Linguistics in Göttingen - A platform for empirical and theoretical linguistics

POQAL-3

Polar Questions Across Languages- April 29-30, 2026, University of Göttingen


Call for papers :

After the success of our initial two workshops focused on meaning and form, we are excited to launch a third POQAL meeting, this time without subject limitations. We hope to welcome your research on polar(-like) questions, especially in lesser studied languages and dimensions of form and meaning. As before, the aim is to discuss the phenomenon across subdisciplines and we will do everything we can to curate a program to facilitate the inclusion of a diversity of approaches. Join us in Göttingen this spring!

How is polar question meaning best analyzed with respect to other question types? What is the range of non-canonical questions and what do these say about the meaning and representation of polar questions? How to best handle bias and other inferences? How are polar questions expressed in syntax, morphology, intonation? How do components of the grammar of each language constrain and determine these ways, e.g., in the inventory of functional categories, the expression of negation, focus, polarity, intonational characteristics, pragmatic division of labor among forms? How do fine grammatical components correlate with fine components of meaning? What crosslinguistic generalizations can be made in this new level of granularity?

The last decades have seen a steady increase in work on meaning of polar questions, with relatively new notions like bias becoming front and center. The empirical scope has also extended, to include not only plain interrogatives but also declaratives, question tags, and alternative questions. These forms raise important questions about the relationship between form and meaning, as the so-called non-canonical forms induce finer components of meaning like bias.

Beyond these polar-like question forms familiar from widely studied languages; various other lexical and structural means are deployed to form paradigms of polar-like questions across languages. These include various particles, forms related to embedding, negation and focus. It is sometimes not clear how canonicality applies to these paradigms, yet different forms relate to different components of complex polar question meaning. Proposals have been made that the syntax and prosody of polar questions hold a discrete complexity, with dedicated components spelling out pieces of the question act.

This workshop aims to bring together work that continues this line of research by looking closely into expression strategies of polar questions. We invite abstracts that formally address aspects of polar(-like) question forms across languages, and theorize on polar question form and its relation to meaning based on a wide range of data of forms as well as languages. We are particularly excited to hear about analyses of fine components of meaning, formal grammatical phenomena such as clausal structure, embedding, negation, focus and intonation, the relationship of these phenomena to fine components of meaning, descriptive work on novel formal and pragmatic phenomena in lesser studied languages, and emerging crosslinguistic generalizations at this level of analysis.

Please limit abstracts of max. 2 pages to two abstracts per (co-)author and send to poqal.workshop@proton.me




Invited speakers:



Important data:


  • Abstracts due: February 20, 2026
  • Decisions announced: February 28, 2026
  • WS Date: April 29-30, 2026
  • WS location:University of Göttingen(Historische Sternwarte)
  • Contact persons: Ateş Çalışır, Beste Kamali
  • To contact the organizers, please use the following email:poqal.workshop@proton.me
  • Previous editions: https://sites.google.com/view/poqal-2/home
    • This workshop series was originally conceived and sponsored under the Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowship EPOQ-101067203 granted to Beste Kamali.



Practical Information:

Transport


  • Arrival by Plane: The nearest airport to Göttingen is Hannover Airport (HAJ). Other major airports within reach include Frankfurt (FRA), Hamburg (HAM), Bremen (BRE), and Berlin (BER). From these airports, you can find frequent train connections to Göttingen.

  • Arrival by Train or Bus: Göttingen is a well-connected hub on both North-South and East-West train routes in Germany. Most InterCity (IC) and InterCity Express (ICE) trains make a stop here, providing direct connections from cities like Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, and many others.
  • Local transport: Upon arrival at the train station, you can easily reach your accomodation by foot, depending on the distance, or by taking a taxi or local bus.The bus station is located next to the train station.


Polar Question Meaning[s] Across Languages (POQAL-1)
The first edition of Polar Questions Across Languages took place in April 11-13, 2024 in Amsterdam and was focused on polar question meaning. Here is the Website for POQAL-1:
Polar Question Meaning[S] Across Languages


Polar Question Form[s] Across Languages (POQAL-2)
The first edition of Polar Questions Across Languages took place in April 24-25, 2025 in Amsterdam and was focused on polar question meaning. Here is the Website for POQAL-2:
Polar Question Form[S] Across Languages