
                     Pragmatics
                     Semantics
                     Syntax
                     Text/Corpus Linguistics

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