Pluractionality is generally defined as a morphological marking used to express the plurality of the events encoded by the verb. This phenomenon is quite widespread across languages and exhibits a wide range of functions and forms. Alongside their core definitional functions, pluractional markers express a wide range of functions—from aspectual to distributive and lexical-like ones—making them suitable for analysis through semantic maps. At the formal level, three main marking strategies are by far the most frequent: affixation, reduplication, and lexical alternation, each with its own peculiarities. Despite the great interest that this phenomenon has attracted in recent scientific literature (macro- and micro-typological, language-specific, and theoretical ones), still a lot of work needs to be done to fully understand the properties and intricacies that pluractionality shows in the world’s languages. For example, we know relatively little about the diachrony and evolutionary paths of pluractional markers, or the possible areal features and spread through contact, but also some more theoretical questions need to be addressed, like the various overlaps that this phenomenon shows with other apparently related phenomena (e.g., verbal and/or lexical aspect, nominal number, phenomena expressing space as associated motion/posture, and so on). The objectives of this workshop are to (try to) answer these questions by bringing together linguists from around the world working on or interested in pluractionality and its many facets and possible manifestations.

We welcome abstracts for presentations addressing a broad range of perspectives and topics related to pluractionality and related phenomena, including (but not limited to):

• Language-specific descriptions and analysis.

• Cross-linguistic (macro-typological) comparison of specific aspects or properties (functional, formal, ...).

• Micro-typological (areal/contact or intra-genealogical) accounts.

• Diachronic descriptions (comparative or language-specific).

• Theoretical discussions dealing with aspects and properties of pluractionals and/or related phenomena (e.g., nominal/verbal number, associated posture and motion, distributivity, aspect/actionality, voice, etc.).

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be anonymous and meet the following requirements:

• Abstract length: Max. 500 words (including examples and figures, excluding references).

• Format: PDF, 12-point font.

• Language: English.

Proposals can be submitted until January 31, 2027.

The outcome of the review process will be notified by March 1, 2027.

Instructions for submission

Please submit your abstract through this form: https://forms.gle/P1eKPBRVPHM2pqxr6 

For any queries, please write to: ws.plac.2027@gmail.com