Full Title: Languages, Work and Social Practices

Date: 08-Sep-2024 - 14-Sep-2024
Location: Poznan, Poland
Contact Person: Deborah Hill
Meeting Email: [email protected]

Linguistic Field(s): Discipline of Linguistics

Call Deadline: 08-Jan-2024

Meeting Description:

This workshop will be held during The 21st International Congress of Linguists (ICL) 8 to 14 September 2024 in Poznan. Workshops will be scheduled on Thursday and Friday (12–13 September).

There is growing evidence that linguists are seldom called on to contribute to interdisciplinary discourses that address issues related to the sustainability of communities, despite the significance of languages to the realisation of, for example, SDGs (Ezeh & Obiageli 2020, Romaine 2019). Unlike the discipline of economics, linguistics has not yet provided convincing evidence of its relevance to politicians (Vigoroux & Mufwene (2020, 2)). At the same time, there is abundant evidence of the interconnectedness between languages, work and social practices, for example the use of local languages in the informal economy in Africa (Djité 2020).

At a time of rapid technological change and increased mobility of workers, either by choice and for political, environmental, or economic reasons, we can turn our attention to the role of languages and language sciences in the sustainability and interconnectedness of work and social practices. As Darkwah and Tsikata have noted, “the evolution of societies has been marked by the changing nature of systems of production and reproduction, manifested in the world of work” (2022: 87). The workshop will explore ways in which work and social practices can be sustained (or threatened) in diverse settings. Communities and societies may include, for example, small agrarian communities, or large multilingual societies. The relationship between work, language and informal or formal economy can also be explored. For example, Djité (2020: 193) describes the relationship in Africa between local languages and work in the informal economy (e.g., food crops, transportation, cheap clothing), and foreign languages and work in the formal economy (e.g., extractive industries).

Workshop participants can reflect on how, through their research, they could contribute to these discussions and may wish to address this question by showing what has already been done or by projecting what could happen in the future (with greater attention to languages and linguistics) in various communities. Examples could include:

• changing work / social practices, including modifications to traditional practices.

• new work practices resulting from migration.
• informal, vs formal language learning contexts and their impacts on work and social practices.
• cross-species communication in subsistence livelihood practices
• language-related accompaniments to work/social practices (e.g., games and songs)
• transmission of knowledge and language
• language, and economy
• language, creative work, and technologies (e.g., music, dance, film)
SDG 8 promotes “full and productive employment and decent work for all”. As with other global concepts, it is usually assumed that there are universal understandings of such terms. Participants can explore the local understandings of key concepts related to SDG 8 such as decent work or youth (un)employment.
Participants can approach this topic, based on their intimate knowledge of the languages and cultures of diverse communities, and from different linguistic sub-disciplinary perspectives, for example:
• language description and documentation
• conceptual analysis
• sociolinguistics
• anthropological linguistics
• language policies
• translation and interpreting
Contributions that reflect collaboration with community members will be especially welcome. The workshop will provide a forum for language scientists to propose recommendations that promote the role and potential of linguistics to contribute to national and international discussions about work and social practices.

Call for Papers:

Researchers are invited to submit abstracts that respond to the following question:
How can languages, language sciences and technologies contribute to the sustainability of work and social practices in diverse communities and societies?
The abstracts should contain the title, five keywords, and a text between 300 and 400 words (including examples, excluding references). Please see the Session description for suggestions and scope of the workshop. Abstracts should be submitted by 8 January 2024 (12.00 PM CET) via Easychair.

To submit an abstract for the workshop, submit to Easychair for ICL: https://easychair.org/account/signin?l=S2Q3TSbyLHUbCD1swBRnlJ