Monographs
Zehentner, E. 2019. Competition in language change: The rise of the English dative alternation. [Topics in English Linguistics]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110633856
Edited volumes
Zehentner, E., M. Röthlisberger & T. Colleman, eds. 2023. Ditransitive constructions in Germanic languages. [Studies in Germanic Linguistics]. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.7
Special issues
Zehentner, E. & I. De Cesare, eds. 2026. Ambiguity (avoidance) as a factor in language change. Journal of Historical Linguistics
Peer-reviewed journal articles
E. Zehentner & M. Hundt. accepted. Semantic role labelling of PPs in historical English: Comparing FrameNet- and embeddings-based classifications. Constructions & Frames.
Zehentner, E. & I. De Cesare. 2026. Introduction: Ambiguity (avoidance) as a factor in language change. Journal of Historical Linguistics
Zehentner, E. 2025. The English conative alternation between semantics, complexity, and ambiguity: A historical perspective. Language and Cognition.
Sommerer, L. & E. Zehentner. 2025. Go to church or die in prison: PPs with bare institutional nouns in the history of English. Folia Linguistica Historica.
Zehentner, E. 2025. I’m all virtual-peopled out: Creativity and productivity in the case of the ‘exhaustive’ construction. Functions of Language [Special Issue on Today’s innovations, tomorrow’s conventions].
Zehentner, E. 2024. Alternations (at) that time: NP vs PP time adjuncts in the history of English. Linguistics Vanguard [Special Issue on Alternations].
Zehentner, E. 2023. Allostructions re-revisited. Constructions 15(1), 1-20. [Special Issue: 35 Years of Constructions]. doi:10.24338/cons-569
Zehentner, E., G. Schneider, M. Hundt & M. Röthlisberger. 2023. Differences in syntactic annotation affect retrieval: Verb-attached PPs in the history of English. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 28(2), 378 – 406. doi:10.1075/ijcl.21104.zeh
Pijpops, D. & E. Zehentner. 2022. How redundant is language really? Agent-recipient disambiguation across time and space. Glossa 7(1). doi:10.16995/glossa.8763
Zehentner, E. 2022. Revisiting gradience in Diachronic Construction Grammar: PPs and the complement-adjunct distinction in the history of English. ZAA 70(3), 301-335. [Special Issue on Diachronic Construction Grammar]. doi:10.1515/zaa-2022-2066
Zehentner, E. 2022. Competing constructions construct complementary niches: a diachronic view on the English dative alternation. Language Dynamics and Change. doi:10.1163/22105832-bja10021
Zehentner, E. 2021. Alternations emerge and disappear: The network of dispossession constructions in the history of English. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. doi:10.1515/cllt-2020-0074
Zehentner, E. 2021. Ambiguity avoidance is a factor in the rise of the English dative alternation. Cognitive Linguistics [Special Issue for Early Career Researchers]. doi:10.1515/cog-2021-0018
Zehentner, E. 2017. Ditransitives in Middle English: On semantic specialisation and the rise of the dative alternation. English Language and Linguistics 22(1), 149-175. doi:10.1017/S1360674316000447
Zehentner, E. 2014. From phrase to clause(-like): On the development of present participle and verbal noun in Middle Scots. VIEWS 23.
Articles in edited volumes
Zehentner, E. & Y. Iyeiri. accepted. On behalf of complex prepositions in the history of English. In F. Miletić, F. Günther, W. He, A. Villavicencio & S. Schulte im Walde, eds. Interdisciplinary, cross-lingual, diachronic and synchronic perspectives on the emergence and interpretation of multiword expression meanings. London: Springer.
Colleman, T., M. Röthlisberger & E. Zehentner. 2023. Introduction. In E. Zehentner, M. Röthlisberger & T. Colleman, eds. Ditransitive constructions in Germanic languages. [Studies in Germanic Linguistics], 1-18. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.7.00zeh
Zehentner, E. 2023. The dative alternation in Middle English as a response to system-wide changes. In E. Zehentner, M. Röthlisberger & T. Colleman, eds. Ditransitive constructions in Germanic languages. [Studies in Germanic Linguistics], 19-55. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.7.01zeh
Zehentner, E. & M. Hundt. 2022. Prepositions in early modern English argument structure. In L. Bettelou, C. Cowie, P. Honeybone & G. Trousdale, eds. English historical linguistics: Change in structure and meaning. Papers from the XXth ICEHL, 201-224. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/cilt.358.08zeh
Zehentner, E. 2021. Cognitive reality of constructions as a theoretical and methodological challenge in historical linguistics. In T. Colleman, F. Brisard, A. De Wit, R. Enghels, N. Koutsoukos, T. Mortelmans & M. S. Sansiñena, eds. The wealth and breadth of construction-based research, 378-389. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/bjl.00060.zeh
Ritt, N., A. Baumann, E. Zehentner & A. Zöpfl. 2020. Reconsidering subjectification from the perspective of animal signalling. In L. Gaeta, ed. Tracking language evolution as an interdisciplinary, cross-theoretical enterprise, 139-153. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/elt.00020.rit
Zehentner, E. & E. C. Traugott. 2020. Constructional networks and the development of benefactive ditransitives in English. In L. Sommerer and E. Smirnova, eds. Nodes and Links in the Network: Advances in Diachronic Construction Grammar, 168-211. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/cal.27.05zeh
Zehentner, E. 2018. The English dative alternation as an adaptation to changes in the constructional network. In C. Cuskley, M. Flaherty, H. Little, L. McCrohon, A. Ravignani and T. Verhoef, eds. The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference (EVOLANGXII).
Zehentner, E., A. Baumann, N. Ritt & C. Prömer. 2016. A game theoretic account of semantic subjectification in the cultural evolution of languages. In S. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, Ll. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér and T. Verhoef, eds. The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANGXI).
Handbook & encyclopedia entries
Zehentner, E. & I. De Cesare. 2026. Ambiguity in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Fleisser, F. & Zehentner, E. 2026. Competition in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zehentner, E. & D. Pijpops. 2026. Frequency in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zehentner, E. & D. Pijpops. 2026. Redundancy in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zehentner, E. & D. Pijpops. 2026. Frequency. In E. Aldridge, K. Kiss, A. Ledgeway, J. Salmons, A. Simonenko, and A. Breitbarth (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Diachronic Linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Zehentner, E. 2026. Constructional networks: It’s constructions all the way down, up, and everywhere (?). In C. Sinha, and X. Wen (eds.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.
Review articles
Zehentner, E. 2026. Review of Bouso, Tamara. (2021). Changes in argument structure: The transitivizing reaction object construction. Bern: Peter Lang. English Language and Linguistics.
Zehentner, E. 2019. Review of Van Goethem, Norde, Coussé & Vanderbauwhede (eds.) (2018), Category change from a constructional perspective. Journal of Historical Syntax 3(2).
Theses
Zehentner, E. 2025. All things prepositional in the history of English. Zurich: University of Zurich habilitation thesis (cumulative).
Zehentner, E. 2016. On competition and cooperation in Middle English ditransitives. Vienna: University of Vienna PhD thesis.
Zehentner, E. 2013. On the history of plural formation in Albanian. Vienna: University of Vienna Diploma thesis.
Zehentner, E. 2012. -AND vs. -ING: On the development of present participle and verbal noun in Middle Scots. Vienna: University of Vienna Diploma thesis.
Invited talks
9th Naxos Summer School on Diachronic Linguistics, Naxos, Greece; 25-31 July 2024: “Old and Middle English Morphosyntax”.
Workshop Understanding Grammar Change: Digital Resources and Evolutionary Modelling, University of Edinburgh; 04-05 June 2024, Edinburgh, UK: “Prepositional phrases in historical corpora of English: Methodological and theoretical challenges”.
Workshop Constructions and Context, Université Paris 8; 15 November 2023, Paris, France: “English prepositional argument structure constructions through time”.
BA/MA Seminar Funktionsverbgefüge, University of Neuchatel (Prof. Elena Smirnova); 13 November 2023, Neuchatel, Switzerland: “Präpositionale Funktionsverbgefüge in der Geschichte des Englischen: Variation und Wandel”.
Departmental Lecture Series Space, University of Zurich: 04 April 2023, Zurich, Switzerland: “Spatial prepositions in the history of English”.
Lecture Series Language, Communication & Cognition, University of Freiburg; 25 November 2022, Freiburg, Germany: “Verb-attached PPs in the history of English: Stability and change”.
The English Language Seminar, University of Stockholm; 17 October 2022, Stockholm, Sweden: “Prepositions in English argument structure throughout time”.
SILPAC research colloquium, University of Mannheim; 13 October 2022, Mannheim, Germany: “PP-constructions in the history of English: Categorisation and competition”.
QLVL research unit, KU Leuven; 14 May 2021, Leuven, Belgium: “Who gave what to whom: Argument disambiguation as a factor in the rise of the English dative alternation”.
Research Seminar in English Language and Linguistics, University of Westminster; 28 November 2018, London, UK: “Are syntactic alternations ‘special’? On the diachrony of English ditransitives”.
International Conference ‘Modelling the linguistic architecture of English: Theories and methods’; 24-25 May 2018, Vigo, Spain: “Extending the scope: Non-prototypical patterns in the history of the English dative alternation”.
PhilSoc Early Career Researcher colloquium (Theme: ‘Approaches to grammatical change’); 18 November 2017, Manchester, UK: “Subjectification in semantic change: Evolutionary pragmatics and verbs like to cope with)”.
Meeting of the Linguistic Circle Copenhagen (Lingvistkredsen); 9 May 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark: “(Un-)cooperativeness in communication and the explanation of subjectification in semantic change”.
GLIMS workshop on Variation and Change in Dative and Ditransitive Constructions; 24 February 2015, Ghent, Belgium: “Ditransitives in Middle English: Semantic specialisation and the rise of the dative alternation”.
Recent conference papers (2018-)
Workshop Challenging Construction Grammar: New insights from morphology; 08-12 April 2024, Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland: “Argument disambiguation strategies between morphology and syntax: Challenging construction grammar”.
26th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL26); 04-08 September 2023, Heidelberg, Germany: Workshop “Ambiguity (avoidance) as a factor in language change” (Zehentner & De Cesare).
56th Annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 29 August – 01 September 2023, Athens, Greece: “Ambiguity beats complexity in the history of the English conative alternation”.
56th Annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 29 August – 01 September 2023, Athens, Greece: “A large-scale assessment of competition between nominal and prepositional patterns in the history of English” (Egurtzegi & Zehentner; poster presentation).
16th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC); 07-11 August 2023, Düsseldorf, Germany: “Revisiting constructional gradience: V-PP patterns in the history of English” (Workshop ‘Grammatical constructions and the usage-based model’).
16th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC); 07-11 August 2023, Düsseldorf, Germany: “Is language efficient or redundant? How language users distinguish the agent from the recipient in English and Dutch” (Workshop ‘New perspectives on communicative efficiency’; Zehentner & Pijpops).
11th International Conference on Construction Grammar (ICCG12); 19-21 May 2023, Prague, Czech Republic: “English prepositional verbs emerged through constructionalisation(?)”.
Swiss Works in English Language and Linguistics (SWELL); 10 March 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: “Alternations (at) that time: NP vs PP time adjuncts in the history of English”.
CogLing Days 2022 (Language, Discourse and Cognition: Interdisciplinary Approaches); 08-09 December 2022, Tilburg, Netherlands: “Is language efficient or redundant? How language users distinguish the agent from the recipient in English and Dutch” (Pijpops & Zehentner).
9th Biennial International Conference on the Linguistics of Contemporary English (BICLCE); 15-17 September 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia: “I’m all virtual peopled out: Creativity, productivity, and schematicity in the case of innovative NP + out combinations” (‘Today’s innovations, tomorrow’s conventions’).
Joint Conference on Language Evolution (EVOLANG/ Protolang/ Evolinguistics); 05-08 September 2022, Kanazawa, Japan: “Is redundancy useful in language? Agent-Recipient disambiguation in English and Dutch” (poster presentation; Zehentner & Pijpops).
25th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL); 01-05 August 2022, Oxford, UK: “Go to church or die in prison: tracing V-PP combinations with bare institutional nouns in the history of English” (Zehentner & Sommerer).
25th International Conference on Historical Linguistics (ICHL); 01-05 August 2022, Oxford, UK: “English verb complementation over time: from NP to PP or vice versa” (poster presentation).
43rd ICAME conference; 27 July – 30 July 2022, Cambridge, UK: “Which factors are at play in English argument structure variation? NPs vs PPs throughout time”.
Swiss Works in English Language and Linguistics (SWELL); 25 February 2022, Basel, Switzerland: “Redundancy in argument structure: Ditransitives in present day and historical English”.
linguistweets (the first international twitter conference on linguistics); 05 December 2021: “redundancy: do dutch and english speakers like it?” (Zehentner & Pijpops).
Workshop Modelling constructional variation and change; 15-16 November 2021, Zurich, Switzerland: “Measuring adjunct-status in diachronic data”.
Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Processing and Learning (X-PPL 2021); 16-17 September 2021, Zurich, Switzerland: “Is redundancy useful in language? Agent-Recipient disambiguation in English and Dutch” (Zehentner & Pijpops).
54th Annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 30 August – 03 September 2021, Athens, Greece: “Competition in the history of English verbal argument structure: NPs vs PPs” (Hundt & Zehentner).
54th Annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 30 August – 03 September 2021, Athens, Greece: “The history of the English dative alternation: from morphosyntax to pragmatics”.
11th International Conference on Construction Grammar (ICCG11); 17-20 August 2021, Antwerp, Belgium: “Expanding networks (?): NP versus PP argument structures in the history of English”.
Corpus Approaches to Lexicogrammar (LxGr); 02-03 July 2021, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK: “Alternations emerge and disappear: The network of dispossession constructions in the history of English”.
21st International Conference of English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL), 07-11 June 2021, Leiden, Netherlands: “Complements versus adjuncts: Verb-attached PPs in the history of English”.
Swiss Works in English Language and Linguistics (SWELL); 12 March 2021, Zurich, Switzerland: “Adjuncts vs complements and anything in-between: Prepositions in the history of English”.
linguistweets (the first international twitter conference on linguistics); 05 December 2020: “who gives what to whom, and how do we know”.
Historical English Linguistics at Zurich and Beyond 4 (HEL); 30 October 2020, Zurich, Switzerland: “Prepositional verb complementation patterns in the history of English: Increase, decrease, both or neither?”.
53rd Annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 26-29 August 2020, Bucharest, Romania: “Resolving competition in English verbal argument structure: NPs vs PPs”.
UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference 2020 (UK-CLC); 28-30 July 2020, Birmingham, UK: “Animacy in the diachrony of the English dative alternation: the role of subjects”.
52nd annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 21-24 August 2019, Leipzig, Germany: “Comparing annotation schemes across time: The problem of syntactic mapping” (Zehentner, Hundt, Röthlisberger & Schneider).
15th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC); 06-11 August 2019, Nishinomiya, Japan: “A convent of sisters without a mother superior? – Discussing abstract nodes in the constructional network” (Sommerer & Zehentner).
International workshop on ‘The Diachrony of Ditransitives’, 29-30 November 2018, Vercelli, Italy: “Binary choices versus complex networks: The history of the English dative alternation”.
20th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL); 27-31 August 2018, Edinburgh, UK: “Prepositions in Early Modern English argument structure” (Hundt & Zehentner).
5th International Conference of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE); 17-20 July 2018, London, UK: “The dative alternation in Middle English: a binary choice?”.
12th Evolution of Language International Conference (EVOLANG); 16-19 April 2018, Toruń, Poland: “The English dative alternation as an adaptation to changes in the constructional network”.
Bōc-weorc
Zehentner, E. 2019. Gecamp on sprǣcwendunge: Þæs Engliscan datīfwendles upgang. [Topics in English Linguistics]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110633856
Gegaderode Bēc
Zehentner, E., M. Röthlisberger ⁊ T. Colleman, gadrigende. 2023. Þrīġiefend getimbro on Germaniscum sprǣcum. [Studies in Germanic Linguistics]. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.7
Sundor-ūtgifena
Zehentner, E. ⁊ I. De Cesare, gadrigende. 2026. Twēoġung (and hire forbugung) swā swā þing on sprǣcwendunge. Journal of Historical Linguistics
Efendēmede Tīdgewritu
E. Zehentner ⁊ M. Hundt. onfangen. Andġietlīċra dǣla tacnung PP-a on ealdum Englisċe: FrameNetes and wordembeddunga todǣlinga wiþmetung. Getimbro ⁊ rāmmas.
Zehentner, E. ⁊ I. De Cesare. 2026. Ingang: Twēoġung (and hire forbugung) swā swā þing on sprǣcwendunge. Journal of Historical Linguistics
Zehentner, E. 2025. Se Englisca conative-wendels betwēox andġiete, fealdnesse and twēoġunge: Of ġesċeodlīcre gesihþe. Language and Cognition.
Sommerer, L. ⁊ E. Zehentner. 2025. Gān tō cirican oþþe sweltan on cwearterne: PP-a mid nacodum gesetnesnama on Engliscre sprǣcgesihþe. Folia Linguistica Historica.
Zehentner, E. 2025. Ic eom eall virtual-folcod ūt: Scieppendcræft and wæstmbernes be þǣm ‘exhaustive’ getimbre. Functions of Language [Special Issue on Today’s innovations, tomorrow’s conventions].
Zehentner, E. 2024. Wendlas on þǣre tīde: NP ongean PP tīdeġehengdu on Engliscre sprǣcgesihþe. Linguistics Vanguard [Special Issue on Alternations].
Zehentner, E. 2023. Eallogetimbro eft and eft besċēawode. Constructions 15(1), 1-20. [Special Issue: 35 Years of Constructions]. doi:10.24338/cons-569
Zehentner, E., G. Schneider, M. Hundt ⁊ M. Röthlisberger. 2023. Missenlicu syntactiscu tacnung wyrċþ missenlice sēċunga: PP-a þe sind weorcwordum ġehæfte on Engliscre sprǣcgesihþe. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 28(2), 378 – 406. doi:10.1075/ijcl.21104.zeh
Pijpops, D. ⁊ E. Zehentner. 2022. Hū oferflōwend is sprǣc sōþlīċe? Tōdǣlung dǣdhātendes and onfōndes ġeond tīd and rūm. Glossa 7(1). doi:10.16995/glossa.8763
Zehentner, E. 2022. Stīġendnes eft besċēawod on diacrōniscre getimborsprǣclāre: PP-a and tōdǣlung betwēox fyllendum and ġehengdum on Engliscre sprǣcgesihþe. ZAA 70(3), 301-335. [Special Issue on Diachronic Construction Grammar]. doi:10.1515/zaa-2022-2066
Zehentner, E. 2022. Wiðercampende getimbro timbriaþ him ġefyllende stōwa: ġesċeodlīċ gesihþ on þone Engliscan datīfwendel. Language Dynamics and Change. doi:10.1163/22105832-bja10021
Zehentner, E. 2021. Wendlas cumaþ forþ and forweorþaþ: Þæt nett ætēafungargetimbra on Engliscre sprǣcgesihþe. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. doi:10.1515/cllt-2020-0074
Zehentner, E. 2021. Twēoġunge forbugung is þing on þæs Engliscan datīfwendles upgange. Cognitive Linguistics [Special Issue for Early Career Researchers]. doi:10.1515/cog-2021-0018
Zehentner, E. 2017. Þrīġiefend getimbro on Middelenglisċe: Be andġietlīcre sundrunga and þæs datīfwendles upgange. English Language and Linguistics 22(1), 149-175. doi:10.1017/S1360674316000447
Zehentner, E. 2014. Fram wordþrēate tō cwide(-gelīcum): Be þǣre þēunge andweardes dǣlnimendes and weorcwordlīces naman on Middelscyttisċe. VIEWS 23.
Stycce on Gegaderodum Bēcum
Zehentner, E. & Y. Iyeiri. onfangen. Be on behalf of gefēogendum forsetningum on Engliscre sprǣcgesihþe. In F. Miletić, F. Günther, W. He, A. Villavicencio ⁊ S. Schulte im Walde, gadrigende. Þurh missenlice lārcynn, ġeond sprǣca, ġeond tīd and on ānre tīde: gesihþa on þǣre upāstīġunge and andġiete mǣġworda ġesamnunga. London: Springer.
Colleman, T., M. Röthlisberger ⁊ E. Zehentner. 2023. Ingang. In E. Zehentner, M. Röthlisberger & T. Colleman, gadrigende. Þrīġiefend getimbro on Germaniscum sprǣcum [Studies in Germanic Linguistics], 1-18. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.7.00zeh
Zehentner, E. 2023. Se datīfwendel on Middelenglisċe swā andswaru tō wīdsprǣclīcum wendungum. In E. Zehentner, M. Röthlisberger ⁊ T. Colleman, gadrigende. Þrīġiefend getimbro on Germaniscum sprǣcum. [Studies in Germanic Linguistics], 19-55. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/sigl.7.01zeh
Zehentner, E. ⁊ M. Hundt. 2022. Forsetninga on Ǣrnīwengliscre wordġetimbre. In L. Bettelou, C. Cowie, P. Honeybone ⁊ G. Trousdale, gadrigende. Englisċ sprǣcgesċēad on ġesċeode: Wending on getimbre and andġiete. Gewritu fram þǣm XX ICEHL, 201-224. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/cilt.358.08zeh
Zehentner, E. 2021. Andġietlīċ sōþfæstnes getimbra swā lārlīċ and weġlǣċ ġeswinc on ġesċeodlīcre sprǣclāre. In T. Colleman, F. Brisard, A. De Wit, R. Enghels, N. Koutsoukos, T. Mortelmans ⁊ M. S. Sansiñena, gadrigende. Se welan and brǣdu getimbrgrundes sprǣcrǣdennes, 378-389. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/bjl.00060.zeh
Ritt, N., A. Baumann, E. Zehentner ⁊ A. Zöpfl. 2020. Reconsidering subjectification from the perspective of animal signalling. In L. Gaeta, ed. Tracking language evolution as an interdisciplinary, cross-theoretical enterprise, 139-153. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/elt.00020.rit
Zehentner, E. ⁊ E. C. Traugott. 2020. Constructional networks and the development of benefactive ditransitives in English. In L. Sommerer and E. Smirnova, gadrigende Nodes and Links in the Network: Advances in Diachronic Construction Grammar, 168-211. Amsterdam: Benjamins. doi:10.1075/cal.27.05zeh
Zehentner, E. 2018. The English dative alternation as an adaptation to changes in the constructional network. In C. Cuskley, M. Flaherty, H. Little, L. McCrohon, A. Ravignani and T. Verhoef, gadrigende The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 12th Woruld-gemōt (EVOLANGXII).
Zehentner, E., A. Baumann, N. Ritt ⁊ C. Prömer. 2016. A game theoretic account of semantic subjectification in the cultural evolution of languages. In S. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, Ll. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér and T. Verhoef, gadrigende The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th Woruld-gemōt (EVOLANGXI).
Handbōca ⁊ ġelǣrednesbōca inngangas
Zehentner, E. ⁊ I. De Cesare. 2026. Ambiguity in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (gadrigende), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Fleisser, F. ⁊ Zehentner, E. 2026. Competition in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zehentner, E. ⁊ D. Pijpops. 2026. Frequency in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (gadrigende), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zehentner, E. ⁊ D. Pijpops. 2026. Redundancy in language change. In H. Nesi & P. Milin (gadrigende), International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (3rd edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Zehentner, E. ⁊ D. Pijpops. 2026. Frequency. In E. Aldridge, K. Kiss, A. Ledgeway, J. Salmons, A. Simonenko, and A. Breitbarth (gadrigende), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Diachronic Linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Zehentner, E. 2026. Constructional networks: It’s constructions all the way down, up, and everywhere (?). In C. Sinha, and X. Wen (gadrigende), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.
Sceawung-gewritu
Zehentner, E. 2026. Sceawung be Bouso, Tamara. (2021). Changes in argument structure: The transitivizing reaction object construction. Bern: Peter Lang. English Language and Linguistics.
Zehentner, E. 2019. Sceawung be Van Goethem, Norde, Coussé ⁊ Vanderbauwhede (gadrigende) (2018), Category change from a constructional perspective. Journal of Historical Syntax 3(2).
Lār-gewritu
Zehentner, E. 2016. On competition and cooperation in Middle English ditransitives. Vienna: Heahscole on Wienne PhD-gewrit.
Zehentner, E. 2016. On competition and cooperation in Middle English ditransitives. Vienna: Heahscole on Wienne PhD-gewrit.
Zehentner, E. 2013. On the history of plural formation in Albanian. Vienna: Heahscole on Wienne Diploma-gewrit.
Zehentner, E. 2012. -AND vs. -ING: On the development of present participle and verbal noun in Middle Scots. Vienna: Heahscole on Wienne Diploma-gewrit.
Gelaðode Spræca
9th Naxos Sumor-scōl on Diachronic Linguistics, Naxos, Greece; 25-31 Mǣdmōnaþ 2024: “Old and Middle English Morphosyntax”.
Weorc-gemōt Understanding Grammar Change: Digital Resources and Evolutionary Modelling, University of Edinburgh; 04-05 Sēremōnaþ 2024, Edinburgh, UK: “Prepositional phrases in historical corpora of English: Methodological and theoretical challenges”.
Weorc-gemōt Constructions and Context, Université Paris 8; 15 Blōtmōnaþ 2023, Paris, France: “English prepositional argument structure constructions through time”.
BA/MA Seminar Funktionsverbgefüge, University of Neuchatel (Prof. Elena Smirnova); 13 Blōtmōnaþ 2023, Neuchatel, Switzerland: “Präpositionale Funktionsverbgefüge in der Geschichte des Englischen: Variation und Wandel”.
Scole Rǣdincga rǣw Space, University of Zurich: 04 Ēastermōnaþ 2023, Zurich, Switzerland: “Spatial prepositions in the history of English”.
Rǣdincga rǣw Language, Communication & Cognition, University of Freiburg; 25 Blōtmōnaþ 2022, Freiburg, Germany: “Verb-attached PPs in the history of English: Stability and change”.
The English Language Seminar, University of Stockholm; 17 Winterfylleþ 2022, Stockholm, Sweden: “Prepositions in English argument structure throughout time”.
SILPAC research smēagengemōt, University of Mannheim; 13 Winterfylleþ 2022, Mannheim, Germany: “PP-constructions in the history of English: Categorisation and competition”.
QLVL research unit, KU Leuven; 14 Þrimilcemōnaþ 2021, Leuven, Belgium: “Who gave what to whom: Argument disambiguation as a factor in the rise of the English dative alternation”.
Smēagung in English Language and Linguistics, University of Westminster; 28 Blōtmōnaþ 2018, London, UK: “Are syntactic alternations ‘special’? On the diachrony of English ditransitives”.
Woruld-gemōt ‘Modelling the linguistic architecture of English: Theories and methods’; 24-25 Þrimilcemōnaþ 2018, Vigo, Spain: “Extending the scope: Non-prototypical patterns in the history of the English dative alternation”.
PhilSoc smēagengemōt for gingum smēagendum (Ymbe-sprǣc: ‘Approaches to grammatical change’); 18 Blōtmōnaþ 2017, Manchester, UK: “Subjectification in semantic change: Evolutionary pragmatics and verbs like to cope with)”.
Gemōt þæs Linguistic Circle Copenhagen (Lingvistkredsen); 9 Þrimilcemōnaþ 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark: “(Un-)cooperativeness in communication and the explanation of subjectification in semantic change”.
GLIMS weorc-gemōt on Variation and Change in Dative and Ditransitive Constructions; 24 Solmōnaþ 2015, Ghent, Belgium: “Ditransitives in Middle English: Semantic specialisation and the rise of the dative alternation”.
Nēawesta Gemōt-gewritu (MMXVIII-)
Weorc-gemōt Challenging Construction Grammar: New insights from morphology; 08-12 Ēastermōnaþ 2024, Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland: “Argument disambiguation strategies between morphology and syntax: Challenging construction grammar”.
26th Woruld-gemōt on Historical Linguistics (ICHL26); 04-08 Hāligmōnaþ 2023, Heidelberg, Germany: Weorc-gemōt “Ambiguity (avoidance) as a factor in language change” (Zehentner & De Cesare).
56th Gēarlic gemōt of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 29 Wēodmōnaþ – 01 Hāligmōnaþ 2023, Athens, Greece: “Ambiguity beats complexity in the history of the English conative alternation”.
56th Gēarlic gemōt of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 29 Wēodmōnaþ – 01 Hāligmōnaþ 2023, Athens, Greece: “A large-scale assessment of competition between nominal and prepositional patterns in the history of English” (Egurtzegi & Zehentner; biecnung-ætīewung).
16th Woruld-gemōt Ongietfulre Spræccræfte (ICLC); 07-11 Wēodmōnaþ 2023, Düsseldorf, Germany: “Revisiting constructional gradience: V-PP patterns in the history of English” (Weorc-gemōt ‘Grammatical constructions and the usage-based model’).
16th Woruld-gemōt Ongietfulre Spræccræfte (ICLC); 07-11 Wēodmōnaþ 2023, Düsseldorf, Germany: “Is language efficient or redundant? How language users distinguish the agent from the recipient in English and Dutch” (Weorc-gemōt ‘New perspectives on communicative efficiency’; Zehentner & Pijpops).
11th Woruld-gemōt on Construction Grammar (ICCG12); 19-21 Þrimilcemōnaþ 2023, Prague, Czech Republic: “English prepositional verbs emerged through constructionalisation(?)”.
Swiss Works in English Language and Linguistics (SWELL); 10 Hrēþmōnaþ 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: “Alternations (at) that time: NP vs PP time adjuncts in the history of English”.
CogLing Days 2022 (Language, Discourse and Cognition: Interdisciplinary Approaches); 08-09 Gēolmōnaþ 2022, Tilburg, Netherlands: “Is language efficient or redundant? How language users distinguish the agent from the recipient in English and Dutch” (Pijpops & Zehentner).
9th Biennial Woruld-gemōt on the Linguistics of Contemporary English (BICLCE); 15-17 Hāligmōnaþ 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia: “I’m all virtual peopled out: Creativity, productivity, and schematicity in the case of innovative NP + out combinations” (‘Today’s innovations, tomorrow’s conventions’).
Joint Gemōt on Language Evolution (EVOLANG/ Protolang/ Evolinguistics); 05-08 Hāligmōnaþ 2022, Kanazawa, Japan: “Is redundancy useful in language? Agent-Recipient disambiguation in English and Dutch” (biecnung-ætīewung; Zehentner & Pijpops).
25th Woruld-gemōt on Historical Linguistics (ICHL); 01-05 Wēodmōnaþ 2022, Oxford, UK: “Go to church or die in prison: tracing V-PP combinations with bare institutional nouns in the history of English” (Zehentner & Sommerer).
25th Woruld-gemōt on Historical Linguistics (ICHL); 01-05 Wēodmōnaþ 2022, Oxford, UK: “English verb complementation over time: from NP to PP or vice versa” (biecnung-ætīewung).
43rd ICAME gemōt; 27 Mǣdmōnaþ – 30 Mǣdmōnaþ 2022, Cambridge, UK: “Which factors are at play in English argument structure variation? NPs vs PPs throughout time”.
Swiss Works in English Language and Linguistics (SWELL); 25 Solmōnaþ 2022, Basel, Switzerland: “Redundancy in argument structure: Ditransitives in present day and historical English”.
linguistweets (the first international twitter gemōt on linguistics); 05 Gēolmōnaþ 2021: “redundancy: do dutch and english speakers like it?” (Zehentner & Pijpops).
Weorc-gemōt Modelling constructional variation and change; 15-16 Blōtmōnaþ 2021, Zurich, Switzerland: “Measuring adjunct-status in diachronic data”.
Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Processing and Learning (X-PPL 2021); 16-17 Hāligmōnaþ 2021, Zurich, Switzerland: “Is redundancy useful in language? Agent-Recipient disambiguation in English and Dutch” (Zehentner & Pijpops).
54th Gēarlic gemōt of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 30 Wēodmōnaþ – 03 Hāligmōnaþ 2021, Athens, Greece: “Competition in the history of English verbal argument structure: NPs vs PPs” (Hundt & Zehentner).
54th Gēarlic gemōt of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 30 Wēodmōnaþ – 03 Hāligmōnaþ 2021, Athens, Greece: “The history of the English dative alternation: from morphosyntax to pragmatics”.
11th Woruld-gemōt on Construction Grammar (ICCG11); 17-20 Wēodmōnaþ 2021, Antwerp, Belgium: “Expanding networks (?): NP versus PP argument structures in the history of English”.
Corpus Approaches to Lexicogrammar (LxGr); 02-03 Mǣdmōnaþ 2021, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK: “Alternations emerge and disappear: The network of dispossession constructions in the history of English”.
21st Woruld-gemōt of English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL), 07-11 Sēremōnaþ 2021, Leiden, Netherlands: “Complements versus adjuncts: Verb-attached PPs in the history of English”.
Swiss Works in English Language and Linguistics (SWELL); 12 Hrēþmōnaþ 2021, Zurich, Switzerland: “Adjuncts vs complements and anything in-between: Prepositions in the history of English”.
linguistweets (the first international twitter gemōt on linguistics); 05 Gēolmōnaþ 2020: “who gives what to whom, and how do we know”.
Historical English Linguistics at Zurich and Beyond 4 (HEL); 30 Winterfylleþ 2020, Zurich, Switzerland: “Prepositional verb complementation patterns in the history of English: Increase, decrease, both or neither?”.
53rd Gēarlic gemōt of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 26-29 Wēodmōnaþ 2020, Bucharest, Romania: “Resolving competition in English verbal argument structure: NPs vs PPs”.
UK Cognitive Linguistics Gemōt 2020 (UK-CLC); 28-30 Mǣdmōnaþ 2020, Birmingham, UK: “Animacy in the diachrony of the English dative alternation: the role of subjects”.
52nd gēarlic gemōt of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE); 21-24 Wēodmōnaþ 2019, Leipzig, Germany: “Comparing annotation schemes across time: The problem of syntactic mapping” (Zehentner, Hundt, Röthlisberger & Schneider).
15th Woruld-gemōt Ongietfulre Spræccræfte (ICLC); 06-11 Wēodmōnaþ 2019, Nishinomiya, Japan: “A convent of sisters without a mother superior? – Discussing abstract nodes in the constructional network” (Sommerer & Zehentner).
International weorc-gemōt on ‘The Diachrony of Ditransitives’, 29-30 Blōtmōnaþ 2018, Vercelli, Italy: “Binary choices versus complex networks: The history of the English dative alternation”.
20th Woruld-gemōt on English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL); 27-31 Wēodmōnaþ 2018, Edinburgh, UK: “Prepositions in Early Modern English argument structure” (Hundt & Zehentner).
5th Woruld-gemōt of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE); 17-20 Mǣdmōnaþ 2018, London, UK: “The dative alternation in Middle English: a binary choice?”.
12th Evolution of Language Woruld-gemōt (EVOLANG); 16-19 Ēastermōnaþ 2018, Toruń, Poland: “The English dative alternation as an adaptation to changes in the constructional network”.