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SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis)
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SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis)

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (16 May 2025) | Viewed by 2933

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Madeleine Butschety

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Interests: multifunctionality; clitics; morphology; semantics
Dr. Guy Tabachnick

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Interests: multifunctionality; clitics; morphology; semantics
Prof. Dr. Franc Lanko Marušič

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Interests: multifunctionality; clitics; morphology; semantics
Dr. Petra Mišmaš

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Interests: Slavic syntax; morphology; experimental linguistics
Prof. Dr. Rok Žaucer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Cognitive Science of Language, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Interests: Slavic syntax; morphology; experimental linguistics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to submit to this Special Issue, which will be dedicated to sharing proceedings from the 17th conference on Syntax, Phonology, and Language Analysis (SinFonIJA), which took place at the University of Nova Gorica on September 26–28, 2024. The conference included contributions on phonology, syntax, semantics, and morphology.

The conference included a workshop on Multifunctionality in Morphology, which explored morphemes with several more-or-less related functions across derivational and inflectional morphology. Previous work investigating multifunctional morphemes (e.g., De Belder 2011, Lowenstamm 2014, Simonović and Mišmaš 2020, 2022, Gouskova & Bobaljik 2022) had focused mostly on individual affixes. The workshop was part of an effort to study this phenomenon more systematically, and the contributions shared at the conference presented new examples of multifunctional morphemes from a number of different languages, including Slavic affixes and Chinese classifiers.

A number of contributions explored the syntactic and prosodic properties of clitics and embedding in Slavic languages, and in particular, Serbo-Croatian. Some contributions sat at the interface of syntactic properties and semantic interpretation in the domain of definiteness and uniqueness. While most of the talks were theoretical, some were experimental or acquisitional in nature. Overall, the conference and resulting proceedings captured the state of the art of generative linguistics in Slavic and other languages.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editors (madeleine.butschety@ung.si, guy.tabachnick@ung.si) or to the Languages Editorial Office (languages@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purpose of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

References:

  1. De Belder, Marijke. 2011. Roots and affixes: Eliminating lexical categories from syntax. PhD Thesis: Utrecht University.
  2. Gouskova, Maria and Jonathan David Bobaljik. 2022. The lexical core of a complex functional affix: Russian baby diminutive -onok. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 40 (4): 1075­–1115.
  3. Lowenstamm, Jean. 2014. Derivational affixes as roots: Phasal spell-out meets English stress shift. In Artemis Alexiadou, Hagit Borer & Florian Schäfer (eds), The syntax of roots and the roots of syntax, 230–259. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  4. Simonović, Marko and Petra Mišmaš. 2020. √ov is in the air: The extreme multifunctionality of the Slovenian affix ov. Linguistica 60(1): 83–102.
  5. Simonović, Marko and Petra Mišmaš. 2022. Lowest theme vowels or highest roots? An ‘unaccusative’ theme-vowel class in Slovenian. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 7.

Dr. Madeleine Butschety
Dr. Guy Tabachnick
Prof. Dr. Franc Lanko Marušič
Dr. Petra Mišmaš
Prof. Dr. Rok Žaucer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multifunctionality
  • syntax
  • semantics
  • phonology

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1165 KB  
Article
Revisiting Negative Particle Questions in Sixian Hakka
by Yi-Ling Irene Liao
Languages 2025, 10(9), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090228 - 9 Sep 2025
Viewed by 260
Abstract
This study investigates the syntactic structure of negative particle questions (NPQs), also known as VP-NEG questions, in Sixian Hakka (a variety of Chinese spoken in Taiwan). We revisit the existing literature on Hakka NPQs, pointing out unresolved issues in previous analyses. Drawing on [...] Read more.
This study investigates the syntactic structure of negative particle questions (NPQs), also known as VP-NEG questions, in Sixian Hakka (a variety of Chinese spoken in Taiwan). We revisit the existing literature on Hakka NPQs, pointing out unresolved issues in previous analyses. Drawing on previous analysis of VP-NEG questions in Middle Chinese, we argue that the negator mo in Hakka NPQs has grammaticalized into a disjunctive head, as mo and the predicate do not show agreement. This proposal not only accounts for the syntactic properties of NPQs in Sixian Hakka but also addresses potential problems found in previous studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
19 pages, 694 KB  
Article
The Syntax of Serbian How-Complements
by Alberto Frasson
Languages 2025, 10(9), 227; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090227 - 8 Sep 2025
Viewed by 357
Abstract
This paper discusses a special type of complement of perception verbs in Serbian, introduced by kako (‘how’). Via a parallel corpus analysis, I compare the distribution of Serbian kako-clauses and English -ing forms. I show that two types of non-interrogative kako [...] Read more.
This paper discusses a special type of complement of perception verbs in Serbian, introduced by kako (‘how’). Via a parallel corpus analysis, I compare the distribution of Serbian kako-clauses and English -ing forms. I show that two types of non-interrogative kako-clauses can be used in translations of English -ing forms, distinguished based on their formal and interpretive properties: ‘eventive’ and propositional kako-clauses. Eventive clauses focus on directly perceived events and cannot be negated or combined with epistemic verbs, while propositional clauses express beliefs or judgments and have a truth value. At a formal level, eventive clauses feature a null subject, while propositional clauses feature an overt nominative subject. I argue that this distinction is captured syntactically through the notion of phasehood, with only propositional clauses merging a full CP domain. Adopting the Form-Copy operation, I propose that eventive clauses lack a phase boundary, allowing for the deletion of a lower subject copy and yielding the observed case alternation and null embedded subject. This analysis offers a unified syntactic account of kako-complements and contributes to the typology of perception-based clause embedding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
21 pages, 466 KB  
Article
The Position of Clitics in Slovene Imperatives Is Not Special
by Sašo Živanović and Ema Štarkl
Languages 2025, 10(9), 217; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090217 - 29 Aug 2025
Viewed by 817
Abstract
In general, Slovene clitics occur in the second, so-called Wackernagel position of the clause. However, Slovene is exceptional among Wackernagel languages in that the clitic cluster may also occupy the clause-initial position. Imperative sentences have been argued to form an exception to this [...] Read more.
In general, Slovene clitics occur in the second, so-called Wackernagel position of the clause. However, Slovene is exceptional among Wackernagel languages in that the clitic cluster may also occupy the clause-initial position. Imperative sentences have been argued to form an exception to this exception, again allowing the clitic cluster only in the second position. In this paper, we present corpus data that speaks against this second-order exception. We categorize the imperative clauses containing initial clitic clusters found in the corpora into three classes: modally subordinated imperatives, imperatives containing the adversative or the concessive particle, and imperatives occuring as a step in an instruction. We argue that all three classes involve a covert anaphoric element residing in the clause-initial position, yielding an illusion of a clause-initial clitic cluster. In conclusion, initial clitic clusters in Slovene imperatives are not ungrammatical but merely uncommon, and their distribution is ultimately governed by the discourse. We also make a theoretical point, emphasizing that the presented analysis offers support to the view that all discursive information must be represented in syntax. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
17 pages, 543 KB  
Article
Mismatches and Mitigation at CS-PF Interface: The Curious Case of li
by Marijana Marelj
Languages 2025, 10(9), 210; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090210 - 26 Aug 2025
Viewed by 717
Abstract
Taking the domain of polar questions in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS) as the empirical background, the paper probes into the syntax–phonology (CS-PF) interface and discusses insertion and movement as PF-repair strategies mitigating against the lack of convergence at PF. Contra previous accounts, the analysis treats [...] Read more.
Taking the domain of polar questions in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS) as the empirical background, the paper probes into the syntax–phonology (CS-PF) interface and discusses insertion and movement as PF-repair strategies mitigating against the lack of convergence at PF. Contra previous accounts, the analysis treats li (lexicalization of Q) as a ‘run-of-the-mill’ 2P clitic in BCMS, whose host cannot always be provided by syntax. I provide evidence against Prosodic Inversion—‘the usual suspect’ for post-syntactic movement in Slavic—thus adding to the body of evidence that Prosodic Inversion does not take place in BCMS. I argue that the PF Movement in such cases has to be raising and adopt Local Dislocation to account for them. Probing into the interaction between Future I and polar questions provides further insights into the ordering of PF Movement operations in BCMS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SinFonIJA 17 (Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis))
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