Call for papers

SinFonIJA (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis) is a formal linguistics conference that is organized each year by a different institution in Central and Southeastern Europe (in the area of former Yugoslavia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire). It covers all major areas of theoretical linguistics, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, comparative linguistics, and historical linguistics. The 16th meeting will take place at the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, on September 21–23, 2023. It is planned as an in-person event, but online poster presentations will also be accommodated.

Abstracts are invited from all areas of theoretical linguistics, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition and historical linguistics. Submissions from other areas of linguistics will also be considered, provided that the theoretical significance of the paper is clearly demonstrated in the abstract. In connection with the SinFonIJA conference, we invite also abstracts for a special workshop on topics related to systems of nominal classification.

We invite abstracts for a 25-minute talk, followed by 10 minutes of discussion, or a poster presentation. All talks in both the main session and the workshop are planned for in-person presentation, but online poster presentations will be accommodated.

Invited speakers

Main session

Artemis Alexiadou (Leibniz-ZAS Berlin & Humboldt University of Berlin)

Workshop on systems of nominal classification

Edoardo Cavirani (KU Leuven)

Éva Dékány (Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics in Budapest & Eötvös University)

Yasutada Sudo (University College London)

There are numerous ways in which the human categorization of the world is expressed in natural language. One such means concerns nominal classification, which is an umbrella term for a set of various grammatical devices widespread across the world's languages. The most common are grammatical gender and classifiers, which classify nouns based on semantic properties such as sex, animacy, humanness, shape and size, as well as grammatical number, which distinguishes between singular individuals and pluralities thereof. The mass/count distinction relates to the perception of things in the world either as uncountable stuff or as countable objects. Diminutive and augmentative morphology can express intensity or size, but can also convey a speaker's relationship with the described entity. Finally, honorific systems are employed to conceptualize and navigate a complex social space humans inhabit. All of these devices present intriguing empirical puzzles that point to important theoretical questions related to the structure of nominals.  

We invite papers that examine phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic topics within the following areas of linguistic inquiry:

• noun class and gender

• (in)animacy

• classifiers

• grammatical number

• mass/count distinction

• diminutives and augmentatives

• honorifics

We encourage both empirical and theoretical investigations. Above all, we welcome typological approaches.  

Deadline for abstract submission: March 31, 2023

Extended deadline for abstract submission: April 16, 2023

Notification of acceptance: early June, 2023

Abstract guidelines

• Abstracts should be in a PDF format. 

• Abstract must be anonymous. The identity of the author(s) must not be revealed in any way.

• Authors may submit a maximum of two abstracts; only one abstract may be single authored.

• Abstracts must be no longer than two pages including examples, tables, and references (2.5 cm margins on all sides, single line spacing, Times New Roman 12pt font).

• Please indicate 3-5 keywords in the PDF, below the title.

• Please indicate in the submission form whether you want your abstract considered for a talk (in-person), poster (in-person/online), or both.

Please submit abstracts via EasyAbstracts: http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/sinfonija16