Romance grammars, context and contact

We are delighted to announce the second edition of 'Romance grammars, context and contact', taking place at the University of Birmingham, 8th-10th of January 2024 

As in the previous edition (2021), this conference will bring together scholars with expertise in Romance morphosyntactic variation, working at different interfaces (generative, sociolinguistics, dialectology, and language contact), alongside scholars and stakeholders working on language ideologies, language policy/planning and language documentation. 

Please note this is an in person event, not online.

This second edition of RGCC forms part of the project Heritage speakers of Spanish: the case of Latin American Londoners (PI: Norma Schifano; British Academy/Leverhulme Trust SRG21\211281). It will comprise general sessions as well as half a day dedicated to challenges and opportunities raised by working and collaborating with linguistic minorities and associated organizations and stakeholders. 

The invited speakers for the general sessions are:

• Laura Domínguez (University of Southampton)
• Anna Pineda (Universitat de Barcelona) 

The invited speakers for the special session on working with communities are:

• Jonathan Kasstan (University of Westminster)
• A representative of Latin American House, a London-based charity offering a variety of free services for the Latin American communities of the UK, partner of “Heritage speakers of Spanish: the case of Latin American Londoners” (TBC) 

Call for papers

We invite abstracts for 20-minute presentations on any aspect of Romance grammatical variation in the context of contact, multilingualism, migration, and/or other social and material contextual factors in relation to Romance linguistic communities and/or their language practices, whether synchronic or diachronic.

We are particularly interested in receiving contributions which draw together, or offer comparative or interdisciplinary perspectives on, questions of morphosyntactic variation, language contact and language ideologies in relation to non-standard(ized), contested, oppressed or minoritized Romance or Romance-related varieties.

Contributions for any sessions (general or session on working with communities), based on any Romance or Romance-related varieties, are welcome.

Submission info:

• Abstracts for oral presentation must be submitted by 15 October 2023 to rgcc2024@contacts.bham.ac.uk anonymously, in English or a Romance/Romance-related variety (if the latter, accompanied by an English translation), with a maximum length of two A4 pages formatted in Times New Roman, 12-point font size, single-spaced, 2.5cm margins, including examples and references.

• A maximum of two abstracts can be submitted: either one individual abstract and one joint abstract per
author; or two abstracts as co-author.

• Please indicate whether you would like your abstract to be considered for the community session.

• Each oral presentation will be allotted 20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions.

• Notification of acceptance: 20 November 2023

Key dates

• Deadline for abstract submission: 15 October 2023
• Notification of acceptance: 20 November 2023
• Conference: 8-10 January 2024 

Organising committee: Norma Schifano, Alice Corr 

Contact: rgcc2024@contacts.bham.ac.uk