36.3079, Confs: Small Languages, Big Ideas (South Africa)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3079. Mon Oct 13 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3079, Confs: Small Languages, Big Ideas (South Africa)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Mara Baccaro, Daniel Swanson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Valeriia Vyshnevetska <valeriia at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 13-Oct-2025
From: Roné Wierenga [rone.wierenga at ugent.be]
Subject: Small Languages, Big Ideas


Small Languages, Big Ideas
Short Title: SLBI
Theme: Language varieties of Germanic languages

Date: 16-Mar-2026 - 18-Mar-2026
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
Contact: Rone Wierenga
Contact Email: smalllanguagesbigideas at gmail.com
Meeting URL:
https://viva-afrikaans.org/portale/inligtingsportaal-reg/small-languages

Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable
Subject Language(s): Afrikaans (afr)
                     English (eng)
                     German (deu)
Language Family(ies): Germanic

Submission Deadline: 15-Dec-2025

The Virtual Institute for Afrikaans (VivA), in collaboration with
local and international partners, is pleased to host the fourth
edition of the Small Languages, Big Ideas (SLBI) conference — this
time with a fresh southern perspective. Join us in Gauteng, one of the
linguistically and culturally vibrant provinces of South Africa, as we
bring the focus to Germanic dialects, microvariation, and linguistic
diversity across continents.
This edition of SLBI highlights dialects as windows into language
theory. Dialects have long offered critical insights into the
structure, evolution, and contact dynamics of Germanic languages, yet
their global range and richness remain underexplored. From the
mountain valleys of Switzerland to the platteland of South Africa,
from Faroese to Pennsylvania Dutch, we invite work that zooms in on
the smaller building blocks of big linguistic questions.
Why attend SLBI 2026? 
 - A new vantage point: Explore Germanic languages from the southern
tip of the African continent, where contact varieties like Afrikaans
challenge traditional boundaries.
 - Unique research context: Engage with the underrepresented dialects
and microvarieties of Germanic dialects.
 - Networking without borders: Connect with a global community of
dialectologists, syntacticians, phonologists, sociolinguists, and
variationists in an inspiring setting.
Call for Abstracts:
We invite abstracts on any Germanic language with a special focus on
dialects, contact varieties, and regional microvariation of
lesser-known dialects. Contributions may draw on synchronic or
diachronic data, and be framed within any theoretical, descriptive, or
comparative approach. We particularly encourage work that engages
with:
 - Dialect syntax, phonology, or morphology
 - Heritage and emigrant Germanic varieties
 - Sociolinguistic variation and change
 - Dialect contact and creolisation
 - Comparative dialectology and typology
 - Language documentation and revitalisation
SLBI welcomes contributions from all subfields, including but not
limited to: phonetics, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics,
psycholinguistics, acquisition, language contact, pragmatics, and
didactics.
We especially encourage junior researchers and postgraduate students
to submit abstracts. In addition to regular papers, there will be a
poster session to showcase student research in a collaborative and
encouraging environment.
Papers: 20 minutes presentation + 10 minutes discussion
Poster session: Lightening poster presentations of 10 minutes + 5
minutes discussion
Languages: Papers and posters will be in English and abstracts can be
submitted in English.
Abstract format:
Max. 1 A4 page (single-spaced, 12 pt font, 2.5 cm margins)
Optional - One additional page for data/figures and one for
references 
PDF format only
Submission deadline: Monday 15 December 2025 at 12:00 CAT 
Submit papers and poster abstracts using this
link: https://forms.gle/NRfjrs9rbbeDKUJ4A
Further details (registration, accommodation, and travel grants) will
follow shortly on the conference website. We look forward to welcoming
you to South Africa for two days of rigorous research, dynamic
discussion, and cross-continental exchange.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not for profit organization:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Brill https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3079
----------------------------------------------------------