36.2602, Calls: LIDIL - "New Approaches and Methodologies in Contrastive Linguistics" (Jrnl)

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Subject: 36.2602, Calls: LIDIL - "New Approaches and Methodologies in Contrastive Linguistics" (Jrnl)

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Date: 02-Sep-2025
From: Iva Novakova & Merete Birkelund [iva.novakova at univ-grenoble-alpes.fr]
Subject: LIDIL - "Special Issue: New Approaches and Methodologies in Contrastive Linguistics" (Jrnl)


Journal: LIDIL
Issue: New Approaches and Methodologies in Contrastive Linguistics
Call Deadline: 30-Sep-2025

(At this stage, what should be submitted is an abstract - see below)
Issue Coordinators:
Iva Novakova (Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LIDILEM, F-38000 Grenoble, France)
Merete Birkelund (Aarhus University, Danemark)
Contrastive linguistics aims to systematically, rigorously, and
precisely compare linguistic phenomena from two or more languages in
order to identify similarities and differences in their structure and
functioning. The contrastive approach offers a necessary analytical
distance (Cresseils, 1995), enabling a deeper understanding of the
systems of the languages under comparison. As W. Croft (2003, p. 9)
states that“The generalizations revealed by examining more than one
language at a time are the only ones which can be said to hold of
languages in general.”
Traditionally, during the 1950s, contrastive linguistics was widely
considered a subfield of applied linguistics, primarily due to its
connections with translation, language teaching, and language
acquisition (Weinreich, 1953; Lado, 1957). However, this perception
has evolved significantly thanks to the development of new theoretical
frameworks, such as functionalist theories (Givón, 1995), cognitive
approaches (Langacker, 1995), and usage-based cognitive theories
(Tomasello, 2003), all of which have enriched core linguistic research
in general and, contrastive studies in particular. However, unlike
typology, which is especially concerned with the description of
features across a wide sample of languages, contrastive analysis is
generally limited to a smaller number of languages and as Celle (2006,
p. 3) points out “ [i]l semble difficile détendre l’analyse
(contrastive) au-delà de trois langues envisagées simultanément […]
parce que l’analyse devient très lourde si l’on souhaite examiner
plusieurs combinaisons.” (‘[i]t seems difficult to extend
(contrastive) analysis beyond three languages simultaneously […]
because the analysis becomes very complex, if multiple combinations
are to be examined’). Moreover, contrastive studies allow for detailed
exploration of specific linguistic phenomena, which is often not
possible in large-scale typological work (Sörés, 2008, VII). A
contrastive approach thus provides an effective analytical filter for
examining language-specific patterns (Novakova, 2015, p. 8).
Furthermore, since the 1990s, the emergence of corpus linguistics and
multilingual digital corpora has been recognized as a key driver
behind the ‘revival’ of the interest in contrastive linguistics
(Johansson, 2007; Xiao, 2010). While several existing works (e.g.
Celle et al., 2000; Feuillet, 2006; Sörés, 2008) have addressed
theoretical and methodological dimensions of contrastive linguistics,
they often overlook the role of attested corpus data in
cross-linguistic comparison. More recently, the international
conference Linguistique contrastive: bilan et perspectives 2 (2022,
University of Paris-Créteil) addressed this issue, emphasizing the
importance of digital corpora for language comparison.
This special issue of the journal Lidil
(https://journals.openedition.org/lidil) invites contributions on new
approaches and methodologies in contrastive linguistics, particularly
those based on the analysis of comparable and/or parallel corpora of
various genres (e.g. literary texts, journalism, political discourse,
etc.). The linguistic phenomena being compared may be studied from
different perspectives (lexical, semantic, syntactic, or discursive),
adopting onomasiological (from meaning to form) and/or semasiological
(from form to meaning) perspectives. As Lazard (2006, p. 137) explains
“[l]e point de départ est le choix d’un certain contenu sémantique qui
assure l’ancrage indispensable à la confrontation des langues. Puis
vient l’identification des formes qui l’expriment dans les langues de
l’échantillon […]”. (‘The starting point is the selection of a
specific semantic content that anchors the cross-linguistic
comparison. From there, one identifies the forms through which this
content is expressed in the languages in question’). Contributions may
also consider the implications of using digital technologies, such as
ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini or others in the domain of
language comparison or in translation studies.
Additionally, current trends in contrastive linguistics increasingly
turn toward the study of the relationships between language,
discourse, and culture. In her 2021 monograph, P. von Münchow
introduces what she calls the Contrastive Discursive Approach (CDA),
which “se préoccupe de mettre au jour les représentations sociales qui
circulent dans une communauté discursive sur les objets sociaux […]
ainsi que les discours à tenir sur ces objets”(p. 20) (‘aims to
uncover the social representations circulating within a discursive
community about social objects [...], as well as the discourses
generated around those objects’). As the author points out,
contrastive research on discursive cultures remains relatively rare in
France (ibid. p. 19). Therefore, contributions to this issue of Lidil
may also explore intercultural and communicative dimensions of
contrastive linguistics, e.g. through discourse analysis of culturally
marked implicit meanings, idiomatic expressions, and other
context-bound markers that are often resistant to translation. Thus,
contrastive studies focusing on phenomena with significant
sociocultural or environmental impact, drawing on corpora from
advertising, journalism, political or ecological discourse (e.g. on
climate change), etc. are particularly encouraged. These contributions
will help expand and innovate the landscape of contrastive
linguistics.
Bibliography:
CELLE, Agnès, CHUQUET, Hélène, GUILLEMIN-FLESCHER, Jacqueline,
PONCHARAL, Bruno & GOURNAY, Lucie. (2000). Linguistique contrastive et
traduction. Ophrys.
CELLE, Agnès. (2006). Temps et modalité. L’anglais, le français et
l’allemand en contraste. Berne. Peter Lang.
CREISSELS, Denis. (1995). Éléments de syntaxe générale. Paris, Presses
universitaires de France.
CROFT, William. (2003). Typology and Universals, (2nd ed.). Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press.
FEUILLET, Jack. (2006). Introduction à la typologie linguistique.
Paris, Honoré Champion.
GIVÓN, Talmy. (1995). Functionalism and grammar,
Amsterdam/Philadelphia. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
detude/linguistique-contrastive-bilan-et-perspectives-en-2022-colloque-en-lhonneur-de-jacqueline-guillemin-flescher
JOHANSSON, Stig. (2007). Seeing through multilingual corpora : on the
use of corpora in contrastive studies. Amsterdam, Philadelphia, John
Benjamins.
KRAIF, Olivier. (2016). Le Lexicoscope : un outil d’extraction des
séquences phraséologiques basé sur des corpus arborés. Cahiers de
lexicologie, 108, p. 91-106.
LADO, Robert. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures : Applied
Linguistics for Language Teachers. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan
Press.
LANGACKER, Ronald W. (1995). Structural syntax: the view from
cognitive grammar, in Françoise, MADRAY-LESIGNE & Jeannine, RICHARD
ZAPPELLE (dir), Lucien Tesnière aujourd’hui. Louvain, Peeters, p.
13-39.
LAZARD, Gilbert.(2006). La quête des invariants interlangues. La
linguistique est-elle une science ? Paris, Honoré Champion.
NOVAKOVA, Iva. (2015). Syntaxe et sémantique des prédicats. Approche
contrastive et fonctionnelle. Saarbrücken, Éditions universitaires
européennes.
VON MÜNCHOW, Patricia. (2021). L’analyse du discours contrastive.
Théorie, méthodologie, pratique. Limoges, Éditions Lambert-Lucas.
SÖRES, Anna. (2008). Typologie et linguistique contrastive. Théories
et applications dans la comparaison des langues 9(1). Berne, Peter
Lang.
TOMASELLO, Michael. (2003). Constructing a language: a usage-based
theory of language acquisition. Cambridge Massachusetts, London,
Harvard University Press.
WEINREICH, Uriel. (1953). Languages in contact: findings and problems.
New York, Linguistic Circle of New York.
XIAO, Richard. (2010). Using corpora in contrastive and translation
studies. Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Submission Guidelines:
All submissions will be subject to double-blind peer review by an
international scientific committee composed of specialists from
various fields. Submissions may be accepted, accepted with revisions,
or rejected.
 - Submitted abstracts should not exceed 10,000 characters (including
spaces) or 3 pages (including references).
 - Full articles should range between 30,000 and 40,000 characters
(including spaces).
 - Articles may be written in French or English.
 - Articles must include a consistent and up-to-date bibliography.
 - Each article must include an abstract and five keywords in both
French and English.
 - The style sheet and instructions for authors are available at:
https://journals.openedition.org/lidil/3303
Email addresses for submission:
Abstracts and articles should be sent to both of the following
adresses:
iva.novakova at univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
rommbi at cc.au.dk
Timeline:
Deadline for submission of article proposal: 30 September 2025
Feedback on article proposals: 1st November 2025
Deadline for submission of articles for selected proposals: 28
February 2026
(note: acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance of the
article)
Feedback on article evaluations: 15 May 2026
Submission of final versions of articles: 30 June 2026
Publication of the issue: November 2026

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Computational Linguistics
                     Discourse Analysis
                     General Linguistics
                     Linguistic Theories




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