Respectus Philologicus eISSN 2335-2388
2026, no. 49 (54), pp. 142–146 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15388/RESPECTUS.2026.49.11
Lina Inčiuraitė-Noreikienė
Vilnius University, Faculty of Philology, Media Linguistics Centre
Universiteto St 3, Vilnius, Lithuania
Email: lina.inciuraite@flf.vu.lt
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4002-5224
Research interests: morphology, lexicology, lexicography
- - -
The conference programme is available at: https://www.upjs.sk/app/uploads/sites/7/2024/11/kaa-konf-slovotvorba-jun2025-program-11062025.pdf.
- - -
Submitted 13 October 2025 / Accepted 11 November 2025
Įteikta 2025 10 13 / Priimta 2025 11 11
Copyright © 2026 Lina Inčiuraitė-Noreikienė. Published by Vilnius University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original author and source are credited.
From 25 to 28 June 2025, the conference “Word-Formation Theories VII & Typology and Universals in Word-Formation VI” was organised by the Department of British and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, in cooperation with SKASE (Slovak Association for the Study of English). The main organisers were Pavol Štekauer, Lívia Körtvélyessy and Slávka Tomaščíková. The conference focused on developments in word-formation theories. In June 2025, the conference celebrated its 20th anniversary, marking two decades since its inaugural edition, which highlighted the state of the field alongside the publication of Handbook of Word-Formation (Štekauer and Lieber, ٢٠٠٥, Dordrecht: Springer).
Participants came from 29 countries across Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK), Asia (Japan), North America (Canada, Guatemala, USA) and Africa (South Africa). In total, 75 talks were delivered.
The conference featured five plenary talks. On the first day of the conference (June 25), the opening plenary was delivered by Antonio Fábregas (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), who explored how Spanish locative prefixes can act as degree markers on adjectives and verbs, modifying scale rather than space. On June 26, two plenary speakers followed: Francesca Masini (University of Bologna) and Andrea Sims (Ohio State University). Masini discussed the notion of evaluative morphology as marking a deviation from a default, then focused on prototypicality as a ‘non-deviation’ function and its role in cognitive categorisation. Sims examined morphotactic variability, drawing on large-scale quantitative data from English, Russian and Vietnamese. On June 27, two further plenaries were given: Mark Aronoff (Stony Brook University) and Gerhard B. van Huyssteen (North-West University). Aronoff questioned traditional assumptions about the purpose of language, while van Huyssteen outlined the history of morphology, compared key theoretical approaches and introduced diasystematic construction morphology. The plenaries addressed long-standing questions and emerging issues in morphology. Their sessions stimulated engaging discussions among participants and set the tone for the workshops and subsequent general sessions.
The conference featured four workshops. Workshop 1, “Boundaries and continua in affixation: diachronic and synchronic perspectives,” convened by Alexandra Bagasheva (Sofia University), Jesús Fernández-Domínguez (University of Granada), Akiko Nagano (Shizuoka University) and Vincent Renner (University of Lyon), took place over two days. The first day, June 25, included nine presentations. Jesús Fernández-Domínguez (University of Granada) examined the factors contributing to affixes becoming obsolete. Hilary Wynne and Aditi Lahiri (University of Oxford) discussed how affixation influences morphological processing through its phonological effects. Elisa Mattiello (University of Pisa) clarified the boundaries between affixation proper, splinters, affixoids and compounding. José A. Sánchez Fajardo (University of Alicante) and Nikos Koutsoukos (University of Patras) presented a morphosemantic analysis of evaluative suffixoids -ville and -town in American English. Yingfei Lu (Pompeu Fabra University) examined the transitional directionality of the element hyper- in English neologisms. Ryohei Naya (University of Tsukuba) and Takashi Ishida (Hiroshima Shudo University) explored the distinction between derivation and compounding by analysing the English prefix be-. Fabio Montermini (CNRS & Université de Toulouse) discussed the hybrid nature of French affixoids. Salma Corral-Morjani (University of Granada) investigated the relationship between semantics and morphosyntax in English synthetic compounds. Alessandro Rossi (Roma Tre University) considered morphological conversion in Hittite. The second day, June 26, included three presentations. Alexandra Bagasheva (Sofia University) studied evaluative marking across two patterns in Bulgarian. Michael Bilynsky (University of Lviv) outlined a multilayered electronic framework designed for the study of de-verbal families and verb synonymy. Livio Gaeta (University of Turin) explored two cases of affixisation in Titsch, focusing on the suffixes -ral (forming nouns) and -elò (forming verbs). Workshop 2, “Latest developments in evaluative morphology,” convened by Dimitra Melissaropoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Angeliki Efthymiou (Democritus University of Thrace), spanned two days. The first day, June 25, included eight presentations. Jack Hoeksema (University of Groningen) analysed pejorative and laudative prefixoids in Dutch. Ivan Lacić (University of Bologna) investigated rivalry in Italian prefixation. Jakub Sláma (Czech Academy of Sciences) studied the evaluative prefixoids homo- and ezo- in Czech. Angeliki Efthymiou (Democritus University of Thrace) explored non-prototypical evaluative constructions in Modern Greek. Daria Savina and Maria Satina (Lomonosov Moscow State University) examined evaluative affixes in Northeastern Eurasian languages. Dimitra Melissaropoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) explored evaluative derivational borrowability based on data from Modern Greek dialects. Luca Gal (University of Cambridge) studied the integration of Romance evaluative morphology into Basque, Maltese and Griko. Cora Cavirani-Pots (University of Cambridge) investigated adverbial diminutives and contrastive reduplication in Curaçaon Dutch. The second day, June 26, included three presentations. Kristel Van Goethem (UCLouvain) considered two Dutch case studies of evaluative compounding, focusing on its productivity and competition with evaluative phrasal constructions. Daniel Ebner (Humboldt University of Berlin) conducted a corpus study of the use of the English loans wannabe and feikki (“fake”) in Finnish. Eva Sissamperi (University of Patras) studied how evaluative prefixes and prefixoids expressing intensification combine in Modern Greek taboo nouns. Workshop 3, “Compound formation with more than two lexemes,” convened by Makiko Mukai (University of Kochi) and Masaharu Shimada (University of Tsukuba), was held on June 25 and included seven presentations. Makiko Mukai (University of Kochi) considered recursive compounds in English. Yasuhito Kido (Kyushu International University) compared Japanese and English compounds. Kentaro Koga (Aoyama Gakuin University) investigated French VN compounds with phrasal names in the N position. Jan Radimsky (University of South Bohemia) discussed the typology of trinomial compounds in Romance languages. Maria Bloch-Trojnar (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin) explored compounds involving denominal adjectives in Polish. Sybil Vachaudez (Institut Jean Nicod & CNRS), Samantha Prins, Emma Buus, Ziv Belfer-Johnston (University of Arizona), Juan Ajsivinac (Kaqchickel Amaq’), Carlo Geraci (Institut Jean Nicod/CNRS), Robert Henderson (University of Arizona), Jeremy Kuhn (Institut Jean Nicod/CNRS) investigated compounding in Highland Mayan Sign Language. Masaharu Shimada (University of Tsukuba) investigated the difficulties associated with the synthesis of doubly compounded compounds. Workshop 4, “Methods of Research into Sound Symbolism,” was convened by Lívia Körtvélyessy (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University), Pius W. Akumbu (LLACAN – CNRS) and Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (University of Zaragoza). The workshop lasted two days. The first day, June 26, included eight presentations. Lívia Körtvélyessy (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University) opened the session with an introduction to methods for researching sound symbolism. Janis Nuckolls (Brigham Young University) examined the creation of new ideophones from old words in Pastaza Kichwa. Olga Lovick and Rosalie Tsannie-Burseth (University of Saskatchewan) focused on literacy, language context and translation difficulties in conducting linguistic experiments in Dënë Suliné. Veronika Zikmundová and Jan Křivan (Charles University) discussed ambiguities in describing ideophones and in defining the concept across languages. Renáta Gregová (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University) analysed sound symbolism and phonesthemes in Slovak. Maria Flaksman (Bamberg University) explored “mimetic” English words whose forms reflect speech-articulatory movements rather than sounds. Rrahman Paçarizi (University of Prishtina) discussed sound symbolism in Albanian literature, and Adelinë Selmani (University of Prishtina) presented on sound symbolism in the Albanian language. On June 27, the workshop featured three presentations. Thomas Van Hoey (FWO & KU Leuven), Xiaoyu Yu, Shuhao Zhang, Youngah Do (University of Hong Kong) and Dan Dewey (Brigham Young University) examined Chinese ideophone modal exclusivity by comparing behavioural and neurolinguistic data. Jean Paul Ngoboka (University of Rwanda) discussed the use and characteristics of ideophones in Kinyarwanda. Pius W. Akumbu (CNRS-LLACAN) examined ideophones and onomatopoeias in Central Ring Grassfields Bantu languages of North-West Cameroon. Following the lunch break, participants gathered for a roundtable discussion with Andrea Sims and Olivier Bonami on publishing in Word Structure and Morphology. The discussion addressed paper acceptance, peer review and the publication process. In the evening, participants attended a guided tour of Košice’s historical centre.
The conference featured 10 general sessions, each including three presentations. In General Session 1, Ľubomír Andrej (Prešov University) studied the role of conversion in derivational networks. Alba E. Ruz Gómez (University of Cordoba) examined directionality in English noun-verb conversion. Lucia Gallová (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University) compared English compounds with their Slovak equivalents. In General Session 2, Petr Kos (University of South Bohemia) proposed a cognitive onomasiological model of word-formation. Pius ten Hacken (University of Innsbruck) and Renáta Panocová (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University) offered an alternative explanation for blocking effects. Zuzana Bodnárová (University of Graz) and Márton A. Baló (Eötvös Loránd University) investigated derivational affixes as a tool for creatively expressing group identity. In General Session 3, Olga Lovick (University of Saskatchewan), Dagmar Jung (Universität Zürich), Gabrielle Fontaine (Clearwater River First Nation) and Olga Kriukova (University of Saskatchewan) examined variable morpheme order in Dënë Suliné verbs. Giulio Ciferri Muramatsu (University of Connecticut), Yasuhito Kido (Kyushu International University), Ayumi Matsuo (Kobe College) and William Snyder (University of Connecticut) studied novel compound nouns in English and Japanese. Adam Pospíšil (Charles University) explored multiverbal constructions in Arabic. In General Session 4, Lukáš Kyjánek (Charles University) and Olivier Bonami (Paris Diderot University) investigated how theoretical perspectives influence empirical generalisations on inflexion vs. derivation in Czech. Jakub Sláma (Czech Language Institute) analysed multiple exponence of reflexivity in Czech from a Construction Grammar perspective. Hana Hledikova (Charles University) examined changes in the argument structure of Czech and German prefixed verbs. In General Session 5, Richard Huyghe, Justine Salvadori (University of Fribourg), Rossella Varvara (University of Turin), Lucie Barque (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord & CNRS LLF), Pauline Haas (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord & CNRS Lattice), Alizée Lombard, Matthieu Monney (University of Fribourg), Delphine Tribout (Université de Lille & CNRS STL) and Marine Wauquier (Université Paris Cité & CNRS LLF) presented the SONDE lexical database analysing verb-to-noun derivation in French. Viktoriia Vershniak and Olivier Bonami (Université Paris Cité) presented a derivational database developed to document cross-linguistic similarities in the relationships among members of morphological families. Justine Salvadori and Richard Huyghe (University of Fribourg) examined ambiguity in French deverbal nouns through network analysis. In General Session 6, Jurgis Pakerys, Agnė Navickaitė-Klišauskienė (Vilnius University) and Virginijus Dadurkevičius (Vytautas Magnus University) studied the productivity of the most salient Lithuanian diminutive suffixes. They suggested that the degree of productivity of diminutives in Lithuanian and other languages can be assessed relative to the productivity of other denominal and deverbal noun categories. Lina Inčiuraitė-Noreikienė and Erika Rimkutė (Vytautas Magnus University) examined denominal personal nouns with the suffix -ist in contemporary Lithuanian from a Construction Morphology perspective. László Palágyi (Eötvös Loránd University) explored secondary word-formation constructions. In General Session 7, Thomas Samuelsson (Stockholm University) applied a distributional semantic approach to Russian prefixes of attitude. Vojtěch John, Magda Ševčíková and Zdeněk Žabokrtský (Charles University) investigated the complexity of function words from a cross-linguistic perspective. Martin Gális (Charles University) analysed Romani word-formation from a diachronic, cross-theoretical and typological perspectives. In General Session 8, Szymon Czarnecki (Adam Mickiewicz University) went beyond binary analysis to explore derivational paradigms and their development. Cristina Lara-Clares (University of Jaén), Alicia Lara-Clares (independent researcher, Spain) and Cristina Fernández-Alcaina (University of Córdoba) studied competition and attraction among verbal doublets in English. Takashi Ishida (Hiroshima Shudo University) and Ryohei Naya (University of Tsukuba) explored direct modifier doublets in English. In General Session 9, Magda Ševčíková (Charles University) and Konstantinos Diamantopoulos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) presented a pilot study on the word-formation of singular-only nouns in four languages. Camiel Hamans (Adam Mickiewicz University) examined non-morphemic word-formation. Lisa Marie Lang (Universität Innsbruck) and Veronika Hudáková (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University) studied the correspondence between German compounds and Slovak collocations. In General Session 10, Cristina Badiu (University of Galati) showed how Incel talk has entered mainstream language. Raffaello Bezzina (University of Malta) studied derivational affixes in Maltese. Soares Rodrigues (University of Coimbra) and Salvador Valera (University of Granada) examined conversion in Romance languages.
During the conference closing, Pavol Štekauer thanked the participants for their contributions and announced that another conference on word-formation will take place in 2027 at Vilnius University (Lithuania).