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Welcome to the SFB Language between Redundancy and Deficiency
Language is one of our most fundamental cognitive capacities. This Special Research Area (SFB) Network is developing a new approach to modeling the linguistic system. The starting point is the hypothesis that the cognitive core of language ability is based on logical-symbolic calculations, but is embedded in a cognitive system of stochastic nature. As an interface between the symbolic and stochastic components, grammar uses the central optimization factors of redundancy and deficiency, which can underlie linguistic operations and make it possible to process both under- and over-specified inputs.
The Network brings together the particularly strong linguistic research at the Universities of Graz, Vienna, and Salzburg and deals with uniformly defined, comprehensive empirical areas of grammar (pronouns and ellipsis). The sub-projects illuminate, classify and model these theoretically and empirically from the perspective of the concepts of redundancy and deficiency. Expected findings not only promise a deeper understanding of the basic mechanisms of the grammatical system, but also open up new perspectives for central questions in cognitive science regarding the role of language in cognition.
This Research Network is financed by the Austrian Science Fund for Special Research Areas (SFB Grant F1003).
Explore
Events
20NOV2026
Workshop
Current Issues in Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics
University of Salzburg
Current Issues in Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics
University of Salzburg
Location: University of Salzburg
Fourth edition of the ‘Current Issues in Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics’ workshop
Contact email: synsemprag.workshop@gmail.com
Page of the conference
28JUL2027
Workshop
Redundancy and Deficiency in Morphosyntactic Change
University of Iceland
Redundancy and Deficiency in Morphosyntactic Change
University of Iceland
Location: University of Iceland (Reykjavík)
Workshop “W14 Redundancy and Deficiency in Morphosyntactic Change” organized by Dalina Kalluli, Ian Roberts and Charles Yang. The workshop is part of the 28th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL28).
Call for papers: online and pdf.
Latest publications
Arsenijević, B., Milosavljević, A., & Milosavljević, S. (2026). Anaphoricity as the source of multifunctionality in confirmational particles. Proceedings of the Conference Referential Expressions in Discourse (RED) 2025.
author={Arsenijević, B. and Milosavljević, A. and Milosavljević, S.},
title={Anaphoricity as the source of multifunctionality in confirmational particles},
year={2026},
booktitle={Proceedings of the conference Referential Expressions in Discourse (RED) 2025} }
Burukina, I., & Kallulli, D. (2026). Deriving composite roles in syntax. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 11(1), 6143.
author={Burukina, I. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Deriving composite roles in syntax},
year={2026},
volume={11},
number={1},
booktitle={Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America},
pages={6143} }
Büring, D. (2026). Double Access and the Semantics of Attitude and Speech Reports. Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung 30 (SuB 30).
author={Büring, D.},
title={Double Access and the Semantics of Attitude and Speech Reports},
year={2026},
booktitle={Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 30 (SuB 30)} }