35.128, Calls: Language and Identity in Antiquity

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-35-128. Tue Jan 09 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.128, Calls: Language and Identity in Antiquity

Moderators: Malgorzata E. Cavar, Francis Tyers (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Everett Green, Daniel Swanson, Maria Lucero Guillen Puon, Zackary Leech, Lynzie Coburn, Natasha Singh, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Zackary Leech <zleech at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: 09-Jan-2024
From: Robin Meyer [robin.meyer at unil.ch]
Subject: Language and Identity in Antiquity


Full Title: Language and Identity in Antiquity

Date: 19-Jul-2024 - 20-Jul-2024
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Contact Person: Robin Meyer
Meeting Email: robin.meyer at unil.ch
Web Site: https://unil.ch/languageidentity/

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics; Historical
Linguistics; Ling & Literature; Sociolinguistics
Subject Language(s): English (eng)
                     French (fra)

Call Deadline: 01-Mar-2024

Meeting Description:

Language and identity have historically been interlinked in
deterministic discourses such as ‘one language – one nation’ or
‘multilingualism as a problem’ which no longer reflect our modern
understanding of language in society (Bennett and Fisher 2022: 18).
Rather, we must view identity as ‘multifaceted, fluid and dynamic, and
thus constantly being constructed and (re)negotiated, and as both an
individual and social phenomenon’ (Bennett and Fisher 2022: 16). This
approach reflects, broadly speaking, a post-structuralist idea of
identity: As a semiotic system, language is, on the one hand, a tool
to construct identity, and, on the other hand, among a number of
emblems of identity choices (Halliday and Webster 2007: 255). However,
not all language choices are intentional and not all identity cues are
interpreted by one’s environment in the way the individual desires
(Block 2022: 187; Foucault 1981).

While production and perception experiments, interviews assessing
attitudes, and longitudinal studies are possible for modern spoken
languages, these approaches and the type and detail of information
they provide are often not available for corpus languages. This
conference aims to explore the relationship(s) between language(s) and
identity for individuals and groups of people (of any size and shape)
in the polities bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and their
neighbours. Since correlations between language and identity are prone
to changing diachronically and being highly variable synchronically,
we have chosen a purposefully wide timeframe of between 2000 BCE and
1000 CE.

Questions of interest include but are not limited to the following,
where ‘language choices’ refer both to choosing between what is
usually termed languages as well as between varieties of the same
language:
•       How and/or why can language choices reflect identity choices?
•       What factors impact language choices as reflections of
identity?
•       What types of identities can language choices reflect?
•       To what extent does context influence language and identity
choices?
•       How are language and identity choices synchronically and/or
diachronically connected?
•       Are there systems adopted by individuals and/or groups that
regulate how language choices reflect identity choices?
•       To what extent do language choices not reflect identity
choices (e.g. in the sense of Labov’s indicators)?
•       What aspects of language are manipulated in order to reflect
identity choices? Are there aspects that are immune? Are there aspects
that are specifically prone to it?
•       What identities are imposed on language users due to their
language choices (cf. Block 2022, Duff 2022)? How do language users
react?

Call for Papers:

The conference will take place at the University of Lausanne on 19–20
July 2024. Abstracts of no more than 500 words (excl. references) are
invited from researchers at all career stages wishing to contribute to
this subject.
We are interested in data-driven rather than theory-heavy proposals
but will consider the latter on a case-by-case basis.

Deadline for submissions:         1 March 2024
Notification of outcomes:       15 March 2024

If successful, we ask that contributors prepare a 20-minute
presentation (+10 minutes for questions) in English or French. To
submit an abstract, please use the submission form on the website:
https://wp.unil.ch/languageidentity/abstract/



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please consider donating to the Linguist List https://give.myiu.org/iu-bloomington/I320011968.html


LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-35-128
----------------------------------------------------------