International Conference Languages in Contact 2014

Conference programme:

• Saturday 17 May
• Sunday 18 May

PLENARY SPEAKERS:

• Prof. Marie Alexander (University of Malta)
• Prof. Grzegorz Godlewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
• Prof. Waldemar Skrzypczak (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland)
• Prof. Kamila Turewicz (University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, Poland)
• Prof. Donald Winford (Ohio State University, USA)

Languages in Contact is an international conference that aims at integrating international researchers of language, understood as social human behavior. The conference is organized by the Committee for Philology of Polish Academy of Sciences - Wroclaw Branch, Philological School of Higher Education in Wroclaw, Institute of Linguistics of the University of Malta and International Communicology Institute, Washington D.C., USA. Conference organizers wish to address the need of investigating minority speech communities, endangered and vanishing languages, pidgins and creoles, as well as narrowing down the scope of study of cultural practices performed by the means of language and studies through the scope of contact linguistics.

The conference seeks to reach the following goals:

• Developing methodological apparatus of anthropological linguistics and contact linguistics, as well as promoting these innovative disciplines in Poland.
• Integrating the international scientific milieu focused on anthropological linguistics.
• Promoting the study of minority and vanishing languages among young linguists.

The participants will be encouraged to submit article proposals which, after a successful review, will be published within the volume of Philologica Wratislaviensia: Acta et Studia series. Moreover, the scope of the conference seeks to establish a ground for new research in the following areas:

• conceptions about the origin of language and languages,
• endangered and vanishing languages,
• the ecology of minority languages,
• anthropological linguistics,
• cultural patterns in discursive practices,
• folk-linguistics and folk-anthropology,
• mechanisms of language change (and language death),
• the description and classification (genetic, aerial, typological) of the languages of the world,
• the ethnography of communication,
• studies of pidgin, creole and mixed languages,
• the origins and spread of writing systems,
• field linguistics.

"The attempts to classify mankind are numerous."
Franz Boas, (1911: 6) "Introduction." [In:] The Handbook of American Indian Languages. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 40, 1-95.

"Of all aspects of culture, it is a fair guess that language was the first to receive a highly developed form and that its essential perfection is a prerequisite to the development of culture as a whole."
Edward Sapir, (1937: 155) "Language." [In:] Edwin A. Seligman (ed.) Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences. Vol. 9; New York: Macmillan, 155-169.

"The possibility of insult and of humor based on linguistic choices means that members agree on the underlying rules of speech and on the social meaning of linguistic features."
Susan M. Ervin-Tripp, (1964: 93) "Sociolinguistics." [In:] Leonard Berkovitz (ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Vol 4. New York: Academic Press, 93-107.

"As culture contact is perhaps the most common vector of culture change, the nature of this contact is often manifested in linguistic change."
Willam A. Foley, (1997: 384) Anthropological Linguistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

"(…) Linguistic anthropology is a distinct discipline that deserves to be studied for its past accomplishments as much as for the vision of the future presented in the work of a relatively small but active group of interdisciplinary researchers."
Alessandro Duranti, (1997:1) Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

"The development of a comprehensive written visual language caused civilization to grow more complex. (…) Literacy gives cultures the privilege of knowing the past."
Denise Schmandt-Besserat, (2007: 105) When Writing Met Art. From Symbol to Story. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Scientific Committee:

• Prof. Andrei Avram (University of Bucharest, Romania)
• Prof. Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland)
• Prof. Ray Fabri (University of Malta)
• Prof. Grzegorz Godlewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
• Prof. Franciszek Grucza (Polish Academy of Sciences)
• Prof. Grzegorz Kleparski (University of Rzeszów, Poland)
• Prof. Tomasz P. Krzeszowski (University of Social Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)
• Prof. Witold Mańczak (Jagiellonian University, Poland)
• Prof. Rafał Molencki (Silesian University, Poland)
• Prof. John Rickford (Stanford University, USA)
• Prof. Denise Schmandt-Besserat (University of Texas, Austin, USA)
• Prof. Piotr Stalmaszczyk (University of Lodz, Poland)
• Prof. Waldemar Skrzypczak (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland)
• Prof. Kamila Turewicz (University of Humanities and Economics in Lodz, Poland)
• Prof. Stanisław Prędota (Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw Branch; University of Opole; University of Wroclaw)
• Prof. Zdzisław Wąsik (Philological School of Higher Education in Wroclaw; Adam Mickiewicz University; International Communicology Institute, Washington, D.C., USA)
• Prof. Piotr P. Chruszczewski (Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw Branch; University of Wroclaw; Philological School of Higher Education in Wroclaw; International Communicology Institute, Washington, D.C., USA)

Organizing Committee:

• Anna Zasłona
• Katarzyna Buczek
• Aleksandra Knapik
• Jacek Mianowski
• Piotr P. Chruszczewski

Important dates:

• Closing date for registration and submission of abstracts: 5 April 2014
• Notification of abstract acceptance: 20 April 2014
• Deadline for registration fee payment: 5 May 2014

Registration and Submission of Proposals:
Please send a 400-500 word abstract (in English or in Polish) for a 20-minute paper (max. 20 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes for discussion) at languagesincontact@wsf.edu.pl and register online by 5 April, 2014.

Paper proposals should include the following elements:

• Title of the paper
• Author(s) name
• Author(s) institution affiliation, address, and contact e-mail
• Abstract text (max. 400-500 words)
• Times New Roman font size 12 pt.
• A Microsoft Word 2003 file

Conference fee:
480 PLN (approx. 120 EUR) - conference materials, coffee breaks, lunch and banquet included.
The conference fee should be paid by 5 May, 2014 to the account of the Philological School of Higher Education in Wroclaw:
Account Holder: Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna we Wrocławiu
Bank: Raiffeisen Bank Polska S. A.
Account No (IBAN): PL 23 1750 1064 0000 0000 0856 4167
SWIFT Code: RCBWPLPW

Please make sure to include your name and the conference title (Languages in Contact) in the description of the bank transfer.
The conference fee does not include travel and accommodation costs.

Conference venue:

The Training Centre of Work Standards and Safety Inspectorate in Wroclaw (Centrum Konferencyjne Państwowej Inspekcji Pracy), ul. Mikolaja Kopernika 5.
The conference will be held in a historic building, which is situated in the heart of a beautiful district of Wroclaw, near the Szczytnicki Park, the Centennial Hall (a UNESCO heritage site) and the ZOO.
Please note that the organizers do not provide accommodation for the conference participants.

Important information:

• Accommodation - a list of recommended hotels ->
• Location of the conference venue ->

Contact details:
Conference secretary - Anna Zasłona
e-mail: a.zaslona@wsf.edu.pl
phone: +48 71 395 84 73

Honorary patronage:

• President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław Branch
• Rector of the Philological School of Higher Education in Wrocław
• Director of the International Communicology Institute, Washington , D.C.

For more information visit:

• www.pan.wroc.pl
• www.wsf.edu.pl