[Lingtyp] Journal call for papers: spatial language

[Bill Palmer]

Call for abstracts: Special Collection of Linguistics Vanguard on Sociotopography: the interplay of language, culture and environment in representing space.
Keywords: spatial language; spatial cognition; language variation; typology; anthropological linguistics; sociotopography
We are seeking abstracts for papers to join a special collection on the theme of diversity in spatial language and spatial behaviour between and within language communities, and the relationship between spatial language and environmental and sociocultural factors.
Full papers (3000-4000 words) are due in March 2020. For now please only submit abstracts.
Established views hold that languages display one or more dominant spatial referential strategy; that linguistic and non-linguistic strategy preferences correspond; and that these correspondences arise from the influence of a language's largely arbitrary linguistic resources. Some recent work argues instead that the environment a language is spoken in plays a significant role. However, much research characterizes spatial strategies at the level of the language, focusing on diversity between languages. Now a growing body of research has begun to reveal diversity in spatial language and non-linguistic behaviour among speakers within language communities. Some variation correlates with environment (e.g. urban vs non-urban), and some with group-level factors (e.g. dominant subsistence mode). However, much variation correlates with individual demographic variables (occupation; gender; age; education; multilingualism etc), often reflecting cultural practices or social change. This diversity within communities is significantly under-investigated. Moreover, new research has found mismatches between language and non-linguistic behaviour, suggesting the relationship between spatial language and cognition is not straightforward. Spatial representations appear to be shaped by a much more complex interplay of environmental, social, cultural and linguistic factors than previously recognized. The approach of sociotopography, seeks to model this.
This special collection brings together recent findings on language-internal variation in spatial reference, and on the impact of topographic environment, cultural construals of landscape, group-level cultural practices, individual speakers' demographic diversity, and intergenerational language shift in the construction and use of systems of linguistic spatial representations. It brings together scholars working on spatial reference in diverse languages in diverse environmental and sociocultural contexts to cast new light on the range of forces at work and identify patterns in cross-linguistic diversity.
Abstracts should be 1 page, with 1 extra page for data, references, etc. Email abstracts to bill.palmer at newcastle.edu.au, also the address for further information.
Collection editors: Bill Palmer (Newcastle), Alice Gaby (Monash), Jonathon Lum (Melbourne) and Jonathan Schlossberg (Newcastle).
Linguistics Vanguard (www.degruyter.com/lingvan<http://www.degruyter.com/lingvan>) is a SCOPUS-listed online journal providing an accessible platform for traditional and new kinds of publications. Because it is online-only, articles appear as soon as the production process is completed. Special collections are "virtual collections" linked by shared keywords. Authors have free access to the entire special collection. There are no publication costs. Authors are encouraged to take advantage of the journal's new multimodal platform designed to integrate interactive content (audio, video, images, maps, raw data, any other media that enhances the traditional written word). Authors may post a pdf on their personal website a year after publication.

Bill Palmer
Director
Endangered Languages Documentation,
      Theory and Application Research Program
      The University of Newcastle
Vice-President, Australian Linguistics Society

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