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

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

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

Call Deadline: 20-Jul-2026

Call for Papers:

This short workshop is organized as part of the 49th Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society (DGfS2027).

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)?

Invited Speakers:
Ermenegildo Bidese (University of Trento)
Göz Kaufmann (University of Freiburg)

Workshop Format:
30-minute talks (20 min. presentation + 10 min. discussion) in English. Presenters must register for the conference, and in accordance with DGfS regulations, each presenter is allowed to give a talk at only one of the DGfS workshops.

Submission Details:
Abstracts must include the names of the authors and their affiliations. They must not exceed 2 pages (A4, 12pt, single-space), including graphs, tables, examples and references.
Please send your abstract electronically in PDF format by July 20, 2026 to both hobich@lingua.uni-frankfurt.de and kerezova@em.uni-frankfurt.de.

Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: July 20, 2026
Notification of acceptance: due end of August 2026
More information on DGfS2027 can be found at: https://www.gw.uni-jena.de/101200/dgfs-2027