Research Projects

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Current projects

Language in Conspiracy Theories

This DFG project investigates, from the perspectives of discourse, sociolinguistics, and media linguistics, the communicative practices, rhetorical strategies, and specific linguistic patterns that are characteristic of discourse on alleged conspiracies and through which participants position themselves in conspiracy theory discourses.

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Project publications (selected):

  • Stumpf, Sören (2025): Syntactic Negation in Conspiracy Theories: A Discourse-Grammatical Analysis of the Inexistence Construction [es gibt kein X]. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 53, 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1515/zgl-2025-2001
  • Stumpf, Sören (2025): Verb Mood as a Resource for Perspective. Insights from the Example of Conspiracy Theories. German Language Teaching 77.4, 62–72.
  • Stumpf, Sören (2025): On the Interplay Between Word Formation and Discourse Semantics: Keyword Compounds in Conspiracy Theories. In: David Römer, Steffen Pappert & Kersten Sven Roth (eds.): Civil Society Linguistics. Hamburg: Buske (Language – Politics – Society 36), 351–360. https://doi.org/10.46771/978-3-69110-013-6
  • Stumpf, Sören (2024): Word Formation in Conspiracy Theories: Discourse-Morphological Approaches to Heterodox Knowledge. In: Sascha Michel (ed.): Discourse Morphology. Approaches and Case Studies at the Interface between Morphology and Discourse Linguistics. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Diskursmuster / Discourse Patterns 36), 153–186. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111363936-006
  • Stumpf, Sören & David Römer (2024): A Linguistic Investigation of Conspiracy Theories. In: Roland Imhoff (ed.): The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories. Strangely Deceived by Dark Forces... Göttingen: hogrefe, 198–216.

Grammar in Digital Communication

The project aims to examine (lexical-)grammatical phenomena across various platforms, in the context of divergent digital communication practices, and with a focus on different online communities. Of particular interest are structural patterns that are not only shaped by the context of digital communication but also help to shape it. Initial perspectives were presented at the conference “Digital Grammar Studies – Grammar (in) Digital Communication ”; the corresponding conference proceedings will be published in the summer of 2026 by De Gruyter in the series “Formelhafte Sprache / Formulaic Language.”

Project publications (selection):

  • Merten, Marie-Luis & Sören Stumpf (eds.) (forthcoming): Digital Grammar Studies. Grammatical Patterns in Digital Communication. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Formelhafte Sprache / Formulaic Language 9).
  • Stumpf, Sören (forthcoming): On the “Nachfeld” on WhatsApp: Expansions in Digital Written Interaction. In: Marie-Luis Merten & Sören Stumpf (eds.): Digital Grammar Studies. Grammatical Patterns inDigital Communication. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Formulaic Language 9).
  • Stumpf, Sören (forthcoming): Internet Pragmatics Meets Construction Grammar. Semi-schematic text-memes in digital communication. Journal for Media Linguistics.
  • Merten, Marie-Luis & Sören Stumpf (forthcoming): From the Internet Meme to the Lexicogrammatical Construction. On the Evolution of an Evaluative Sign Scheme Between Digitality and Analogicity. Zeitschrift für Semiotik 47 (1-2), 87–114.
  • Stumpf, Sören (2024): How many more championship titles do you want to win? FC Bayern: Yes —A text construction on social media between stability, variability, and creativity. In: Sören Stumpf & Stephan Stein (eds.): Construction Grammar X. Text Types and Text Patterns as Constructions? Tübingen: Stauffenburg (Stauffenburg Linguistics 128), 63–87.

Completed projects

Patterns: Linguistic Creativity and Variation in Synchrony and Diachrony

This collaborative project brings together a wide range of linguistic research and research from related disciplines. The goal is to conduct comprehensive empirical research on linguistic patterns—beyond established disciplinary boundaries—based on a deliberately broad definition of the concept of “pattern” and through interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as to develop an adequate theory of linguistic pattern formation.

  • Funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Research Initiative
  • Co-directed with Prof. Dr. Sabine Arndt-Lappe (University of Trier) from 2020–2021
  • Duration: 2019–2023

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Project publications (selection):

  • Arndt-Lappe, Sabine, Sören Stumpf, Milena Belosevic, Peter Maurer, Claudine Moulin & Achim Rettinger (eds.) (forthcoming): Patterns in Language and Communication. Between Theoretical Grounding and Empirical Methods. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Interdisciplinary Linguistics 5).
  • Maurer, Peter & Sören Stumpf (forthcoming): Patterned communication in social media: How German political parties frame a natural disaster in tweets. In: Sabine Arndt-Lappe, Sören Stumpf, Milena Belosevic, Peter Maurer, Claudine Moulin & Achim Rettinger (eds.): Patterns in Language and Communication. Between TheoreticalGrounding and Empirical Methods. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Interdisciplinary Linguistics 5), 313–338.
  • Stumpf, Sören (2025): On the Dynamics of Constructional Idioms. A Micro-Diachronic Approach to the Entrenchment and Conventionalization of Lexico-Grammatical Patterns in German. In: Sabine Arndt-Lappe & Natalia Filatkina (eds.): Dynamics at the Lexicon-Syntax Interface. Creativity and Routine in Word-Formation and Multi-Word Expressions. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Formelhafte Sprache / Formulaic Language 6), 193–240. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111321905-008
  • Mollica, Fabio & Sören Stumpf (eds.) (2023): Construction Grammar IX. Construction Families in German. Tübingen: Stauffenburg (Stauffenburg Linguistics 127).

Di-medial Word Formation: Corpus Studies on Written and Spoken German

My postdoctoral dissertation focuses on diamedial usage patterns and functions of German word formation. I investigate how word formation contributes to the structure of texts and conversations and how word formations shape different types of texts and conversations. I also demonstrate the extent to which word formation serves as a resource in social interaction and how the conditions of communication and production in written and spoken language affect the distribution and use of word-formation constructions. The work combines classical word-formation morphology with concepts from interactional linguistics, cognitive semantics, and usage-based construction grammar. Overall, it is intended as a plea for a pragmatic approach to word-formation research.

  • ​Habilitation
  • Duration: 2016–2021

Publication

Further project publications (selection):

Formulaic (Ir)regularities: Corpus Linguistic Findings and Linguistic-Theoretical Considerations

In my dissertation, I examine phrasemes in which words or morphosyntactic structures from past linguistic eras have been preserved (e.g., jmdn. an den Pranger stellen, wie etw. im Buche steht, auf gut Glück, in Teufels Küche kommen). The study highlights the diversity of seemingly irregular word combinations, analyzes their usage from a corpus-linguistic perspective, and examines their specific characteristics from the perspectives of language norm theory, language change theory, and construction grammar. Key findings of the study include, among others, that phraseological irregularities do not occupy a marginal position within (formulaic) language and that the boundary between regular and irregular forms is often gradual.

Dissertation

Duration: 2012–2015

Publication

Further project publications (selected):

  • ​Stumpf, Sören (2022): Formulaic (Ir-)Regular Phraseological Constructions in German. Theoretical Contextualization and Corpus-Linguistic Analysis. In: Carmen Mellado Blanco, Fabio Mollica & Elmar Schafroth (eds.): Constructions Between Lexicon and Grammar. Phrase Constructions in Monolingual, Bilingual, and Multilingual Contexts. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (Linguistics – Impulses and Trends 101), 163–187. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110770209-007
  • Stumpf, Sören (2018): Free usage of German unique components. Corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics, and lexicographical approaches. In: Sabine Arndt-Lappe, Angelika Braun, Claudine Moulin & Esme Winter-Froemel (eds.): Expanding the Lexicon. Linguistic Innovation, Morphological Productivity, and Ludicity. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (The Dynamics of Wordplay 5), 67–89. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110501933-069
  • Stumpf, Sören (2017): Phraseology in Its Purest Form—The Construction X[Noun] pur as a Productive and by No Means Ungrammatical Model. Deutsche Sprache 45 , 317–334. https://doi.org/10.37307/j.1868-775X.2017.04.03
  • Stumpf, Sören (2016): Modification or Model Formation? That Is the Question—Difficulties in Distinguishing Between Modified and Model-Like Phraseologisms Using the Example of Formulaic (Ir)regularities. Linguistische Berichte 247 , 317–342. https://doi.org/10.46771/2366077500247_3