Feb. 10, 2026 - Feb. 11, 2026
https://www.ds.uzh.ch/de/tagungen/social-meaning-and-grammar.html
University of Zurich
February 10-11, 2026
Confirmed speakers:
Elin McCready (ICREA/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Emma Moore (University of Sheffield)
Paul Portner (Georgetown University)
Marina Terkourafi (Leiden University)
The question of how humans process social information is one of the biggest topics in cognitive science. This workshop addresses the topic from the perspective of linguistics and aims at breaking new ground by bringing together the two very different perspectives of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology on the one hand and formal syntax and semantics on the other hand.
Recent work in formal syntax-semantics has developed elaborated frameworks for analyzing social meaning components such as ‘commitment’ or ‘politeness’, also exploring in great detail how the relation between speaker and addressee is instantiated in the morphosyntax not only across languages (e.g., Portner et al. 2019), but also across registers (e.g., McCready 2019).
On the other hand, the question of how we use and adapt linguistic form to convey social information lies at the heart of sociolinguistic research. Recent work has particularly focused on variationist aspects. Specifically, grammatical forms are crucial in shaping our social identity and style, and they can be an inclusive and incredibly empowering tool to overcome otherwise static social hierarchies (e.g., Moore 2023).
In addition to broaden the empirical picture and refining our analyses of grammatical phenomena related to social meaning, our workshop will also address the more fundamental question of conventionalization in that domain (e.g., Terkourafi 2015) and thus reconsider our notion of ‘grammar’. From a social point of view, so-called indirect forms such as *Could you pass the salt?*, for instance, are often the most common versions of performing a speech act because their direct counterparts (*Pass the salt!*) are socially awkward in most situations.
This workshop kicks off the Social Grammar Lab at the University of Zurich—a research unit that explores new ways of conceptualizing and experimentally testing a theory of grammar that is built on the fundamental interaction between linguistic form and social information. The driving philosophy of the Lab is that only outside-of-the-box thinking across different subfields might enable significant progress in an interdisciplinary area such as Social Grammar—and might also ultimately lead to a change in how grammar is taught in schools and discussed and conceptualized in our societies more generally. Therefore, we invite contributions from a wide range of linguistic subfields, including but not limited to:
- Formal linguistics frameworks that analyze social meaning components.
- Sociolinguistic frameworks that focus on linguistic form.
- Experimental work on processing social meaning components, including questions regarding their acquisition, comprehension, and production.
- Philosophical work on conventionalization as connected to social meaning.
Organizers:
Laura Reimer and Andreas Trotzke
References
McCready, E. (2019). The Semantics and Pragmatics of Honorification: Register and Social Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moore, E. (2023). Socio-Syntax: Exploring the Social Life of Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Portner, P., M. Pak & R. Zanuttini (2019). The speaker-addressee relation at the syntax-semantics interface. Language 95, 1–36.
Terkourafi M. (2015). Conventionalization: A new agenda for im/politeness research. Journal of Pragmatics 86, 11–18.
Recent lab-related outputs
Trotzke, A. (2024). Towards a social syntax. Journal of Pragmatics 234, 122–139.
Trotzke, A., A. Balla, H. Grobauer & E. Wittenberg (2025). Asking for help: An empirical exploration into social grammar. PLoS One 20. e0325598.
Trotzke, A. & L. Reimer (2023). Comprehending non-canonical and indirect speech acts in German. Journal of Linguistics. First View. doi:10.1017/S0022226723000336
Submission instructions:
The workshop Social Meaning and Grammar kicks off the Social Grammar Lab at the University of Zurich—a research unit that explores new ways of conceptualizing and experimentally testing a theory of grammar that is built on the fundamental interaction between linguistic form and social information. The driving philosophy of the Lab is that only outside-of-the-box thinking across different subfields might enable significant progress in an interdisciplinary area such as Social Grammar—and might also ultimately lead to a change in how grammar is taught in schools and discussed and conceptualized in our societies more generally. Therefore, we invite contributions from a wide range of linguistic subfields, including but not limited to:
- Formal linguistics frameworks that analyze social meaning components.
- Sociolinguistic frameworks that focus on linguistic form.
- Experimental work on processing social meaning components, including questions regarding their acquisition, comprehension, and production.
- Philosophical work on conventionalization as connected to social meaning.
Submission guidelines:
We invite submissions of anonymous abstracts for 30-minute talks (20 presentation + 10 discussion). Submissions should not exceed two A4 pages (incl. references + examples), 12pt. single spaced, with 2.5cm (= one-inch) margins on all sides. Either PDF or Word format is accepted. Please upload your abstracts by October 1, 2025.
Submission deadline: October 1, 2025
Notification: November 1, 2025
Workshop: February 10-11, 2026
Submissions open: Aug. 2, 2025 - Oct. 1, 2025
Contact Email: [email protected]