37.1968, Confs: 8th International Conference on Ecolinguistics (France)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1968. Wed Jun 03 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1968, Confs: 8th International Conference on Ecolinguistics (France)

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Date: 02-Jun-2026
From: Catrin Peterson [catrin.peterson at univ-rennes2.fr]
Subject: 8th International Conference on Ecolinguistics


8th International Conference on Ecolinguistics
Short Title: ICE 8
Theme: Practising bio-cultural and multilingual diversity in
ecolinguistics

Date: 09-Jul-2026 - 11-Jul-2026
Location: Rennes, France
Contact: Catrin Peterson
Contact Email: catrin.peterson at univ-rennes2.fr
Meeting URL: https://ice-8.sciencesconf.org/

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

The 8th International Conference on Ecolinguistics which will take
place from 9th to 11th July 2026 in Rennes, France.
Multilingual programme now available (in French, English and Spanish)
on the conference website.
Registration is closing soon: deadline 8th June.
We will discuss and practice approaches to the ecolinguistic
commitment for sustainable futures and ecojustice with a special focus
on multilingual and multisensory encounters. ICE 8 aims to provide a
dynamic and stimulating space for sharing ecolinguistic research and
practices.
Ecolinguistics, a discipline first consolidated in the 1990s and a
research field which has been rapidly expanding in the last ten years,
takes special interest in language and ecology, with a particular
attention to the interconnections between language and natural
ecology. However, terms such as language, nature, or ecology have
different connotations for researchers and schools of thought. By
exploring the role of language in the life sustaining interactions of
humans, other species and the physical environment, ecolinguists
question boundaries and definitions of and between language and
non-language, humans and non-humans, or humans and environment.
Moving beyond traditional sociolinguistic concerns that have tended to
use ecology as a metaphor for theorizing language contact and change,
ecolinguists investigate how human linguistic activity impacts the
wider ecological relationships of interdependence that human beings
inhabit and depend on for their well-being and survival (Steffensen
2024). This ‘inclusive’ (Cornips 2019) perspective of ecolinguistics
calls for approaches to language research that reconceptualize
language, not as an anthropocentric capacity that separates humans
from the more-than-human world, but as an earthly practice that
entangles human beings with other species and ecosystems we share the
planet with in myriad ways. This work is important as ever as we find
ourselves living through what environmental scientists describe as a
‘polycrisis’ involving a nexus of escalating ecological catastrophes
brought about by extractive and exploitative modes of human relations
with the earth. Recognizing the immensity of the environmental
challenges we face today, ecolinguists are shedding light on the
diversity of linguistic practices that shape human interactions with
natural ecologies. These include relationships of control and
commodification as well as of care and flourishing cohabitation. While
early work focused primarily on critical analyses of environmental
texts, contemporary ecolinguistics has expanded to include:
 - Studies of how multisensory and embodied discourse mediates
real-world encounters between human and non-human actors;
 - Explorations of how emerging ecomedia and digital linguistic
practices make beneficial ecological actions, identities and
communities more or less possible;
 - Posthumanist and post-anthropocentric approaches to linguistics
that investigate language itself as an ecological phenomenon
co-constituted through diverse human relationships with other species
and places;
 - Decolonial and Southern approaches in ecolinguistics that examine
how local and Indigenous languaging practices work outside of dominant
colonial language ideologies that have historically served to sever
human relations from the wider ecological contexts they depend on.
 - Cognitive perspectives that view language, not as a bounded entity
located inside the head, but as a distributed activity that only
emerges from the dynamic interactions among human and non-human
bodies, minds, and their shared ecological contexts.
By bringing these various theoretical and methodological approaches
into conversation, ICE 8 aims to explore how different
conceptualizations of the language-ecology relationship can inform
both scholarly understanding and practical responses to contemporary
environmental challenges. Our rich and exciting programme includes
contributions that:
 - Bridge traditional discourse analytic approaches in ecolinguistics
with newer theoretical frameworks including multisensorial, material,
embodied, posthumanist and digital approaches
 - Study how language mediates situated human interactions with other
species and ecosystems
 - Investigate how decolonial and Southern environmental knowledge and
values manifest in speaking and listening practices, and consider
Indigenous and non-Western theoretical perspectives on language and
discourse
 - Explore interdisciplinary approaches combining linguistic analysis
with insights from environmental sciences, anthropology, cognitive
science, and other relevant fields
 - Examine historical and contemporary discourses in promoting
environmental awareness and activism
 - Analyze the role of language ideologies in challenging or
reinforcing destructive human relationships with nature
 - Develop new theoretical and methodological frameworks for
understanding language-ecology relationships.
The conference will bring into conversation and joint practice
ecolinguistic approaches fostering diversity, including language
diversity and bio-cultural diversity. The conference will be
multilingual, multimodal, and multisensory. The organising committee
is dedicated to two guiding principles. First, we plan a creative and
active conference. This means including discussion time, workshops,
artistic performances, and excursions alongside more classic
presentation formats. Second, our aim is to make ICE 8 a truly
multilingual conference, so we will experiment with bilingual
presentations, translation and interpretation.



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