36.840, Calls: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025 (South Africa)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-840. Sat Mar 08 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.840, Calls: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025 (South Africa)

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Date: 08-Mar-2025
From: Chrismi Loth [kongresETFB at ufs.ac.za]
Subject: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025


Full Title: Eighth International Symposium on Place Names 2025
Short Title: ISPN 2025

Date: 26-Nov-2025 - 29-Nov-2025
Location: Clarens, South Africa
Contact Person: Chrismi Loth
Meeting Email: kongresETFB at ufs.ac.za

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

2nd Call for Papers:
Join our LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/10047495/
Submit your abstract (250 words) by 4 April to kongresETFB at ufs.ac.za
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.
Potential subtopics
Only a limited number of papers can be accommodated, as all sessions
will be plenary. Abstracts (250 words) can be submitted by 4 April
2025 to Dr Chrismi Loth at kongresETFB at ufs.ac.za in the following
(but not limited to) categories of research:
 •Recognition beyond standardisation, especially for indigenous and
minority place names.
 • Best practices for the standardisation, management, and research of
multiple place names.
 • Diversity in place names stemming from multiple
socio-lingual-cultural groups.
 • Harmonising toponymic heritage in multicultural and multilingual
societies.
 • Adequate representation of place-name diversity in texts and on
maps.
 • Approaches towards standardisation.
 • Other dimensions of place names: administrative, commercial and/or
economic, cultural and historical/commemorative, physical, political,
and linguistic.
Keynote speakers
 • Prof Sambulo Ndlovu (University of Eswatini, Eswatini)
 • Bill Watt (PlaceNames Australia)
Workshop
Signed Toponymy: Conducting Ethical Research in Deaf Communities
Presenter: Dr Patrick Sibanda (University of the Free State, RSA)
Language of the symposium and workshop
English, with professional South African Sign Language interpreting
available. Please indicate requirement for SASL interpreting with
abstract submission and registration.
Publication
Depending on the number and quality of papers an accredited
publication in our regular proceedings series will be considered:
https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujp/catalog/series/ISPN.



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