Workshop at DGfS 2027, Jena, March 3 – 5, 2027

Convenors: Marianna Lohmann and Barbara Schlücker, Freie Universität Berlin

Copular clauses are simple syntactic structures. They consist minimally of a (referential) NP as subject and a (non-verbal) predicate which, in many languages though not always, are linked by a copular verb, prototypically a form of be – thus, sentences of the form A is B. Copular clauses are cross-linguistically the most common type of non-verbal predication (Creissels et al. 2026: 16). Although they have been discussed extensively from both a syntactic and semantic perspective, there are still many unresolved issues, such as agreement properties or the meaning of the copula (Den Dikken & O’Neill 2017). However, rather than discussing unanswered questions of copular constructions beyond dispute, we focus on constructions that cannot be clearly classified as copular, i.e. “kopulaverdächtige Konstruktionen” (‘constructions suspected of being copular’; Geist & Rothstein 2007: 227). Obviously, the question of what constitutes a prototypical copular construction and what are (im-)possible deviations, varies greatly across languages. Atypical copular properties may, among other things, relate to the following aspects:

• Constructions with an unexpected absence or presence of the copula
• Atypical copular verbs
• Locative PP predicates vs. adverbials (Ich bin im Kino ‘I am at the cinema’)
• Locative PP vs. directional PP predicates (Ich bin ins Kino lit.: I am to the cinema, ‘I am off to the cinema’)
• Verbal predicates such as the absentive (Ich bin joggen ‘I am off running’) and adjectival passives

By examining which of these constructions can actually be regarded as copular and which cannot, we aim at better understanding copular constructions in general. Contributions on these and other topics and on any language are welcome. We specifically welcome research from different methodological backgrounds (e.g., theoretical linguistic, corpus linguistic, psycholinguistic).

References

Creissels, Denis, Pier Marco Bertinetto & Luca Ciucci. 2026. Non-verbal predication: An analytical framework. In Pier Marco Bertinetto, Luca Ciucci & Denis Creissels (eds.), Non-verbal Predication in the World’s Languages, vol. 1, 1–56. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.

Dikken, Marcel den & Teresa O’Neill. 2017. Copular Constructions in Syntax. In Mark Aronoff (ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Geist, Ljudmila & Björn Rothstein. 2007. Kopulaverben und Kopulasätze: Intersprachliche und intrasprachliche Aspekte. Tübingen: Niemeyer.

 

Call for Papers

We invite submissions of abstracts for 20-minute presentations (+ 10 minutes for discussion). Abstracts must include the authors’ names and their affiliations. They must not exceed 500 words (excluding references) and should be sent to marianna.lohmann@fu-berlin.de by August 20, 2026 in both Word and PDF formats.

Please note that speakers at DGfS 2027 may only give one presentation in a single workshop. However, they may be listed as co-authors on several presentations at the conference.

 

Important Dates:

Abstract submission deadline: August 20, 2026

Notification of acceptance: early September 2026