[Cadaad] Call for papers: Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning (LPP) conference (Ottawa, Canada, June 2026)

[Rachelle Vessey]

Dear all,

Please find below the first call for papers for the Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning (LPP) conference, which will be hosted by Carleton University and the University of Ottawa (Canada) in June 2026. This is also available on our conference website: https://carleton.ca/lpp/lpp-2026-call-for-paper-appel-a-communication/

Best wishes,

Rachelle (on behalf of the organizing committee)

Rachelle Vessey, Ph.D.
School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton University
260 Paterson Hall, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6

Newly published / forthcoming:
McEntee-Atalianis and Vessey (2025<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037821662500178X>) | Vessey & Ajšić (2025 a<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B978032395504100466X>, b<https://www.routledge.com/Current-Approaches-to-Language-Ideology-and-Metalinguistic-Discourse/Ajsic-Vessey/p/book/9781032786667>, c<https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003488910-1/introduction-rachelle-vessey-adnan-aj%C5%A1i%C4%87?context=ubx>)<https://www.routledge.com/Current-Approaches-to-Language-Ideology-and-Metalinguistic-Discourse/Ajsic-Vessey/p/book/9781032786667> | Sheyholislami & Vessey (2025<https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003488910-3/discourse-analytic-framework-study-language-ideologies-jaffer-sheyholislami-rachelle-vessey?context=ubx&refId=209c7cdc-9564-4d19-b183-4d7ce811f1f6>)

Call for Papers: Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning Conference
 “Language policy and planning: From talk to action”
Carleton University and University of Ottawa
June 17-19, 2026
The rapid expansion of language policy and planning over the course of the last decades has led to a breadth of concepts, phenomena, and processes vying for attention in the field. Attempts at integrating and balancing all of these priorities have led some researchers to ask, “what isn’t language policy?” (Johnson, 2012, p. 9). While the work of early scholars was “technical, oriented toward problem-solving, and pragmatic in its goals” (Ricento, 2000, p. 198), this was critiqued by later scholars, who pointed out how planning efforts of the 1960s and 1970s often failed to achieve stated goals (Tollefson and Pérez-Milans, 2018, p. 6). In some cases, the political solutions for LPP also failed to include minority and Indigenous-language speakers and to adequately address community advocacy. What seems clear is that LPP research should be useful to language users, citizens, elected officials, civil servants, media people, as well as scholars – in both theory and practice (Gazzola, Grin, Cardinal and Heugh, 2024, p. 15). The question becomes – what is the best way to proceed? Some scholars have proposed that “the way forward lies perhaps not in a new turn so much as a return; or more specifically, a rediscovery of the field’s more pragmatic and outward-looking origins” (Oakes, 2024, p. 76). However, others remind us of the importance of critical approaches, since the origins of the field included problematic language policy and planning designs as well as practices that served colonial, imperial, and monolithic/nationalist interests wherein minoritized languages were marginalized, banned, and endangered (Pérez-Milans and Tollefson 2018, p.729).
In this installment of the conference series Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning, we invite authors to address ways forward in the field, and especially practical applications of language policy theory and method or reflections on how to integrate critical perspectives into language policy work.
We welcome abstracts on any theme related to language policy and planning, such as (but not limited to):

  *   Language assessment and policy
  *   Language rights
  *   Indigenous languages
  *   Heritage languages
  *   Official bilingualism
  *   Multilingualism
  *   Language acquisition
  *   Language teaching and learning
  *   Language-in-education policies
  *   Language documentation and revitalization
  *   Language discrimination, linguicism
  *   Language policy and identity
  *   Language policies across national borders
  *   Language policy in the digital age
  *   Mother-tongue education planning and policy
  *   Discursive approaches to language policy

Papers focusing on lesser researched languages and contexts are especially welcomed.
Carleton University and the University of Ottawa are located on the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the Algonquin nation. We acknowledge our responsibility to the Omàmiwininìwag (Algonquin Anishinaabeg) and our respect for Algonquin knowledge holders and to members of other Indigenous nations who call Ottawa home. As a field, language policy and planning also has a responsibility to address the role of language policies in historical and ongoing processes of colonization. We welcome critical reflection on this complex topic as part of the conference.
The conference welcomes different submission formats:

  *   individual presentations,
  *   poster presentations
  *   thematic panels or roundtables

Individual presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by a 10-minute question period. Abstracts for individual presentations should be 300 words max. (including possible references).
A block of time will be reserved in the conference program for poster presentations, when presenters will be able to discuss their research in progress, their fieldwork or their results. Posters are often presented in a visual format with individualized discussions. Abstracts for posters should be max. 300 words (including possible references).
We also invite thematic panels or roundtables that align with the main axes of the conference. For panels and roundtables, the proposal should include the general aims and rationale of the event (max. 300 words), as well as the names, affiliations and short abstracts (200 words) for each contribution. Panels and roundtables shouldn’t be more than 2 hours long.
The deadline for abstracts submission is November 15th, 2025. Abstracts should be submitted via the ConfTool platform https://www.conftool.com/lpp2026/. Abstracts will be accepted in English or French, but papers are welcome in various languages. In order to reach a larger audience, we ask participants presenting in languages other than French or English to include a visual support (for example, a PowerPoint presentation) in one of Canada’s official languages.
Please note: This conference will be exclusively in person. There will not be any option for attending or presenting virtually.
Conference website: https://carleton.ca/lpp/
Conference email: lppconference at carleton.ca<mailto:lppconference at carleton.ca>
Platform for abstract submission: https://www.conftool.com/lpp2026/
 Timeline
Deadline for abstract submission: November 15th, 2025
Notification of acceptance: January 30th, 2026
Registration opens: March 1st, 2026
Conference: June 17-19th, 2026
Confirmed Keynote Speakers

  *   Mario López-Gopar (Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca)
  *   Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Université d’Ottawa)

References
Johnson, David Cassels. 2012. Language policy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gazzola, Michele, François Grin, Linda Cardinal, and Kathleen Heugh. 2018. “Language policy and planning: from theory to practice.” In Michele Gazzola, François Grin, Linda Cardinal, and Kathleen Heugh (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language policy and planning. Routledge.
Oakes, Leigh. 2024. “The historical development of language policy and planning.” In Michele Gazzola, François Grin, Linda Cardinal, and Kathleen Heugh (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language policy and planning. Routledge.
Pérez-Milans, Miguel and James Tollefson. 2018. “Language Policy and Planning: Directions for Future Research”. In Tollefson, James and Pérez-Milans, Miguel (Eds). 2018. The Oxford Handbook of Language Policy and Planning. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 727-742.
Ricento, Thomas. 2000. Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(2): 196-213.
Tollefson, James and Pérez-Milans, Miguel (Eds). 2018. The Oxford Handbook of Language Policy and Planning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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