28.400, Calls: Gen Ling, Hist Ling, Socioling/Switzerland

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-400. Thu Jan 19 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.400, Calls: Gen Ling, Hist Ling, Socioling/Switzerland

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Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2017 15:08:21
From: Christa Schneider [christa.schneider at csls.unibe.ch]
Subject: Revitalizing Baltic Linguistics in Berne

 
Full Title: Revitalizing Baltic Linguistics in Berne 

Date: 06-May-2017 - 08-May-2017
Location: Berne, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Christa Schneider
Meeting Email: christa.schneider at csls.unibe.ch
Web Site: http://www.baltistikbern.jimdo.com 

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics 

Subject Language(s): Latvian (lav)
                     Lithuanian (lit)
                     Prussian (prg)

Call Deadline: 28-Feb-2017 

Meeting Description:

This conference aims to bring together scholars working on different
theoretical approaches in order to focus on Baltic linguistics from both a
historical and a synchronic perspective.

Lithuanian, for instance, is a language of quite recent attestation, as its
first book was printed in Königsberg (Duchy of Prussia) in 1547. So, any
previous linguistic stage, as well as pre-historical contacts with other
Baltic and non-Baltic speech communities (East Slavs, Germans, Finns, etc.)
can only be reconstructed via the comparative method.

Attempts to establish the principles of multilingual communication in
ethnically complex speech communities can be made not only for the present
state of the language, but also for the past. In this case, instead of relying
on fieldwork, one needs to extract data from written primary sources (i.e. the
old linguistic monuments), and from the sociolinguistic accounts provided by
the so-called palaeocomparativists or from the old grammars.
 
The political and social context in which Lithuanian emerged and developed,
was a context in which polyglossia has always played a crucial role. The first
case that comes into mind is the multilingual society of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania (13th-18th c.) where Latin, German, Ruthenic, Polish and Lithuanian
were spoken (or written) by different social classes in different
communicative settings. 

Later events provoked the growing influence of Polish in the Grand Duchy after
the Union of Lublin (1569), the strong impact of Russian during the Tsarist
(1795-1918) and the Soviet (1940-1991) occupation. All this, together with the
inner processes of differentiation and linguistic change, provide a very
interesting setting for studies in Baltic linguistics along all its
dimensions.
 
Central European approaches in traditional dialectology reached Lithuania in
the middle of the 19th century. Subsequently, many dialect descriptions have
been conducted and Baltic onomastics and toponomastics have been developed.

The emergence of the Lithuanian standard language in 1922 drew a sharper line
between dialect and standard and encouraged some Lithuanian dialectologists to
explore local language variation more closely. The first dialect
classification, which also included a dialect map, was proposed in 1946 and
has been later revised.
 
This was, of course, the time when William Labov proposed a theoretically
motivated integration of social factors into accounts of language variation
and change and helped to found contemporary sociolinguistics, an approach that
reached Lithuania only some years later. In the 1980s attention was also paid
to the interplay of Baltic variants and their mutual influences, especially in
border areas, but this remains a less studied aspect.

Today, Baltic studies and Lithuanian linguistics is mostly to be found within
the Baltic States. Quite regrettably, only a few institutions in Europe
officially deal with such topics; nevertheless, there is a number of qualified
linguists working on this linguistic area.
 
With this conference, we want do draw attention to Baltic linguistics, a topic
which was once a part of the study program of the University of Bern but has
been cancelled due to administrative changes in the late 1990s. Therefore, by
focusing on any topic related with Baltic linguistics, the research potential
in Baltic and Lithuanian linguistics as a whole will hopefully be highlighted
in this conference.


Call for Papers:

We welcome abstracts of 500 words (excluding references, 20 minute
presentations + 10 minute discussion in English or German) which touch any
synchronic or diachronic field in Baltic linguistics. Abstracts should be sent
to christa.schneider at csls.unibe.ch

The Deadline for submissions: 28th February 2017
 
Notification of acceptance: 5th March 2017




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