<html>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Apologies for multiple
postings<br>
<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=5><b>Call for papers<br>
<br>
</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>MEASURING LEXICAL
VARIATION AND CHANGE<br>
A Symposium on Quantitative Sociolexicology<br>
<br>
University of Leuven, Belgium<br>
October 24-25, 2002<br>
<br>
Organised by the research unit “Quantitative lexicology and variational
linguistics” of the University of Leuven<br>
<br>
Made possible by the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders (FWO)<br>
(Onderzoeksgemeenschap Cognitieve Linguïstiek)<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Aim<br>
<br>
</b>This workshop intends to bring together those researchers in the
field of variational lexicology and diachronic vocabulary studies that
use quantitative methods. Although such methods have been used less
intensively in the study of lexical variation and change than they have
been employed in the field of phonetics, morphology, or other linguistic
variables, there is a growing body of quantitative research on the
distribution of words over language varieties and the diffusion of
lexical changes over time. The symposium intends to create a forum for
the confrontation and the comparison of the different approaches
involved. <br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Structure & schedule<br>
<br>
</b>The workshop will take place on Thursday October 24 and Friday
October 25, and it will consist of 5 plenary sessions (1 hour) and a
limited number of regular sessions (40’).<br>
<br>
Invited speakers include:<br>
<br>
Nigel Armstrong (University of Leeds)<br>
Harald Baayen (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Nijmegen &
University of Nijmegen)<br>
John Nerbonne (University of Groningen)<br>
Terttu Nevalainen (University of Helsinki)<br>
<br>
In order to ensure a highly focused event with maximal interaction
between the participants, the number of regular presentations will be
limited to 15 at most, and there will be no parallel sessions. <br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Submission<br>
<br>
</b>If you are interested in presenting a lecture at the symposium,
please submit a one page abstract by June 1 at the latest. Notification
of acceptance will follow by June 15.<br>
<br>
Abstracts should be submitted electronically to Dirk Geeraerts, Stefan
Grondelaers & Dirk Speelman at the following address:<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3 color="#0000FF"><u>sociolex@listserv.cc.kuleuven.ac.be<br>
<br>
<br>
</u></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b>Topics<br>
<br>
</b>Relevant topics include:<br>
<br>
1. Lexical standardization and the diffusion of standard
vocabularies<br>
2. The lexicon in pluricentric languages<br>
3. Lexical innovation, lexical loss, and the rate of vocabulary
change<br>
4. Lexical dialectometry and stylometry<br>
5. The relationship between lexical and non-lexical variables as markers
of language varieties<br>
6. Empirical methods (corpus analysis, statistical techniques) for
studying lexical variation and change<br>
<br>
You may focus either on past research in connection with the workshop
theme, or introduce new data or methodologies pertaining to the theme.
Observe that the topic of the conference is to be taken in a prototypical
sense. We are primarily interested in studies that combine three
features: a lexical focus, a quantitative method, and a variational or
diachronic perspective. Time permitting, however, we may accommodate
papers that combine just a few of these features, like quantitative
studies of variation and change that are not primarily lexical, or
diachronic and variational lexical studies that do not employ
quantitative methods.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Additional</b> <b>information<br>
<br>
</b>Information about the organisers, the conference venue, and
accommodation & fees can be found at our conference website
</font><a href="http://wwwling.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/sociolex" eudora="autourl"><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3 color="#0000FF"><u>http://wwwling.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/sociolex<br>
<br>
<br>
</a></u></font><font size=3>Dirk Geeraerts - Stefan Grondelaers - Dirk
Speelman<br>
Research unit “Quantitative lexicology and variational linguistics”
<br>
Department of Linguistics<br>
University of Leuven<br>
Blijde-Inkomststraat 21<br>
B-3000 Leuven<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Belgium<br>
<br>
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