[Linganth] Pacific Studies Conference: Switzerland, March 2017

[sara.lynch at ens.unibe.ch]

Dear all,

Please see the upcoming conference on anthropology and linguistics in the Pacific held in the University of Bern, Switzerland, March, 2017. Please also circulate it to anyone you consider may be interested in the topic.

Many thanks,

Sara Lynch

Modern English Linguistics
English Department, University of Bern
Muesmattstrasse 45
CH-3000 Bern 9
Switzerland

Tel. +41 31 631 41 17
www.ens.unibe.ch
www.english-in-micronesia.weebly.comwww.english-in-micronesia.weebly.com<http://www.english-in-micronesia.weebly.com/>



http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-2696.html#1

Full Title: Studies of Paradise: Where Language Meets Culture in the Pacific

Date: 09-Mar-2017 - 10-Mar-2017
Location: Bern, Switzerland


Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics; Sociolinguistics

Call Deadline: 21-Oct-2016 (revised)

Meeting Description:

There have been a number of research projects on Pacific languages, or on communities of the Pacific, carried out with an ethnographic and anthropological perspective. The English language, however, albeit an official language in many of these communities, has received little or no attention. In the few cases English has been or is being investigated, researchers often analyse the post-colonial English-speaking communities with a sociolinguistic approach. There is a lack of studies with transdisciplinary foci, where anthropological perspectives inform the study of Pacific languages (including English), and vice-versa, where linguistic perspectives help complete anthropological studies of Pacific communities.

This conference brings together (socio)linguists and anthropologists alike to discuss transdisciplinary stances and approaches (in the topics of language contact, language variation and change, postcolonial Englishes, mobility, power, policies and culture).

Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Carolin Biewer, University of Würzburg (Germany)
Prof. David Britain, University of Bern (Switzerland)
Prof. Elizabeth Keating, University of Texas at Austin (USA)
Prof. Kazuko Matsumoto, University of Tokyo (Japan)

Organising Committee:

Modern English Linguistics, University of Bern:
Dominique Bürki
Tobias Leonhardt
Sara Lynch
http://english-in-micronesia.weebly.com/studies-of-paradise.html

Call for Papers:

Presenters:

Researchers of socio-cultural aspects of Pacific communities, Pacific languages, and English varieties in the Pacific are invited to submit abstracts. We aim to inform each other about linguistic and anthropological methods and findings and be able to create synergies between the two disciplines.

Focus Questions:

- How can the nature of indigenous ethnicities in the Pacific and its historical transformation be explored?
- How do socio-historical developments such as mission work, spread of formal education, political autonomy, and climate change influence an island's culture identity and their language?
- In which way are substrate languages and colonizer languages in competition?
- In which way do mobility, globalisation, power, and other anthropological themes shape linguistic behaviour?
- What is the extent to which varieties of English share linguistic features? How do they predict variation patterns across different varieties?
- Which individual linguistic constraints are universal, and which are culturally dependent?
- Are some linguistic variation patterns more stable across speech communities than others?
- How do we evaluate overall similarities between English varieties of the Pacific while still considering cultural differences?
- How can cross-varietal differences in variation be best explained?

Format:

Authors are requested to submit an abstract of max. 500 words (excluding references) in pdf form to micronesia-project[X]outlook.com

Important Dates:

Submission of abstracts: 21 October 2016 (revised)
Notification of acceptance: 30 November 2016





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