Call for Abstracts

The Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Delaware invites submissions to the workshop Morphology as Syntax 5 to be held at the University of Delaware on the 16th of April, 2027.

The goal of the Morphology as Syntax workshop series is to explore the possibility of accounting for morphological phenomena within the phrasal syntax. The question is whether it is feasible to have a model of grammar with no separate component for morphology and no levels or mechanisms other than those that are necessary for the phrasal syntax.

Description:

A fundamental question for theories of grammar is whether there is a component of morphology that is separate from phonology and syntax.  The question is whether it is necessary to postulate a separate module of morphology that has its own principles and operations, or whether morphological phenomena can be reduced entirely to other modules, in particular, the syntax.

Most current approaches to morphology do postulate a morphological component of grammar separate from other components like the phrasal syntax.  This is true even of approaches like Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993) which include a large role for syntax.  Distributed Morphology still has a post-syntactic morphological component where operations take place that are not part of the phrasal syntax.  Even Nanosyntax, which tries to drastically reduce the number of non-syntactic operations, still has a post-syntactic process that realizes abstract structures that are put together by the phrasal syntax. 

The goal of the Morphology as Syntax workshop series is to explore whether it is feasible to have a model of grammar with no separate component or operations for morphology.  All morphology will be accomplished by a single component of grammar that puts all complex items together, the morphosyntax.  Ideally, the only mechanisms and principles that will be necessary are those that are independently necessary for the phrasal syntax.  Some recent references arguing in favor of such a conception of grammar include Koopman (2005), Kayne (2010), Bruening (2018, 2026a, 2026b), Collins and Kayne (2023), Zyman (2026). 

We invite talks that address the question of whether it is possible to reduce morphological phenomena entirely to the phrasal syntax.  Talks that argue against the possibility of reducing morphology to syntax are as welcome as talks that argue in favor, since it is important to know what the challenges are for the overall research program.

Abstract Submissions:

Submissions are limited to a maximum of one individual and one joint abstract per author or two joint abstracts per author. Abstracts should be anonymous, written in English, and should not exceed two A4 or US letter pages (Times New Roman, 12pt font, single line spacing, 2.5 inches margins).  Examples and figures should be interspersed with the text.

Please send your submission(s) to bruening@udel.edu by January 15, 2027. Notification will be provided by February 1st.

Talks will be allotted 30 minutes total (20 minute talk + 10 minute discussion).

References:

Bruening, Benjamin. 2018. The Lexicalist Hypothesis: Both Wrong and Superfluous. Language 94: 1–42. 

Bruening, Benjamin. 2026a. A Purely Syntactic Account of Displaced Morphology in German Varieties. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 29:5, 1–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10828-026-09174-8.

Bruening, Benjamin. 2026b. Mari and Udmurt Do Not Require Post-Syntactic Operations (A Reply to Georgieva et al. 2021 and Guseva and Weisser 2018). Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 44:33, 1–23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-026-09701-y.

Collins, Chris and Richard S. Kayne. 2023. Towards a Theory of Morphology as Syntax. Studies in Chinese Linguistics 44: 1-32.

Kayne, Richard S. 2010. Toward a Syntactic Reinterpretation of Harris and Halle (2005). In Reineke Bok-Bennema, Brigitte Kampers-Manhe and Bart Hollebrandse (eds.), Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2008, Selected papers from Going Romance Groningen 2008. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 145-170.

Koopman, Hilda. 2005. Korean (and Japanese) Morphology from a Syntactic Perspective. Linguistic Inquiry 36: 601-633.

Zyman, Erik. 2026. On the Syntactic Autonomy of Theme Vowels. Journal of Linguistics, 1-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002222672610111X