• Linguistics 2026 Athens

    Ingo Plag

    Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf

    Ingo Plag

    Main areas of research

    • Phonetics
    • Phonology
    • Morphology
    • Syntax
    • Creole languages
    Publications

    Bio

    Ingo Plag is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf. His monographs include Morphological Productivity (Mouton de Gruyter 1999), Word-formation in English (CUP 2nd ed. 2018), Introduction to English Linguistics (with co-authors, Mouton de Gruyter 3rd ed.2015) and A Reference Guide to English Morphology (with co-Authors, Oxford University Press, 2013). He has edited numerous collections of articles, published many papers in peer-reviewed journals. From 2006 to 2021, he served as editor of the journal Morphology. He has acted as referee nationally and internationally for journals, publishing houses, academic institutions and funding organizations. From 2015 to 2023 he was the director of the Research Unit ‘Spoken Morphology’, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. He is a member of the Academia Europaea.

    RESEARCH
    DFG Project ‘Form and meaning in English compounds: The role of prosody’ (2023-2026)

    CRC Project C08/DFG Project ‘The semantics of derivational morphology’ (2015-2026)

    Keynote Lecture

    What is morphology? Theoretical
    linguistics meets computational modeling

    Outline
    What is morphology? Theoretical linguistics meets computational modeling
    Morphology is conceived as the study of word structure, which traditionally has involved the postulation of structural units together with mechanisms that manipulate and combine these units. This categorical view of morphology has recently been challenged by gradient approaches, in which what is generally called ‘morphological structure’ emerges from gradient associations of
    form and meaning in language use and language acquistion.


    In this presentation, we will take a closer and more general look at the mapping form and meaning in words and develop an alternative to the traditional ways of treating morphology as the combination of structural pieces below the word-level: Morphology is not about the structure of complex words, it is about complex relations of form and meaning in the mental lexicon. We will
    discuss computational models that implement this view, and which can be used to test predictions of this lexicon-based and usage-based view of morphology.

  • Linguistics 2026 Athens

    Vaclav Brezina

    Lancaster University

    Vaclav Brezina

    Main areas of research

    • Corpus linguistics
    • Statistics
    • Applied Linguistics
    Publications

    Bio

    My main research interests are corpus linguistics, statistics, and the application of corpus methods in the study of speech and writing, learner language, collocations, phraseology and vocabulary. I am also interested in corpus design and corpus tools development. 

    Recent works
    Corpus linguistics and AI:# LancsBox X in the context of emerging technologies. – 2025 – V BREZINA

    Adjective+ noun collocations in L2 spoken English: How robust is the role of proficiency? – 2025 – D Gablasova, V Brezina

    Developing a coding scheme for annotating opinion statements in L2 interactive spoken English with application for language teaching and assessment – 2025 – Y Jung, D Gablasova, V Brezina, H Schmück

    Keynote Lecture

    How to Identify Multi-Word Expressions in Corpora?

    Outline
    Multi-word expressions (MWEs) such as of course, in the light of, as good as new or take into account are central to fluent communication, yet relatively difficult to identify systematically. This lecture draws on the forthcoming Frequency Dictionary of Multi-Word Expressions in British English (Brezina & Gablasova, Routledge, 2026) to present a clear, corpus-based method for analysing a wide range of MWEs across genres.

    I begin by contrasting corpus evidence with current AI language models. Modern AI generates language by answering a simple question – What is the next word? – a principle long used in corpus linguistics to measure collocation. Yet while AI can imitate fluent usage, corpora remain more transparent and reliable for identifying MWEs because they trace patterns directly to authentic human interaction in speech and writing.

    The lecture outlines a practical framework combining frequency, association strength and dispersion to capture the core phraseology of contemporary British English. Examples from the dictionary illustrate how this method reveals stable, meaningful MWEs and supports applications in language teaching, language testing, lexicography and applied linguistic research. The central claim is this: AI can model language, but corpora allow us to understand it.

  • LINGUISTICS 2026 Athens

    Nicos Sifakis

    University of Athens

    Nikos Sifakis

    Main areas of research

    • Pedagogy and Education
    • Theory of e-Learning
    • Applied Linguistics
    • English as a lingua franca
    • Intercultural communication and pedagogy
    • Language Teaching
    Publications

    Bio

    Nicos Sifakis is Professor of English for Specific Purposes in the Department of English Language and Literature of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and director of the M.Ed. in Teaching English as a Foreign/International Language of the Hellenic Open University. He has published extensively on teaching and researching English as an international lingua franca (with a focus on the concept of ELF awareness), intercultural communication and pedagogy, language teaching methodology, distance education, adult education and teacher education.

    Keynote Lecture

    From deficiency to integration: English as a Lingua Franca, translanguaging, and linguistic theory reimagined

    Outline
    English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and translanguaging research have fundamentally transformed the ways in which linguistic theory conceives of multilingual communication and language architecture. This keynote examines the conceptual contributions these complementary frameworks make to theoretical linguistics. While ELF interrogates how speakers utilize English across multilingual environments, translanguaging demonstrates the integrated and fluid mobilization of the entirety of speakers’ linguistic resources: a unified repertoire rather than discrete linguistic codes. Together, these perspectives challenge the native-speaker paradigm and reveal the inherent creativity and systematicity that underpin multilingual communication outside of monolingual norms. Empirical data from ELF and translanguaging elucidate patterns such as phonological reduction, morphosyntactic flexibility, pragmatic negotiation strategies, and code-meshing phenomena that should be understood as signs of linguistic innovation, not deviation. These insights urge a re-evaluation of foundational constructs within linguistic theory, including the competence-performance distinction, the universal grammar hypothesis, and modularist models of bilingual cognition. By foregrounding authentic multilingual practices over idealized monolingual grammars, ELF and translanguaging approaches bridge the divide between core theoretical linguistics and applied concerns, providing methodological advancements for investigating language change, cognitive processing, and the real-time evolution of linguistic norms. This integrated paradigm calls for theoretical models capable of accounting for how vast populations creatively deploy their full linguistic repertoires.