ERF - MORFON

Continuing Project Activities: Corpus Analyses, Initial Experiments, and New Research Equipment

Anamarija Ivanagić — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:07:27 GMT

We continue our work on the corpus analyses, alongside preparations for the first experiments.

Anka is preparing her doctoral qualifying paper, while the Croatian part of the project team is beginning the analysis of phonological processes in early child language acquisition.

We are looking forward to seeing the first results!

We are also planning a public procurement procedure that will enable us to purchase new computer equipment.

We are excited about everything that lies ahead!

Successful Defense of Seminar Paper and Doctoral Dissertation Proposal by PhD Student Anka Shamatava

Anamarija Ivanagić — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:06:29 GMT

Anka Shamatava, a member of our project team and a PhD student, successfully defended her seminar paper, comprising theoretical and methodological components, as part of the doctoral study programme Language, Speech and Hearing Disorders at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb.

As part of her doctoral studies, on 14 May 2026, she also successfully defended the proposal for her doctoral dissertation, entitled Morphonotactic and Phonotactic Consonant Clusters in Children Acquiring Georgian Language.

The defense was met with excellent feedback and praise. Anka is currently working on the final version of her dissertation proposal before it is submitted to the University Senate for consideration.

Congratulations to Anka on this achievement!

We are also proud to announce the publication of our first project-related research paper, published in June!

Anamarija Ivanagić — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:03:57 GMT

We are proud to announce the publication of the first research paper resulting from our project activities, published in June 2026 in the Italian Journal of Linguistics.

Matić, A., Kelić, M., Pavlinušić Vilus, E., & Palmović, M. (2026). The role of consonant cluster features in sublexical and lexical processing of morphologically complex words. Italian Journal of Linguistics, 38(1), 143–180.

The paper is published Open Access and is available at: https://doi.org/10.26346/2499-8125-236

The publication represents an important outcome of our project activities and contributes to research on the processing of morphologically complex words.

Participation in the PsychoSlav Conference – Psycholinguistics of Slavic Languages

Anamarija Ivanagić — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:58 GMT

From 27 to 29 May 2026, the PsychoSlav – Psycholinguistics of Slavic Languages conference was held in Zadar, Croatia, organized by the University of Zadar and UiT The Arctic University of Norway, with the University of Zadar serving as the host institution. The conference took place in the University’s historic building, located on the Zadar waterfront.

PsychoSlav is the only conference dedicated specifically to psycholinguistic research on Slavic languages, and it brings together leading researchers in the field. This year, around 70 researchers from across Europe and the United States presented their work on a wide range of topics related to language acquisition, learning, and processing in Slavic languages.

Members of the MORPHON project participated in the conference and enjoyed three days filled with excellent talks, insightful discussions, and great company. The members presented the results of two experiments investigating the role of morphonotactics and preferability in language processing at the sublexical and lexical levels in children with developmental language disorder. The study showed that language processing in typically developing 9-year-olds and their peers with DLD resembles adult processing patterns primarily at the sublexical level. At this level, the preferability of consonant clusters appears to play an important role in the speed and accuracy of processing morphologically complex verbs. Stay tuned for more information about this research - the manuscript is almost ready for submission.

Participation in the Pre- and Protomorphology Workshop 2026

Anamarija Ivanagić — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:53:23 GMT

Organized by the Department of German Studies at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Pre- and Protomorphology Workshop was held in Vienna on 12 and 13 February 2026. Members of our project team participated in the workshop with two presentations.

Maja Kelić gave a presentation on Morphonotactics in Croatian: The State of the Art and Future Directions, which reviewed current advances and outlined future research directions in Croatian morphonotactics. In addition, PhD student Anka Shamatava, together with Ana Matić, presented Phonological Simplification Strategies in the Early Acquisition of Consonant Clusters in Georgian, addressing the interaction between phonological development and the structure of complex consonant sequences. Through these presentations, the project contributed to international discussions on phonology, morphology, morphonotactics, and language development, while strengthening collaboration with researchers working on diverse languages and theoretical approaches. We are already looking forward to returning to Vienna in February 2027!

The First Few Months of the Project – What Have We Accomplished?

Anamarija Ivanagić — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 13:49:13 GMT

We held regular meetings to discuss the project’s work plan, financial plan, dissemination activities, and the responsibilities of the project team members.

Due to the international nature of the project and the involvement of collaborators from abroad, meetings were primarily held online.

The first meeting took place before the official start of the project, on 23 September 2025. During this meeting, the project leader reviewed all legal, financial, procedural, and administrative requirements necessary for the timely and proper implementation of the project with the team members.

Subsequent meetings were held in November 2025, February 2026, and June 2026. Project members also met more frequently in smaller groups, depending on the activities they were carrying out and their assigned responsibilities.

Project meeting, 20 November 2025

Project meeting, 25 February 2026

Project meeting, 8 June 2026