CFP: 11th International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature, 6-8 April 2017

11th International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature, 6-8 April 2017

The eleventh in a series of biennial international and interdisciplinary symposia organized by the Iconicity Research Project since 1997, this meeting will once again focus on iconicity – resemblance mappings between form and meaning – in language and in literature. The theme of the 2017 symposium is the “operationalization of iconicity” – concerned with being able to define and describe different types and levels of iconicity as they appear in different media and modalities. We especially welcome proposals for papers dedicated to this theme, but encourage submissions investigating iconicity from a broad range of perspectives.

Previous symposia have concentrated, on the one hand, on iconicity as a driving force in language (spoken and signed) on all grammatical levels, as well as in language change, language acquisition, and language processing. On the other hand, they have addressed iconicity in language use across a range of media (from print to performance), incorporating the uses of iconic images, diagrams and metaphors at different levels of abstraction and in all varieties of text and discourse (literary texts, historical texts, political texts, advertising, etc.). These possibilities remain open for the 2017 symposium.

The symposium will be hosted by the School of Humanities, University of Brighton, UK. For international participants, Brighton can be most easily reached from Gatwick airport (about 30 minutes by train). Travel to Brighton from other London airports is equally possible (there is a direct bus service to Heathrow airport), but takes longer. The symposium language will be English. Please contact the organisers regarding sign language interpretation. Presentation time for papers will be 30 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion. A selected number of essays will be published in the Iconicity in Language and Literature (ILL) series published by John Benjamins (http://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/ill/main).

Keynotes speakers: Neil Cohn (Tilburg University, Netherlands), Mark Dingemanse (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands), Lucia Santaella (São Paulo Catholic University, Brazil).

Abstract submission: We invite abstracts (450 words maximum, excluding references) of unpublished work for individual papers and theme panels. Theme panels should focus on a well-defined topic and should consist of three individual papers (corresponding to a two-hour slot). Abstracts for individual papers composing a theme should be submitted in addition to an abstract proposing the theme.

Important dates: The deadline for abstract submission is 15 November 2016. Please submit abstracts to all three organizers (see names and emails listed below).

For further information about the Iconicity Research Project, please consult our website:

                                           http://www.iconicity.ch

Further information (about hotel bookings, registration, venue, etc.) will be available on the conference website hosted by the University of Brighton in due time.

Local organizer:

Dr Pamela Perniss

School of Humanities

University of Brighton

Checkland Building

BN1 9PH Brighton

United Kingdom

Tel: +44-1273-641406

Email: P.Perniss@brighton.ac.uk


Prof Dr Olga Fischer                                             Prof Dr Christina Ljungberg

University of Amsterdam                                    University of Zurich

Spuistraat 134                                                        Plattenstrasse 47

1012 VB Amsterdam                                            8032 Zurich

The Netherlands                                                    Switzerland

Tel: +31-20-5253825                                           Tel: +41-44-6343551

Email: O.C.M.Fischer@uva.nl                         Email: cljung@es.uzh.ch

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