27th Diachronic Generative Syntax Conference

16-19/06/2026, Padoue (Italie)

Date : 16-19 juin 2026
Lieu : Padoue, Italie
Mail de contact : digs27unipd@gmail.com
Date de soumission : 31 janvier 2026.
Notification d’acceptation : 28 février 2026
Modalités de soumission : Please indicate in your submission whether you want your presentation to be considered for an oral and/or poster session, and whether it is for the workshop or for the general session. Abstracts should be anonymous and no longer than two A4 pages, including references and examples, in 12-point Times New Roman, with margins of at least 2,5 cm / 1 inch. Submissions for the conference are limited to a maximum of one individual and one joint abstract per author, independently from submissions for the workshop.
Plate-forme de soumission : https://openreview.net/group?id=DiGS/2026/Conference

Résumé :

We are pleased to announce that the 27th Diachronic Generative Syntax conference (DiGS27) will be held at the University of Padova (Italy) from June 16-19, 2026.

Since its first edition in 1990, DiGS has established itself as the leading venue for the formal investigation of syntactic change in the generative framework. More information about the history (and near future) of this conference series can be found at http://walkden.space/digs/.

DiGS will be hosted by the Department of linguistic and literary studies in Padova. The main conference will feature a half-day workshop entitled ‘Negation under the lens of diachrony’, which will take place on June 16th. The objectives of this workshop will be to investigate the diachronic evolution of clausal negative marker(s) in relation to the Jespersen cycle and its exceptions, to its connection with the phenomenon of negative concord, changes in the morphosyntax of negative indefinites and the connection to general properties of the languages investigated which might have triggered the change in the negative marker . The workshop’s keynote speaker will be Prof. Chiara Gianollo, specialist in the syntax and semantics of negation in diachrony. For the workshop, we especially welcome proposals featuring a solid empirical basis on the evolution of negation in all its aspects, in particular concerning the factors that trigger, block, speed up or slow down the diachronic evolution of negative markers, negative indefinites and their positional, semantic and etymological properties. Following the tradition initiated in Mannheim and Oxford, a roundtable discussion for linguists to meet and discuss the legacy of the Penn corpora is organized on the first day.

The invited speakers for the conference are:
– Chiara Gianollo
– Edith Aldridge
– Hans Martin Gärtner

We now invite abstract submissions for:
Oral presentations (30 minutes + 10 minutes for questions)
Workshop presentations (30 minutes + 10 minutes for questions)
Poster Presentations

The language of the conference is English, but submissions can focus on any language. Presentations should contribute to any aspect of diachronic generative syntax (e.g., syntactic change, or methodologies directly informing the field).