How does what get where? Typology, language contact, and language change
Target audience
Researchers with different backgrounds in linguistics can benefit from this course. It is especially relevant for those who specialize in descriptive and documentary linguistics or carry out fieldwork, but it will be useful for anyone whose research includes topics in linguistic typology.
Organizing and scientific committee
Bernat Bardagil, Alba Hermida (Department of Linguistics and Languages and Cultures)
Abstract
The distributions of languages, language families, and typological patterns are highly variable across the globe. Making sense of these constellations – understanding ‘what’s where why?’ (Bickel 2007: 239) – is a central concern for contemporary linguistic typology. This course focuses on exploring the how: How have languages been structured, maintained, and lost over time, as molded by the movements and interactions of peoples, aspects of human communication and cognition, sociocultural dynamics, and the interplay between synchronic structural features and diachronic processes?
In this two-day course, we investigate these drivers and their complex interactions from a cross-linguistic perspective. We consider ways in which typological features may structure processes of language change, and how in turn contact and change shape typological profiles. We explore how typological patterns may cross-cut genealogical associations, as related languages diverge structurally and unrelated languages converge, and how sociocultural practices may be implicated in these processes. Participants are encouraged to bring relevant data and research questions for workshopping sessions during the course.
Dates and venue
16 + 17 March 2026
Campus Blandijn
Programme
Day 1
9.00-15.00
- Linguistic typology and language contact
- Contact in context: social dimensions
- Diglossia and code-switching
- Includes lunch break (12.00-13.00) and coffee breaks.
15.00-17.00
- Supervised practice and Q&A.
Day 2
09.30-15.00
- Grammatical diffusion
- Linguistic areality
- Language shift: attrition and interference
- Includes lunch break (12.00-13.00) and coffee breaks.
15.00-17.00
- Supervised practice and Q&A.
Registration
- Follow this link for the registration and waiting list.
- Cancellation of your registration can only be performed by sending an email to doctoralschools@ugent.be.
-
The no show policy applies.
Registration fee
Free of charge for Doctoral School members.
Number of participants
Maximum 30
Language
English
Training method
Teaching methods for this course include lectures, discussion of data and practical exercises to get familiar with the programs.
Evaluation method
100% attendance
If you participate in one of the sessions, it counts as a transferable skill. If PhD students participate in both the sessions, it counts a specialist course
After successful participation, the Doctoral School Office will add this course to your curriculum of the Doctoral Training Programme in Oasis. Please note that this can take up to one to two months after completion of the course.