LINGUIST List 18.193

Thu Jan 18 2007

Calls: Discourse Analysis,Sociolinguistics/UK; Comp Ling/Czech Republic

Editor for this issue: Ania Kubisz <anialinguistlist.org>

Directory         1.    Patrick Stevenson, Language, Discourse, and Identity in Central Europe
         2.    Pavel Stranak, 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics
Message 1: Language, Discourse, and Identity in Central Europe
Date: 16-Jan-2007
From: Patrick Stevenson <prs1soton.ac.uk>
Subject: Language, Discourse, and Identity in Central Europe



Full Title: Language, Discourse, and Identity in Central Europe
Date: 06-Jul-2007 - 08-Jul-2007 Location: Southampton, United Kingdom Contact Person: Jenny Carl
Meeting Email: < click here to access email >
Web Site: http://www.glipp.soton.ac.uk/conference.html
Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): Czech; English; German, Standard; Hungarian; Polish; Slovak

Call Deadline: 01-Feb-2007

Meeting Description:

This conference will explore the role of the German language in theformation and contestation of national and regional identities in Germany,Austria and neighbouring states in the centre of Europe. Its focus will be onthe position and uses of German in relation to other languages in the currentreshaping of central European space – whether as the dominant, officiallylegitimated language of Germany or Austria, as the minority language ofhistorical migrations, or as a (potential) regional lingua franca occupying themiddle ground between global English and 'national' languages.

Papers are invited that address the roles of language, experiences of andwith language, and discourses about language. Preference will be given topapers that integrate consideration of ideologies, policies and practices.

Final call for papers

Keynote speakers

Thomas Diez, BirminghamMatthias Makowski, PragueUlrike Hanna Meinhof, SouthamptonRuth Wodak, Lancaster/Vienna

In central European space - straddling the current political borders of Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and Slovenia - the German language has long played a key role in processes of identification.

What role is the relationship between German and other languages playing today in the reshaping of societies and communities in central Europe? How is this relationship articulated in discourses about language? How is it manifested in individual repertoires and social practices? How is it determined by social and cultural policies?

This conference will explore the position and uses of German in relation to other languages in this rapidly changing region - whether as the dominant, officially legitimated language of Germany or Austria, as the minority language of migrations (past and present), or as a (potential) regional lingua franca occupying the middle ground between global English and 'national' languages.

Context and rationaleIn 2004 Andreas Gardt and Bernd Hüppauf published a collection of papers with the ominous title Globalization and the Future of German (Mouton de Gruyter). This wide-ranging volume presents a critical assessment of the present position and future prospects of the German language as a 'paradigmatic example' of the future of European languages in general in the face of global forces apparently favouring the growing domination of 'global Englishes' and militating against linguistic diversity.

In the same year, the Southampton Centre for Transnational Studies organised a conference on Language and the Future of Europe, from which selected papers have now been published in Clare Mar-Molinero and Patrick Stevenson (eds) Language Ideologies, Policies and Practices (Palgrave, 2006). In her keynote paper, Susan Gal explores the complex relations between migration, minorities and multilingualism in Europe in terms of shifting language ideologies, challenging 'the tight Herderian weave of culture, language and state in Europe' which, she argues, 'is being stretched and frayed in subtle ways.'

In July 2007, the Centre will host a conference with the aim of developing these two themes in a particular way. It will investigate Gal's assertion further by focusing on the context of what she refers to as the 'fractal geography' of central Europe. Specifically, it will form part of a research programme, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, on the role of the German language in the formation and contestation of national and regional identities in Germany, Austria and neighbouring states in the centre of Europe (www.glipp.soton.ac.uk).

Papers are invited that address the roles of language, experiences of and with language, and discourses about language in this region. Preference will be given to papers that integrate consideration of ideologies with analysis of policies and/or practices.

It is envisaged that selected papers from the conference will be published in book-form in English, and papers should therefore be given in English. Abstracts (maximum 200 words) should be sent by email by 1 February 2007 to Dr Jenny Carl at the following address: glippsoton.ac.uk. Abstracts should be included in the body of the email, NOT as an attachment.

Information about fees and registration will be available on the project website (www.glipp.soton.ac.uk) from about mid-February.

Questions that could be addressed:What impact has social, political, economic and cultural transformation had on patterns of multilingualism in central Europe?To what extent are pan-European discourses on multilingualism at odds with national policies and individual practices?Who engages in language policy-making and to what ends?How have 'old' and 'new' migrations into and within this region affected linguistic practices?How far and in what ways are identities imposed, assumed or negotiated linguistically or through reference to language?How do individuals use the linguistic resources available to them to position themselves and others in multilingual space?What role do narratives about language play in individual biographies and memories of the pre-1989 past?

Topics could include:Language biographiesVisual manifestations of multilingualismMedia discourses (film, TV, music, print media, advertising)Linguistic practices in popular culture and new technologiesLinguistic counter-culturesLanguage and culture agencies (British Council, Goethe Institut etc)Language and migrationLanguage and tourismLanguage and belongingLanguage and social inclusion/exclusionLanguage and citizenshipLanguage in multinational businessesLanguage and the knowledge economyLanguage and cosmopolitanismLanguage and territory / de-territorialisation of languageUrban spaces and linguistic neighbourhoods

OrganisersProf. Patrick Stevenson, Dr Jenny Carl and Livia SchanzeCentre for Transnational StudiesModern LanguagesSchool of HumanitiesUniversity of SouthamptonSouthampton SO17 1BJU.K.


Message 2: 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics
Date: 13-Jan-2007
From: Pavel Stranak <stranakufal.mff.cuni.cz>
Subject: 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics



Full Title: 45th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics Short Title: ACL07
Date: 24-Jun-2007 - 29-Jun-2007 Location: Prague, Czech Republic Contact Person: Annie Zaenen
Meeting Email: < click here to access email >
Web Site: http://www.acl2007.org
Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics

Call Deadline: 23-Jan-2007

Meeting Description:

Information on the Annual meeting of the ACL can be found athttp://www.acl2007.org

Approaching deadlines reminder: 10 days left (January 13, 2007) www.acl2007.org

Approaching deadlines: Main conference: January 23, 2007Student research workshop: January 23, 2007

Table of Contents 1. Main Conference Call for Papers2. Student Research Workshop Call for Papers

1. Main Conference Call for Papers Program Co-Chairs:

Annie Zaenen (PARC, USA) Antal van den Bosch (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)

Important Dates: Paper submission deadline: January 23, 2007 Notification of acceptance: March 23, 2007 Camera ready papers due: May 4, 2007

The Association for Computational Linguistics invites the submission ofpapers for its 45th Annual Meeting. Papers are invited on substantial,original, and unpublished research on all aspects of computationallinguistics, including, but not limited to: pragmatics, semantics,syntax, grammars and the lexicon; phonetics, phonology and morphology;lexical semantics and ontologies; word segmentation, tagging andchunking; parsing; generation and summarization; language modeling,spoken language recognition and understanding; linguistic, psychologicaland mathematical models of language; document retrieval, questionanswering, information extraction, and text mining; machine learning fornatural language; corpus-based modeling of language, discourse anddialogue; multi-lingual processing, machine translation and translationaids; multi-modal and natural language interfaces and dialogue systems;applications, tools and resources; and evaluation of systems.

For further information regarding requirements, reviewing, formattingand submission details, see the conference web site: http://www.acl2007.org/

2. Student Research Workshop Call for Papers Student Research Workshop Co-Chairs:

Violeta Seretan (University of Geneva, Switzerland) Chris Biemann (University of Leipzig, Germany) Ellen Riloff, Faculty Advisor (University of Utah, USA)

Important Dates: Paper submission deadline: January 23, 2007 Notification of acceptance: March 23, 2007 Camera ready papers due: May 4, 2007

The Student Research Workshop is an established tradition at ACLconferences. The workshop provides a venue for student researchersinvestigating topics in Computational Linguistics and Natural LanguageProcessing to present their work and to receive feedback both from thegeneral audience and from selected panelists -- experienced researcherswho prepare in-depth comments and questions in advance of thepresentation.

We invite all student researchers to submit their work to the workshop.As the main goal of the workshop is to provide feedback, theemphasis is on work in progress.

For further information regarding requirements, reviewing, formattingand submission details, see the conference web site: http://www.acl2007.org/