36.2074, Confs: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025 (South Africa)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-2074. Mon Jul 07 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.2074, Confs: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025 (South Africa)

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Date: 04-Jul-2025
From: Chrismi Loth [kongresETFB at ufs.ac.za]
Subject: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025


Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025
Short Title: ISPN 2025
Theme: Harmonising toponymic heritage: balancing standardisation and
local diversity

Date: 26-Nov-2025 - 29-Nov-2025
Location: Clarens, South Africa
Contact: Chrismi Loth
Contact Email: kongresETFB at ufs.ac.za
Meeting URL:
https://www.ufs.ac.za/conferences/conference/2025-ispn-home

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

Registrations Now Open:
https://www.ufs.ac.za/conferences/conference/2025-ispn-home
Also note the two workshops that have been added to the programme.
The Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies at the
University of the Free State (RSA), in partnership with the Joint
ICA/IGU Commission on Toponymy as well as the ICOS Working Group on
Toponymy, is pleased to announce the next biennial international
symposium on place names – ISPN 2025.
Place names serve a dual purpose. On the one hand, they are geospatial
indicators of physical locations and geographical features. On the
other hand, place names are artefacts of cultural heritage and serve
to connect people to places. This two-fold function creates tension
from a place-names management perspective. Standardisation is required
for effective public communication and record-keeping. However,
standardisation inherently requires a selection of one or limited
forms of names. This is in contrast to the reality of most societies,
whereby multiple names are assigned to one location by different
socio-lingual-cultural groups. The challenge is to create an
internationally-recognised standardisation system, while retaining the
colourful local diversity. With the theme for this symposium, we wish
to explore issues around standardisation and toponymic diversity. We
need to consider the symbolic importance of place names, and examine
the challenges of developing best practices for research and
management that are sensitive to local diversity. Papers with a focus
on minority and indigenous names, including sign languages, are
encouraged in particular.
Theme: Harmonising toponymic heritage: balancing standardisation and
local diversity
Dates: 26-29 November, 2025



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