They won't experience the same degree of stunting as you can get with bonsai, but you can definitely keep them under control with root pruning and regular leaf trimming.
One of my first plants was a runner off a monster sword with leaves 18" long and a good 2 1/2" wide. It had three mature leaves about 6" long and two new leaves just coming in when I planted it in my tiny 10g. I trimmed 50% of the root mass and took off one of the mature leaves--then removed the other two once I had a couple new leaves showing to replace them a couple weeks later.
From then on, I would snip off any leaf that started getting too large for the space and root prune every three to four months. Between restricting it's ability to gather nutrients and forcing it to constantly put it's energy into growing new roots and leaves, the leaves that did grow never attained anywhere near their full potential--but it required regularly monthly care to maintain. My swords are now in fluorite instead of polished gravel so I can't uproot them to root prune, so instead I tease up some of the roots from all around the plant starting about an inch or so out from the base and prune from there.
