Phonology at the interfaces

Phonology at the interfaces

International Workshop

July 1–2, 2027  |  Universitat de Barcelona

 

Invited speakers

Donca Steriade · Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Patrycja Strycharczuk · University of Manchester

 

We invite abstracts for an international workshop on phonology and its interfaces with phonetics and morphosyntax. The workshop will explore how phonetic and morphosyntactic evidence informs phonological theory, and how phonological principles constrain the form and distribution of morphemes and words. It will bring together researchers working on phonological theory and linguistic variation for two days of presentations and discussion (1st-2nd July, 2027) in Barcelona.

The workshop is organized within Subproject 1 of GIAVA, Grammar and its interfaces: architecture, variation and applications (PID2023-150846NB-C31). This subproject investigates the interaction of phonology with phonetics and morphosyntax, using variation within and across languages to test hypotheses about phonological representations and the organization of grammar.

How do articulatory and perceptual factors shape phonological patterns? How does morphosyntactic structure condition their realization and domains of application? Conversely, how do phonological requirements influence the form, distribution, and ordering of morphemes and words? These and related questions invite a closer examination of the representations and mechanisms that connect sound and grammatical structure.

A central focus of interest in our project is the role of prosodic structure in mediating these interactions, together with the evidence that can distinguish prosodic accounts from alternative analyses. We are particularly interested in contributions that use variation within and across languages to test competing predictions about the architecture of grammar.

The workshop welcomes research on all languages, with particular interest in Catalan, Spanish, and other Romance languages, but studies on other languages are welcome. Theoretical, experimental, corpus-based, computational, and typological contributions are welcome, including work in Optimality Theory and Harmonic Grammar and research developed in other frameworks.

Clàudia Pons-Moll (UB)

Violeta Martínez-Paricio (UV)

Xevi Pujol-Molist (UB)

Carla Molas (UB)

We particularly welcome contributions on the following topics.

  • Prosodic structure and morphosyntax. Prosodic constituency and recursion, the mapping between syntactic and prosodic structure, and the domains of phonological processes, including clitic constructions.
  • Prosodic weight and rhythm. The contribution of prosodic weight and rhythm to word order, binomials, and fixed expressions; metrical structure, word size, truncation, and evidence from verse.
  • Phonetic variation and phonological representation. Gradience and categoricity, articulatory and perceptual conditioning, and the relationship between phonetic implementation and phonological generalizations.
  • Vowel phenomena and their domains. Harmony, reduction, neutralization, diphthongs, and hiatus, with attention to prosodic and morphological conditioning and the interaction of phonetic and grammatical factors.
  • Morphophonology and grammatical contrasts. Cliticization, the phonological realization of grammatical gender, and the interaction between sound patterns, morphological paradigms, and their development.
  • Loanword adaptation and linguistic change. The preservation and adaptation of contrasts, the roles of phonetic and phonological similarity, and evidence from dialect variation, language contact, acquisition, and change.

A selection of papers presented at the workshop will be published in Catalan Journal of Linguistics, following the journal’s peer-review process. Selected contributors will be invited to submit full manuscripts; final acceptance will depend on peer review and editorial assessment.

Catalan Journal of Linguistics is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. It publishes research on theoretical linguistics and the formal study of languages, including thematic volumes addressing specific grammatical questions. Its scope encompasses a wide range of languages and grammatical domains. The journal is indexed in Scopus and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science).

Please submit an anonymous abstract in English as a PDF, no longer than one page including examples, and figures, using 11-point type and margins of at least 2.5 cm. Abstracts should state the research question, data and methods, main findings, and theoretical contribution. Oral presentations will last 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion.

Submission link: [to be added]

Contact: claudia.pons@ub.edu

Abstract submission deadline: January 31, 2027, 23:59 CET

Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2027

Presenter registration deadline: May 15, 2027

Workshop: July 1–2, 2027

Full papers submission deadline: October 1, 2027 [to be confirmed]

[To be published]