26.1606, Calls: General Linguistics/Switzerland

Wed Mar 25 19:23:51 UTC 2015

LINGUIST List: Vol-26-1606. Wed Mar 25 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.1606, Calls: General Linguistics/Switzerland

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Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2015 15:23:37
From: Melanie Würth [melanie.wuerth at rom.unibe.ch]
Subject: Transcultural Urban Spaces: Where Geography Meets Language

Full Title: Transcultural Urban Spaces: Where Geography Meets Language 

Date: 16-Oct-2015 - 17-Oct-2015
Location: Bern, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Melanie Würth
Meeting Email: tcc2015 at rom.unibe.ch
Web Site: http://www.kas.unibe.ch/tcc2015 

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics 

Call Deadline: 30-Apr-2015 

Meeting Description:

More than half of the world's population now lives in cities. Urban areas bring together a great diversity of people, cultures and styles and constitute the scene of many socio-cultural processes that shape the 21st century. Urban processes are also reflected in the dynamics of language variation that exists in today's cities. Language plays an important role in processes of place-making and in the discourse negotiation of urban identities.

Given this complexity, the study of transcultural urban spaces requires exchange and cooperation across disciplines. The aim of this conference is thus to connect scholars across various disciplines - particularly Linguistics and Cultural Geography - that share points of common interest and offer the opportunity of fruitful exchange. Offering a platform for the presentation and discussion of current investigation projects and the exchange of new theoretical and methodological approaches, the conference seeks to promote new innovative ways to study urban spaces and linguistics from a combined perspective.

Keynote Speakers:

- David Britain, Chair of Modern English Linguistics, University of Berne, Switzerland
- Tim Cresswell, Professor of History and International Affairs, Associate Director for Public Humanities, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
- Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, Associate Professor in Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Almeida Jacqueline Toribio, Professor of Linguistics, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, University of Texas, USA

Conference Conveners:

- Prof. Dr. Yvette Bürki, Institute of Spanish Language and Literatures, University of Berne, Switzerland
- PD Dr. Yvonne Riaño, Institute of Geography, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Dr. Cand Melanie Würth, Institute of Spanish Language and Literatures, University of Berne, Switzerland

Call for Papers:

As centres of attraction for great migration flows, and at the same time as gigantic settlement structures, cities and metropolitan areas increasingly shape our contemporary lives. More than half of the world's population now lives in cities, and these urban areas are achieving immense and difficult to control dimensions. Great numbers of heterogeneous populations are experiencing the multifaceted influences of globalization processes. This has lead to increasingly complex dynamics of identity-making between global and local forces. Segregation, instability, mobility, inequality and changing social identities are contemporary phenomena, which are not only manifested in material structures, but also in the collective memories of urban residents, and in their discourses about the city. Furthermore, cities are also centres of innovation. New lifestyles and diverse linguistic forms are produced in urban areas, thus shaping the culture and identity of city residents. Urban space is theref
 ore the scene of the socio-cultural processes that shape the 21st century, which are also reflected in the dynamics of language variations.

Understanding the highly networked post-modern city requires an interdisciplinary theoretical approach as well as interdisciplinary research methods. Combining linguistics and urban geography, two fields sharing several points of common interest, allows such an interdisciplinary exchange. In addition, urban spaces are not only produced by urban design and architectural concepts but also are constructed, appropriated and given symbolic meaning through the social interactions and communicative exchange of their inhabitants. Here is where language plays a central role. Language is the expression of multiple socio-geographic processes in the city, and also a medium for the discursive negotiation of social and cultural urban identities. Studying urban spaces and linguistics from a combined perspective offers thus much potential for future research.

This conference aims at promoting and reinforcing interactions and networking between linguists and geographers working in urban areas. The goal is to find relevant overlaps, pose new research questions, provide a platform for the presentation and discussion of current research projects. In this spirit, we invite empirical papers and/or theoretically driven presentations inspired by, but not limited to, any of the following topics:

- Transculturality and multilingualism
- Migration and language
- Discourses about urban space and spatial practices
- Urban indexical fields
- Material and mental boundaries in the city
- Representations of place(s) and language
- Urban linguistic and semiotic landscapes
- Urban language diversity, variation and social contact phenomena
- Social construction of space and place
- Dialects and perception
- Quantitative and qualitative methods to study socio-geographic and linguistic dynamics in urban spaces

The conference is introduced by key speakers from the disciplines of Linguistics, Geography and Anthropology who will present new findings, raise questions for the future, and also serve as possible contact persons for young researchers.

Submitting an Abstract:

- A 200-250 word abstract (English, Spanish or German) should be submitted to: tcc2015 at rom.unibe.ch
- Indicate your discipline, the state of your research project and 5-7 keywords.
- Submission deadline: 30 April 2015
- Notification of the abstract review: 1 July 2015

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