[EDLING:2261] CFP: Language, Discourse and Identity in Central Europe

[Francis M. Hult]

Language, Discourse and Identity in Central Europe

6-8 July 2007

University of Southampton 

Keynote speakers 
Thomas Diez, Birmingham 
Matthias Makowski, Prague 
Ulrike Hanna Meinhof, Southampton 
Ruth Wodak, Lancaster/Vienna 

Context and rationale 
In 2004 Andreas Gardt and Bernd Hüppauf published a collection of papers with 
the ominous title Globalization and the Future of German (Mouton de Gruyter). 
This wide-ranging volume presents a critical assessment of the present position 
and future prospects of the German language as a ‘paradigmatic example' of the 
future of European languages in general in the face of global forces apparently 
favouring the growing domination of ‘global Englishes' and militating against 
linguistic diversity. 

In the same year, the Southampton Centre for Transnational Studies organised a 
conference on Language and the Future of Europe, from which selected papers 
have now been published in Clare Mar-Molinero and Patrick Stevenson (eds) 
Language Ideologies, Policies and Practices (Palgrave, 2006). In her keynote 
paper, Susan Gal explores the complex relations between migration, minorities 
and multilingualism in Europe in terms of shifting language ideologies, 
challenging ‘the tight Herderian weave of culture, language and state in 
Europe' which, she argues, ‘is being stretched and frayed in subtle ways.' 

In July 2007, the Centre will host a conference with the aim of developing 
these two themes in a particular way. It will investigate Gal's assertion 
further by focusing on the context of what she refers to as the ‘fractal 
geography' of central Europe. Specifically, it will form part of a research 
programme (this website), funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research 
Council, on the role of the German language in the formation and contestation 
of national and regional identities in Germany, Austria and neighbouring states 
in the centre of Europe. 

The main focus of the conference will therefore be not on ‘the future of the 
German language' but rather on the position and uses of German in relation to 
other languages in the current reshaping of central European space – whether as 
the dominant, officially legitimated language of Germany or Austria, as the 
minority language of historical migrations, or as a (potential) regional lingua 
franca occupying the middle ground between global English and ‘national' 
languages. 

Papers are invited that address the roles of language, experiences of and with 
language, and discourses about language. As with the previous conference, 
preference will be given to papers that integrate consideration of ideologies, 
policies and practices. 

It is envisaged that selected papers from the conference will be published in 
book-form in English, and papers should therefore be given in English. 
Abstracts (maximum 200 words) should be sent by email by 1 February 2007 to Dr 
Jenny Carl at the following address: glipp at soton.ac.uk. Abstracts should be 
included in the body of the email, NOT as an attachment. 


Questions that could be addressed: 
What impact has social, political, economic and cultural transformation had on 
patterns of multilingualism in central Europe ? 
How has migration into and within this region affected linguistic practices? 
How far and in what ways is linguistic difference ‘heard' and ‘seen' in these 
multilingual settings? 
Are new language ideologies emerging? 
Who engages in language policy-making and to what ends? 
How far and in what ways are identities imposed, assumed or negotiated 
linguistically or through reference to language? 
How do individuals use the linguistic resources available to them to position 
themselves and others in multilingual space? 
What role do narratives about language play in individual biographies and 
memories of the pre-1989 past? 


Topics could include: 
Language ideologies 
Identity narratives 
Negotiations of identity 
Language biographies 
Visual manifestations of multilingualism 
Globalisation and its discontents 
Media discourses (film, TV, music, print media, advertising) 
Linguistic practices in popular and youth culture 
Linguistic counter-cultures 
Linguistic practices and new technologies 
Language policy and language management 
The role of language and culture agencies (British Council, Goethe Institut 
etc) 
Language and migration (into and within CE) 
Language and tourism 
Language and history/ memory 
Discursive representations of time and place 
Language and belonging 
Language and social inclusion/exclusion 
Language and citizenship 
Sprachkultur and language loyalty 
Language in multinational businesses 
Language and the knowledge economy 
Standardisation and linguistic ‘legitimacy' 
Language and cosmopolitanism 
The national and the transnational 
Language and territory / de-territorialisation of language 
Urban spaces and linguistic neighbourhoods 
Speech communities and language communities 
Paradoxes of discourses on cultural and linguistic diversity 
Language and social / cultural elites 
Political discourses 

Organisers 
Prof. Patrick Stevenson, Dr Jenny Carl and Livia Schanze 
Centre for Transnational Studies 
Modern Languages 
School of Humanities 
University of Southampton 
Southampton SO17 1BJ 
U.K.