Call for Papers: Workshop on Truncated Clauses

Truncated clauses have long been one of the most exciting empirical realms of syntactic research due to their reduced structural complexity compared to their non-truncated counterparts. This is because in generative syntax, the derivation of a clause typically involves taking a set of building blocks (words, morphemes), the assembly of some starting structure and then a series of overt or covert movements to arrive at the final structure and finally, the step of linearization, whereby a two-dimensional tree-structure is converted into a linear string. Of these, only the end product is directly observable, and it is the task of the syntactician to reverse engineer what has been going on. Typically, the same utterance (linear sequence of strings) can be derived by various alternative competing sets of movements and base structures. The more structure there is, the larger the hypothesis space for various models.

Truncated clauses have less structure and less place for syntactic movement: this means that the hypothesis space for various competing models is significantly reduced. Thus, the study of truncated clauses offers the tantalizing prospect of finding more straightforward empirical evidence bearing on fundamental theoretical questions (such as linearization, case assignment or the size of nominal arguments) to which a definitive answer may have so far been elusive.

The study of truncated clauses is a vibrant field with a rich tradition, including research into embedded truncated clauses such as adverbial complement clauses (Haegeman 2010 a.o.) or bare verb phrase complements in restructuring (Wurmbrand & Shimamura 2017 a.o.); and into non-embedded (root) truncated clauses such as the Inflektiv in German (Bücking & Rau 2013 a.o.). More recent advances include work on reduced participial clauses in Romance (Cecchetto & Donati 2022) and on radically truncated clauses in Hungarian (Halm 2021).

The study of truncation has also been closely intertwined with the study of similar (but arguably distinct) phenomena such as fragments (clauses derived via the elision of some material from a full sentence, Merchant 2005 a.o.), the reduced written register (which involves fully fledged sentences with optional subject and/or object drop, Haegeman 1987 a.o.), clause chaining (Weisser 2015 a.o.), and root (or optional) infinitives in child language (Rizzi 1993, Wexler 1998 a.o.)

We invite abstracts for 30-minute talks exploring truncated clauses or one of the related phenomena described above. Preference will be given to talks which combine theoretical insight with strong empirical support. Contributions related to the main theme of the conference (linearization, headedness and word order) are especially welcome.

Submission guidelines

Abstracts should be anonymous.

Abstracts should not exceed two pages (including examples, figures, and references), using 1in/2.5cm margins and Times New Roman 11 pt font.

One person may submit up to two abstracts: one as a single author or co-author, and another one as a co-author.

Please indicate whether you wish your abstract to be considered for the main session or the workshop on truncated clauses (or both).

Abstracts should be submitted by email to wohl2026@gmail.com

Please include the following information in the body of your email:

your name;

the title of your paper;

your affiliation(s);

your email address

your academic seniority (e.g. PhD student, postgrad, tenured faculty): a limited number of travel and accommodation stipends will be offered to presenters in reverse order of seniority

Important dates

Abstract submission deadline: January 31, 2026

Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2026

Conference dates: July 1-3, 2026