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Regional Varieties - CONFERENCE POSTPONED

It is with regret that we announce that this conference is to be POSTPONED to July 2012. Following the illness of an organiser and a plenary speaker, this was felt the best course of action to ensure that the interdisciplinary spirit of the meeting and the quality of presentations would not suffer. We extend heartfelt thanks to those of you who submitted abstracts for the conference and cordially extend to you the continued opportunity to present at next year’s conference, exact dates for which will be announced in the near future. Those of you whose abstracts were successfully accepted will be contacted nearer the time individually and invited to resubmit.

 

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the organising committee on lss_rvc@aston.ac.uk


7th-10th July 2011, Aston University, Birmingham

This conference will take as its theme the tensions between an increasingly globalised world and the possibilities which lesser used regional varieties offer individuals and groups to localise themselves and their identities. Referring to what is seen as traditional regional language, dialect and culture, localizing oneself seems to be a viable way out of this dilemma. This should have stabilizing effects on lesser used varieties, which have been facing a gradual process of language shift and divergence towards dominant contact languages over the hundred years. Unfortunately, at the same time, modern life does not so much require knowledge of regional varieties as of standard languages and a good command of English as the global lingua franca. How can an upwardly mobile individual combine the requirements of modern life with identity construction on a regional scale if they so choose? What are the linguistic consequences for lesser used varieties and their respective contact languages?

Focussing on the individual speaker and the speech community which is created by the use of language(s) as social practice, the conference organisers welcome papers focusing on multilingualism and language contact on a world wide level, in particular:

  • Language contact between a lesser used regional variety and a dominant standard language

  • Identity and regional varieties

  • Indexicality and enregisterment

  • Variation and style

  •  Postvernacular linguistic and cultural practices

  •  Emblematic language use and language mixing

  • Lesser used regional varieties and the Internet

  • Regional varieties and linguistic landscapes

  • New approaches to dialectology

CALL FOR PAPERS

Plenary speakers:


Organising committee

The conference is organised by:
  • Professor Gertrud Reershemius (School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University)
  • Dr. Urszula Clark ((School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University)
  • Dr. Esther Asprey (School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University)
  • Mr Brian Dakin (School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University)

Contact the committee >>

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