Call for papers/abstracts : Workshop Proposal at the 22nd International Morphology Meeting (IMM22) Title: Phonomorphology at the Interface: Autonomy, Modularity, and Opaqueness in Word Formation

Workshop Proposal at the 22nd International Morphology Meeting (IMM22)

Title:Phonomorphology at the Interface: Autonomy, Modularity, and Opaqueness in Word Formation

Workshop organized within 22nd International 
Morphology Meeting : Atypical Morphology
Budapest, Hungary, June 18th - 21st, 2026

Meeting URL: https://nytud.hun-ren.hu/en/event/22nd-international-morphology-meeting-2

https://www.sfl.cnrs.fr/en/call-papersabstracts-workshop-proposal-22nd-international-morphology-meeting-imm22-title

Convenor: Michela Russo (CNRS SFL UMR 7023/U. Paris 8 & UJML 3, France)

Rationale

The interaction between phonology and morphology has been at the heart of generative and post-generative linguistics since the inception of both fields. Despite recurring claims about the autonomy of morphology (Aronoff 1994; see also discussion in Booij 2018) and the modularity of phonology (Kiparsky 1982, 1985; Zwicky & Pullum (1986; Scheer 2012), recent work across language families shows that many morphological phenomena cannot be properly understood without considering their phonological embedding. Conversely, phonological processes often reveal morphological triggers that challenge a strict separation between the two components.

This workshop proposes to revisit the phonomorphological interface in light of opaque processes, floating morphemes, and doubling phenomena, addressing the central questions:

• To what extent can morphology be considered autonomous if many of its realizations are contingent on phonological structure (as in French liaison, cliticization, or Italian syntactic doubling)?

• Are there phonological processes—such as metaphony, apophony, or sandhi—that can only be accounted for via morphosyntactic features?

• How do opaque alternations, such as vowel harmony/metaphony across unrelated families (Romance, Semitic, Altaic), challenge modular architectures of grammar?

• What role do “floating” or “defective” morphemes play in testing the boundaries between abstract phonological representations and morphological content?

We aim to create a forum that bridges descriptive data (from Romance, Germanic, Semitic, Bantu, Japonic, and beyond) and theoretical frameworks (Lexical Phonology, Prosodic Morphology, Stratal OT, Distributed Morphology, and representational approaches).

Empirical Anchors

• Floating morphemes and defective segments (French liaison, floating tones in Bantu, nasal mutation in Celtic) show phonological processes activated by non-phonetic morphological material.

• Syntactic Doubling in Southern Italian dialects demonstrates how phonological realization is sensitive to morphosyntactic boundary conditions, raising questions about prosodic recursion and modular interaction.

• Metaphony and apophony across Romance, Germanic, and Semitic reveal opaque phonological alternations driven by morphological categories, often defying neat modular separation.

• Opacity in the interface (stress-conditioned allomorphy, morphological blocking of otherwise general phonological processes) highlights the theoretical tension between modular architectures and emergentist/non-modular views.

Goals

The workshop will bring together phonologists and morphologists to:

Compare case studies of phono-morphological interaction across families.

Evaluate the evidence for and against autonomy/modularity.

Reassess whether the concept of “phonomorphology” requires dedicated theoretical status.

References (indicative)

Aronoff, M. (1994). Morphology by Itself. Cambridge Mass: MIT Press.

Booij, G. (2017). The construction of words. In B. Dancygier (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 229-245.

Bermúdez-Otero, R. (2017). Stratal Phonology. In S. J. Hannahs, & A. R. K. Bosch (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of phonological theory (pp. 100-134). (Routledge Handbooks in Linguistics). Routledge. Cabredo & Zribi-Hertz (2014). Morphology-Phonology Interface in Romance.

Kiparsky, P. (1982). ‘Lexical Morphology and Phonology’, in In-Seok Yang for the Linguistic Society of Korea (ed.), Linguistics in the morning calm: selected papers from SICOL-1981 (vol. 1). Seoul: Hanshin Publishing Company, 3-91.

Kiparsky, P. (1985). ‘Some consequences of Lexical Phonology’, Phonology Yearbook 2: 85-138.

Zwicky, Arnold M.  and Geoffrey K. Pullum (1986). The Principle of Phonology-Free Syntax: Introductory remarks. Working Papers in Linguistics 32, 63–91. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University.

Tobias Scheer (2012). Direct Interface and One-Channel Translation. Vol.2 of A Lateral Theory of phonology. de Gruyter, 2012.

Invited Keynote Speakers

• Andrea Calabrese (University of Connecticut)

• Heather Newell (Université du Québec)

• David Embick (University of Pennsylvania)

• Markus Pöchtrager (University of Vienna)

2 Days Workshop (Modularity vs. Emergentist Approaches, Floating morphemes and opacity...)

Thursday 18 June

Friday 19 June

Poster session

Poster display during lunch and throughout the afternoon on Friday 19 June.

Fabio Aprea (CNR, Florence)
“On the Morphophonology of the Neo-Neuter in Central Italian Vernaculars”

Andrew Nevins (UCL, London)

“Rhizotony, Productive Allomorphy, and Defective Verbs”

Michela Russo (U. Paris 8/SFL & U. Lyon) & Shanti Ulfsbjorninn (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
“The Mass Article in Neapolitan and Campanian Varieties: Determiner Exponence and Onset Reduplication”

Michela Russo, Shanti Ulfsbjorninn & Alexandre Di Caro (U. Paris 8/SFL)

“Quantity, Codas, and Number: A Morphophonological Account of Vocalized Plural -s in Northern Occitan”

Yousra Ysoline (U. Paris 8/SFL)
“A floating rhotic at the stem-clitic boundary in Rifain: morphology-conditioned opacity”

Abdessamed Zaaraoui (U. Paris 8/SFL)
“Can One Morpheme Encode Multiple Grammatical Functions? Syncretism and Morphological Economy in Moroccan Arabic”

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- This workshop is funded by the CNRS, the UMR SFL laboratory at Université Paris 8, and the Research Committee of Université Paris 8, within the framework of a competitive call for projects.

Abstract Submissions 

If you wish to contribute, please send an abstract  to mrusso [at] univ-paris8.fr ()

according to the following instructions: 

Deadline:November 30, 2025 Extension: 5 January 2026

Length:  2 pages max. 

Font:  Times New Roman 12 

References:  on a separate page