Formal Description of Slavic Languages accepts papers for the main session and/or one of the two workshops.

For the main session, we invite submissions for 35 minutes slots (25/30 min talk plus 10/5 min for Qs and discussion); for the workshops, the time slot is set to 45 minutes presentations (30 min talk plus 15 min for Qs and discussion).

Experimental research in Slavic languages

For this workshop, we invite contributions looking at experimental data from Slavic languages. We are interested in all kinds of empirical research, especially in experiments based on formal phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics methods, psycholinguistics, language acquisition, and corpus linguistics.

For the workshop, we particularly encourage presentations of new ideas based on experimental data and new experimental methods and tools. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

• phonetics-phonology interface

• syntax-semantics interface

• inferences and non-at-issue meaning: presuppositions, conventional implicatures, etc.

• experimental approaches to language acquisition

• experimental methods in formal linguistics and psycholinguistics

• various topics in experimental semantics, cf. licensing of polarity items, theories of plurality

• morphosyntactic variation

Morphology and Morphosyntax of Slavic Verbs

The workshop aims to bring together researchers on any aspect of Slavic verbal morphology and its relation to phonology on the one hand and to syntax on the other. We are interested in any Slavic language, any of its dialects and/or sociolects  and comparison between them, if appropriate, from diachronic and synchronic perspective. Purely descriptive works on relevant facets of the verbal morphology are acceptable and welcome, if they bring in unknown data and/or new generalizations. In addition, we are interested in works that – next to descriptive generalization (new and old) – couch their analyses in (any) formal approach to linguistics (while generative approaches and nanosyntax in particular are close to our hearts and we think it is fair to say so). Furthermore, we welcome work that views any of the morphological or morphosyntactic features from a comparative perspective, either within the Slavic, or outside.

Most of the work most likely combines more of the topics suggested here; often, the work on prefixes necessarily involves a certain view of aspect and/or alternations caused by prefixation between the prefix and the root, etc. Alternations cannot be and never are treated in vacuum, hence, work on alternations necessarily involve work on various verbal forms as well and on the relation between syntax and prosody. Recent research on thematic suffixes takes the fine morphology details in consideration and we want to continue with this tradition.

The topics of interest constitute, but are not limited to the following:

• conjugation classes and the shift from one class to another

• agreement markers

• thematic suffixes and their relation to argument structure, aspect, telicity, and Aktionsart

• verbal prefixes

• participles and verbal nominalizations

• alternations among the verbal forms (including suppletion, palatalization, vowel length, jer vocalization, stress shift, etc.)

Abstract Submission

Abstracts must not exceed 2 pages (including examples, graphs, references). They should have 2.5 cm or 1 inch margins, should be single-spaced, in a font size not smaller than 12 pt.

Examples, graphs, etc., should be intertwined in the text (rather than placed at the end).

Abstracts must be anonymous (nothing in the abstract or the document should identify the authors) and must be submitted in PDF format via Oxford Abstracts.

Deadline for the receipt of abstracts: April 15, 2024 → April 30, 2024

Notification of acceptance: June 30, 2024 

Conference dates: November 20–22, 2024