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| non official poster / AI-illustration |
The deadline for preliminary abstracts is 10 November 2026.
Birth-Order Names: Towards a Cross-Linguistic Typology
In numerous linguistic communities worldwide, personal names are not assigned solely according to individual or family preferences. Instead, some languages employ systematic sets of names determined by a child's position among siblings. Known as birth-order names (BONs) or kin numeratives, these naming systems have been documented across North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia.
Despite their geographical diversity, birth-order name series remain relatively understudied in linguistic typology and morphosyntax. The proposed workshop aims to develop a comparative framework for understanding their structural, semantic and anthropological characteristics, bringing together research in onomastics, linguistic anthropology, morphology and cross-linguistic semantics.
Key Research Questions
The workshop welcomes contributions exploring four principal dimensions:
Morphological strategies: How are birth-order names formed? Are they derived from numerals, comparative expressions or kinship terms, or do they constitute independent lexical paradigms?
Gender distinctions: Do languages employ gender-neutral names, separate male and female series, or systems combining shared roots with gender markers?
Series size and composition: How many birth-order names can a system contain, and what happens when the number of children exceeds the available names? How does language contact influence these systems?
Anthropological functions: How do birth-order names relate to kinship structures, age hierarchies, inheritance, lineage and forms of address?
The organisers particularly encourage comparative contributions covering different language families and geographical areas, including Siouan languages of North America, Atlantic, Mande and Gur languages of West Africa, languages of the Nuba Mountains, Southeast Asian language families, languages of New Guinea and Pama-Nyungan languages of Australia.
By integrating evidence from diverse linguistic traditions, the workshop aims to establish birth-order names as a distinct category in nominal typology and stimulate further interdisciplinary research.
Submission Guidelines
Researchers are invited to submit a preliminary abstract of no more than 100 words by 10 November 2026. Submissions should include four to five keywords, institutional affiliation and email address.
If the workshop proposal is accepted, contributors will be invited to submit an extended 500-word abstract by 15 January 2027.
The working language of the workshop is English. Contributions addressing individual languages, language families or broader theoretical and comparative questions are welcome, with preference given to studies offering a wider typological perspective.
Important Dates
Preliminary abstract deadline: 10 November 2026
Extended abstract deadline (if accepted): 15 January 2027
SLE 2027 Conference: 25–28 August 2027
Location: Košice, Slovakia
Submission and Contact
Preliminary abstracts should be sent to both workshop convenors:
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