Call for papers

Affixes are a part of grammar that has intrigued scholars since the beginning of grammatical descriptions. Studies of affixes range from morphological and morphophonological considerations to syntactic and semantic examinations.

The multitude of research on affixes has increased our understanding of their nature; for example, the concepts of grammaticalization and degrammaticalization have brought into light several pathways of the historical development of affixes, to name just one major field of study around affixes in the recent decades. On the other hand, there are still questions to be answered in their study. How, for example, should we understand the concept of zero affixes? How should we define the position of bound lexical morphemes (or bound roots) as opposed to affixes? What are the constraints of affix ordering/reordering or are there such constraints? Can affixes be borrowed directly (i.e. as such) or only indirectly (i.e. as parts of lexemes)? In what ways can the semantics of affixes change?

The aim of this symposium is to bring together researchers from different traditions, working with topics related to affixes. It is organized by the Linguistic Association of Finland together with the Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Languages (University of Turku). The Affixes symposium will be held in a hybrid format on August 17-18, 2023 at the University of Turku, Finland.

Invited Speakers

  • Muriel Norde (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
  • Mark Van de Velde (Llacan, CNRS)

List of Topics

Possible topics for talks and posters may relate to (but are not restricted to) the following aspects of affixes:

  • Historical development of affixes
  • Affix ordering and reordering
  • Affix templates
  • Definitions of affixes
  • Inflectional vs. derivational affixes
  • Meaning of affixes
  • Morphosyntax of affixes
  • Affix categories
  • Affixes in paradigms
  • Affixes in language contact
  • Affixes in language description

Submission Guidelines

The following paper categories are welcome:

  • Presentations
  • Posters

Further details about abstract submission:

  • Abstracts should be max. 500 words long (excluding data and references).
  • They should be submitted in PDF format.
  • The submissions should not include the authors’ names, and authors are asked to avoid self-references.
  • Please specify whether you intend to present your paper in person, online, or haven’t decided yet.

All abstracts should be submitted via EasyAbs: http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/AFF2023

The abstracts will be evaluated by the organizing committee.

The talks will be 30 minutes long: 20 min for presentation and 10 min for discussion.

Important dates

Abstract submission deadline: March 15, 2023.

Notifications of acceptance: April 15, 2023.

Organizing committee

  • Lotta Aunio
  • Mariann Bernhardt
  • Arja Hamari
  • Tuomas Huumo
  • Antti Laine
  • Silva Nurmio
  • Silja-Maija Spets
  • Jussi Ylikoski

Venue

The conference will be held in the University of Turku and online.

Contact information

All questions about submissions or the symposium should be emailed to: affixes2023/at/utu.fi