Tracing Mismatches: Deviations from One-to-one Patterns (DGfS 2026 Workshop)

Date: 24-Feb-2026 - 27-Feb-2026
Location: Trier, Germany
Meeting URL: https://sites.google.com/view/tracingmismatches/home

Linguistic Field(s): Morphology; Phonology; Pragmatics; Semantics; Syntax

Submission Deadline: 15-Aug-2025

Tracing Mismatches: Deviations from One-to-one Patterns is one of the workshops to be held during the 48th annual conference of the German Linguistic Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, or DGfS; see https://www.uni-trier.de/universitaet/fachbereiche-faecher/fachbereich-ii/forschung-und-zentren/dgfs2026).

Invited Speakers:
Paula Fenger (Universität Leipzig)
Nina Haslinger (Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft)

Workshop Description:
While mismatch-related phenomena are often analyzed independently of each other, the objective of this workshop is to bring together different strands of research and identify common patterns and their underlying causes. We understand ‘mismatches’ as deviations from one-to-one mappings between categories across grammatical modules (e.g. Francis & Michaelis 2003, Fenger & Weisser 2023).

Questions include: When do mismatches occur? What are the common/diverging characteristics of mismatches across different modules of grammar? What do mismatches tell us about interfaces? What are the effects of adult-grammar mismatches on language acquisition?

We welcome submissions across subfields (e.g. syntax, semantics, morphology, pragmatics, phonology) on mismatches within word-, phrase- and clause-levels. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, markedness (morphological vs. semantic), mismatches in conjunctions/disjunctions (agreement, subordination), locality domains, hybrid agreement, honorification (e.g. Kaur & Yamada 2022), sequence of tense, tense/aspect/mood interactions, perspectival shifts, quantification and cumulativity (Haslinger & Schmitt 2022), suppletion, syncretism, multiple exponence, and commission errors in language acquisition.

Submission Guidelines:
Please submit an anonymous file in pdf by 15th of August, 2025 via OpenReiew (see the URL below). All submissions will be considered for oral presentation at the workshop.

Abstracts, including (select) references and data, must not exceed two pages with 1 inch (2.54cm) margins on all sides. Font must be set in Times New Roman (or equivalent) with a font size no smaller than 12pt and 1.5 line spacing. (Font size in displays and references may be smaller.) The submission must be anonymous and not reveal the identity of the author(s) in any way.

An author may submit a maximum of two abstracts, only one of which may be single-authored. Please note that in accordance with DGfS regulations, single authors are not allowed to present their work in multiple workshops, but they may be listed as co-authors of a paper in different workshops.

Submission Deadline: August 15th, 2025
Notification of acceptance: mid-September
Link to the submission page on OpenReview: https://openreview.net/group?id=DGfS.de/2026/Workshop/Mismatches

We strongly encourage creating an OpenReview profile early, due to the moderation policy for newly created profiles: New profiles created without an institutional email will go through a moderation process that can take up to two weeks, whereas new profiles created with an institutional email will be activated automatically.

Workshop webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/tracingmismatches/home
Contact: Luke Adamson ([email protected])

Organizers, all at Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft:
Luke Adamson
Zorica Puškar-Gallien
Kazuko Yatsushiro

Select References:
Fenger, Paula and Philipp Weisser. 2025. Matching domains in syntax, morphology, and phonology in the Sinhala verb. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory.
Francis, Elaine J. and Laura A. Michaelis. 2003. Mismatch: a crucible for linguistic theory. in Elaine J. Francis & Laura A. Michaelis (eds.), Mismatch: Form function Incongruity and the Architecture of Grammar. 1-27. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
Kaur, Gurmeet and Akitaka Yamada. 2022. Honorific (mis)matches in allocutive languages with a focus on Japanese. Glossa 44(1).
Haslinger, Nina and Viola Schmitt. 2022. Syntactic conditions on cumulative readings of German jeder ‘every’ DPs. Journal of Comparative German Linguistics 25, 115–168.