Sinn und Bedeutung 30 - Special Session LingDem

Date: 23-Sep-2025 - 23-Sep-2025
Location: Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Meeting URL: https://vicom.info/sub30-lingdem/

Linguistic Field(s): Philosophy of Language; Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics

***Update: Call in International Sign available now***
We are happy to announce that the call in International Sign for the LingDem special session is available now here: https://vimeo.com/1064266335

Due to delays with the information video in International Sign, the submission deadline for the *LingDem* special session has been extended to *Monday, March 31, 2025*. Due to this change, LingDem submissions should now be directed to a different OpenReview venue, see the conference website (https://vicom.info/sub30-lingdem/).
***DEADLINE EXTENSION***

*Sinn und Bedeutung 30* (SuB30) will take place at Goethe University Frankfurt from September 23-27, 2025. We are beyond happy that there will be a special session on September 23, 2025, titled *Beyond Descriptive Meaning: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Demonstrations and Depictions* (LingDem).

Invited speaker: Floris Roelofsen (University of Amsterdam)
Website: https://vicom.info/sub30-lingdem/

**Description**

In all modalities of natural language, information is primarily conveyed through descriptive meaning, where signers and speakers interpret arbitrary expressions based on conventionalized linguistic rules. However, speakers and signers may also add demonstrational and depictive layers of meaning to their utterances, which are iconic in their nature. Linguistic theory has increasingly recognized the significance of demonstrations and depictions in various contexts, revealing their pervasive role in language. For instance, speakers utilize different parts of the body and their voice, e.g., manual and non-manual speech-accompanying gestures, ideophones, and prosodic modulations, to demonstrate different aspects of an event in an iconic fashion. Similarly, signers may use different parts of the body to iconically demonstrate an event, with various body parts potentially representing different arguments simultaneously.

For this special session of Sinn und Bedeutung 30, we invite submissions from researchers interested in empirical studies and linguistic theories of demonstration and depiction in all modalities – spoken, signed, and written. The main focus will be on recent theoretical advancements in the analysis of (multimodal) demonstrations and depictions. Potential topics include – but are not limited to – the following:

- Theoretical and empirical contributions to distinguish between descriptive and depictive meaning
- Theoretical modeling of demonstrations and depictions in formal semantics
- Experimental and corpus-based studies to validate linguistic theories of demonstration and depiction
- Semantic and pragmatic status of gestural components in sign and spoken languages
- Conventionalization and lexicalization of gestural demonstrations and depictions
- Implementation of iconicity in formal semantics
- Analysis of phenomena featuring iconicity (classifiers, role shift, iconic gestures, ideophones, prosodic modulations, …)
- The role of demonstrations and depictions in spoken and signed quotation and speech reports

We are pleased to offer interpretation between English and IS for the LingDem special session if needed. A call in IS will be available soon. If you plan to attend the special session and need interpretation, it would be helpful for our planning if you could send us an email ([email protected]).

**Call for abstracts**

We welcome abstract submissions for talks or posters on topics related to natural language semantics, pragmatics, the syntax-semantics interface, philosophy of language, and psycho-/neurolinguistic studies related to meaning. We especially encourage contributions that incorporate experimental evidence, although all submissions should aim to advance a formal model of natural language semantics and pragmatics.

Abstracts must present original research that has neither been published nor accepted for publication at the time of submission. Each individual may submit a maximum of one abstract as a sole author and one as a co-author (or two as a co-author) for both the main and special sessions combined. Abstracts submitted for the special session will also be considered for the main session.

Authors should indicate whether they would like their abstract to be considered for a talk, a poster, or both.

Submissions should be anonymous and should not include any identifying information.

Abstracts should be formatted to fit within two pages (letter size or A4 paper, with 2.54 cm or 1-inch margins on all sides, 12-point Times New Roman font). An additional third page may be included exclusively for references (mandatory), large figures or tables, and lines corresponding to glosses and translations in non-English examples. Examples, whether glossed or not, should be integrated into the main text rather than collected at the end.

Abstracts must be submitted in PDF format via OpenReview by Monday, March 31, 2025 (23:59 Central European Standard Time):
https://openreview.net/group?id=SuB/2025/LingDem_Special_Session

*Note that you will first need to create an author profile at OpenReview and it may take some time before your account gets fully activated and ready for submission. Please make sure to do so as soon as possible in order to ensure that your account is active before the submission deadline.*

**Important dates**
· March 31, 2025: Submission deadline LingDem special session
· May 16, 2025: Notification
· June 2, 2025: Registration opens
· September 23, 2025: Special Session LingDem
· September 24-26, 2025: Main session
· September 27, 2025: Special Session PhilLingNeg