Research interests
– contrastive linguistics 
– (multilingual) language acquisition
– (morpho)syntax and its interaction with semantics
– syntactic categories, formal features and label identification
– argument and event structure
– tense, aspect and modality
– auxiliary selection
– verbal complexes and verb clusters
– (North) Germanic languages

Talks & presentations (upcoming) [peer-reviewed talks (and presentations) are marked with *]
11.11.2025: Double Modals in Standard German, Standard English and Dialects of English. (Together with Leah Bauke.) CGSW 37, University of Zürich, Zürich (Switzerland).*

Talks & presentations (past) [peer-reviewed talks (and presentations) are marked with *]
27.06.2025: Double Modals in varieties of English: on the acquisition of L2-subgrammars. (Together with Leah Bauke.) EuroSLA 34, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø (Norway).*
26.06.2025: The L2-acquisition of German and Norwegian (eventive) passives: optionality and markedness in different components of grammar (poster presentation). EuroSLA 34, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø (Norway).*
25.04.2025: Double Modals in L2-English (and German). (Virtual talk, together with Leah Bauke.) Language Acquisition Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA).
06.03.2025: Verbal complexes and verb clusters in Germanic: (micro-)variation and the role of the restructuring verb. DGfS 47/AG2: Verbal complex predicates in a theoretical and cross-linguistic perspective, University of Mainz (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), Mainz (Germany).
12.12.2024: Priming double modals in L2 English (and German). (Together with Leah Bauke.) Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax V, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universtität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
14.05.2024: Acceleration effects in the acquisition of copular verbs: the role of Spanish in early bilingualism. (Together with Laia Arnaus.) Acquisition Advantages in Multilingual Learners: Theoretically- and Empirically-based Studies of the Multilingual Advantage and its Use in Society, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
25.04.2024: The multilingual advantage of L1 and L2 learners in the acquisition of French subjects: Insights from a generative perspective. (Together with Johanna Stahnke, Natascha Müller, Laia Arnaus & Leah Bauke.) Modern Linguistics and Language Didactic: Models of Grammar in Language Didactics (LiDi 2023), TU Dortmund, Dortmund (Germany).
01.02.2024: Children benefit from linguistic knowledge without transfer. (Together with Natascha Müller & Laia Arnaus.) Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax IV, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
31.01.2024: Collaborating grammars: beneficial co-activitation in multilingual minds. (Together with Leah Bauke.) Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax IV, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
07.12.2023: Double Modals in English and German. (Together with Leah Bauke.) Wuppertaler Linguistisches Forum, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
07.07.2023: The discourse-anchoring of root participles and closely related configurations. Language in Social Interaction (LISI2023), University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
25.05.2023: Should you might know this? – Double modals in L2 English. (Together with Leah Bauke.) Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax III, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
05.05.2023: The interplay of φ-specified and/or θ-marked subjects and IAs: tapping into verbal domains (virtual poster presentation). West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 41), University of California, Santa Cruz (USA).*
15.12.2022: Hingesetzt und aufgepasst! Erledigt! – Imperative und deklarative Wurzelpartizipien: verbal und/oder adjektivisch? [Imperative and declarative root participles: verbal and/or adjectival?] Wuppertaler Linguistisches Forum, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany). 
06.10.2022: Microvariation and (non-)facilitative transfer: the role of morphological cues in the L2 acquisition of verbal clusters. Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax II, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany). 
16.06.2022: Verbal and adjectival participles in imperative and declarative root configurations. Workshop on Aspect and Argument Structure of Adverbs/Adjectives and Prepositions/Participles (WAASAP V, 10th anniversary), University of Greenwich, London (UK).*
10.06.2022: The acquisition of passive(s) in multilingual minds. Arctic MSCA-PF Workshop, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø (Norway).
14.01.2022: Variation within and without: the case of verbal complexes. Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany). [This conference had to be rescheduled from April 2020 to January 2022 in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.]
22.05.2021: The converging grammaticalisation paths of passive and perfect participles: deriving eventive past participles from decausative resultatives. Diachronic Generative Syntax 2021, University of Konstanz (Universität Konstanz), Konstanz (Germany).* [This conference had to be rescheduled from May 2020 to May 2021 in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.] [Click here to see the full talk.]
04.03.2020: Introduction. (Together with Leah Bauke.) DGfS 42: Theoretical approaches to grammatical (non-)identity in synchrony and diachrony (AG 6), University of Hamburg (Universität Hamburg), Hamburg (Germany).
05.12.2019: All roads lead to eventive past participles: on similarities and contrasts in the grammaticalisation of passive and perfect(ive) participles in Germanic and Romance. Variation and Change in the Verb Phrase, University of Oslo (Universitetet i Oslo), Oslo (Norway).*
14.11.2019: The role of temporal cues in verb cluster reordering: Evidence from processing times in optionality contexts. (Joint work with Marcel Schlechtweg & Holden Härtl.) Processing Tense: Linguistic Theory Meets Empirical Evidence, University of Tübingen (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen), Tübingen (Germany).
10.12.2018: ‘Weak’ grammatical aspect: At the interface of aspect and event structure. Brussels Conference on Generative Linguistics (BCGL) 11: The Syntax and Semantics of Aspect. CRISSP, KU Leuven – Brussels Campus (Catholic University of Leuven), Brussels (Belgium).*
09.11.2018: The (early) availability of future and perfect information in verbal clusters: Implications for the compositional semantics of composite tenses. (Joint work with Marcel Schlechtweg & Holden Härtl.) Event Semantics Workshop 2018, Heidelberg University (Universität Heidelberg), Heidelberg (Germany).
14.06.2018: The parameterisation of past participial (non-)identity. Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to Microvariation (TEAM 2018), University of Padova (Università degli Studi di Padova), Padova (Italy).*
08.06.2018: The (non-)identity of passive and perfect(ive) participles and its parameterisation. Workshop on Aspect and Argument Structure of Adverbs/Adjectives and Prepositions/Participles (WAASAP IV), Pompeu Fabra University (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona (Spain).*
07.02.2018: The categorial indeterminacy of past participles. Workshop zur Verabschiedung von AOR Dr. Thilo Tappe, University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal), Wuppertal (Germany).
12.09.2017: The properties of perfect(ive) and (eventive) passive participles: an identity approach. Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) 50 – Workshop 19: Participles: form, use and meaning, University of Zurich (Universität Zürich), Zürich (Switzerland).*
28.04.2017: Weil man es sonst nicht rechtzeitig wird/hat interpretieren können? AUX-V order and the recoverability of temporal information. Broader Perspectives on Word Order in the VP, University of Bielefeld (Universität Bielefeld), Bielefeld (Germany).
22.04.2017: Past participial non-identity in Germanic: the exceptional status of the Swedish supine. Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference (GLAC) 23, University of Texas at Austin (USA).*
14.03.2017: What makes a perfect perfect(ive)? Recoverability and the semantics of HAVE (poster presentation). Generative Linguistics in the Old World (GLOW) 40 – Workshop II: Compositionality at the Interfaces, Leiden University (Universiteit Leiden), Leiden (Netherlands).*
13.06.2016: Past participial identity in periphrases – and beyond? Workshop on Aspect and Argument Structure of Adjectives and Participles (WAASAP III), University of Lille (Université de Lille), Lille (France).*
20.05.2016: Deriving perfect and passive from a single form? Past participial identity in Germanic. Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference (GLAC) 22, University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands), Reykjavík (Iceland).*

Workshops
Together with Leah Bauke, I organised a workshop entitled Theoretical Approaches to Grammatical (Non-)Identity in Synchrony and Diachrony at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the German Linguistic Society (DGfS) in Hamburg, Germany (March 4-6, 2020). (See workshop programme).
Additionally, we hosted five workshops of the DFG-funded network Optionality and Variation in Multilingual Syntax (OpVaMS) at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. (See programmes of workshop I, workshop II, workshop III, workshop IV, and workshop V). 

Publications
Wegner, Dennis. to appear. Root participles and closely related configurations in discourse: implications for a common basis of sentence and interactive grammar. In: G. Kaltenböck & A. Haselow (eds.). Language in Social Interaction: Studies in Interaction Management, Social Behavior, and Grammar in Interaction. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Wegner, Dennis. 2025. The interplay of θ-marked and (and φ-restricted) subjects and IAs: new insights from participial imperatives. Proceedings of WCCFL 41: 608-615.
Wegner, Dennis. 2024. Root participles: directive, commissive, expressive and representative participles in Germanic. Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 27: 6.
Wegner, Dennis, Schlechtweg, Marcel & Härtl, Holden. 2022. Optionality and the recovery of temporal information in German verb clusters. Linguistische Berichte 270: 113-170.
Wegner, Dennis. 2021. The categorial, argument structural and aspectual indeterminacy of past participles: a holistic approach. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 40(2): 199-249. 
Wegner, Dennis. 2020. The Underspecification of Past Participles. On the Identity of Passive and Perfect(ive) Participles. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. [Studia grammatica 83] (Paperback)
Wegner, Dennis. 2019a. The Underspecification of Past Participles. On the Identity of Passive and Perfect(ive) Participles. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. [Studia grammatica 83] (Hardcover) [Review by Ionuţ Geană in Revue roumaine de linguistique 2020, 2: 203f.]
Wegner, Dennis. 2019b. The properties of perfect(ive) and (eventive) passive participles: An identity approach. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 4(1): 34. Part of the special collection Participles: Form, Use and Meaning.
Wegner, Dennis. 2017. The exceptional status of the Swedish supine: on the parametric variation of past participial (non-)identity. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax 99: 1-29.
Breul, Carsten & Wegner, Dennis. 2017. German and English past participles in perfect and passive contexts: an identity view. Sprachwissenschaft 42(1): 1-58.

Manuscripts
Wegner, Dennis. 2017. Timely recovery: exceptional Aux-V order and the recoverability of temporal information. Manuscript. University of Wuppertal.
Wegner, Dennis. 2012. Feature-based label determination in a minimalist framework. MA Thesis. University of Wuppertal.
Wegner, Dennis. 2010. Split intransitivity and its syntactic representation. BA Thesis. University of Wuppertal.
(available upon request)

Reviews
Wegner, Dennis. 2017. Cecchetto, Carlo & Donati, Caterina. 2015. (Re)labeling. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Linguistische Berichte 252: 499-508.