Call for Papers

We are pleased to announce the 39th meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea to be held at the University of Bremen, Germany. The general theme of this international meeting is Relativism and universalism in linguistics.

Throughout the history of linguistics, two opposing views on linguistic facts have been competing with each other. Simplifying, a crude version of relativism takes the structural diversity of human languages to be evidence of the differential determination of language structures by non-linguistic factors (most prominently, culture-dependent world-views, etc.). An equally crude universalism, on the other hand, denounces the very same facts as secondary and thus largely unimportant phenomena behind which the "real" language is hidden. This supposed real language, then, is organized in such a way that it obeys universally valid rules (which may be innate).

SLE2006 wants to tackle the question of whether and how a reconciliation of the two standpoints can be achieved. Therefore, we especially welcome papers and workshop proposals which explicitly invite the discussants to weigh the pros and cons of the two vistas on language. Empirically-minded and theory-oriented contributions are equally welcome as long as they directly address the Relativism vs. Universalism dichotomy. This topic is relevant for all areas of grammar and practically all other disciplines subsumed under linguistics (from diachronic linguistics via language contact to ethnolinguistics).

The conference is organized by the Department of Linguistics and the Institute of General and Applied Linguistics (IAAS) at the University of Bremen.

Local Organizing Committee

Thomas Stolz (Bremen, President)

John Charles Smith (Oxford, SLE)

Karl Heinz Wagner(Bremen, Secretary / Webmaster)

Martina Behrens (Bremen, Accountant)

Scientific Committee

Thomas Stolz (Bremen)

Christel Stolz (Bremen)

Elisabeth Verhoeven (Bremen)

Livio Gaeta (Turin)

Salvador Pons (Valencia)

C. Beedham (St. Andrews)

Bremen Organizing Committee

Sonja Kettler, Tamar Khizanishvili, Nataliya Levkovych, Christel Stolz, Cornelia Stroh, Elisabeth Verhoeven, Aina Urdze

Call for Papers

(deadline 1 April 2006)

Suggested topics are recommended, but not limited to the following areas:

• Historical linguistics
• All areas of grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon)
• Typology and universals research
• Cognitive linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Language contact/Areal linguistics
• History of linguistics
• Other areas relevant to the general topic of the conference.

Abstracts

Abstracts are to be submitted in electronic form (attachment; word.doc file [no pdf files please])

• addressed to sle2006@uni-bremen.de (indicate ABSTRACT under subject)
• maximum length of abstract ONE page (abstracts exceeding this limit will not be accepted by the scientific committee)
• preferred format: TimesNewRoman, 12pt, single spacing, 2.5 cm margins (left, right, bottom, top)
• languages: English, French, German, Spanish
• abstract must include: proposed title of the talk; full name of author(s) plus affiliation
• restrict bibliographical references to a minimum
• Abstracts must reach us by 1st of April latest.

ATTENTION: papers will be included in the final program of SLE2006 ONLY IFF their authors have paid the conference fee

For those who do not have access to electronic media, submit your abstracts by snail mail to

Prof. Dr. Thomas Stolz
Universität Bremen
FB 10: Linguistik
PF 330 440
D-28 334 Bremen/Germany

or by fax to:

Prof. Dr. Thomas Stolz
Universität Bremen
FB 10: Linguistik

++49-(0)421-218-7801

Call for Workshops

(deadline for full workshop descriptions 1 April 2006)

The organizers welcome suggestions for workshops. The number of workshops is limited to a maximum of six. There will be a slot for pre-conference workshops on 29 August 2006. Those who are interested in organizing a workshop on occasion of the 39^th SLE are kindly asked to get in touch with the local organizers in Bremen.

Invited Speakers

Denis Creissels (Lyon)

Östen Dahl (Stockholm)

Wolfgang U. Dressler (Vienna)

Christian Lehmann (Erfurt)

Mariann Mithun (Santa Barbara)

Iwar Werlen (Berne)

Registration

Registration fees (to be paid in advance by 31 May 2006):
Members:	70 euro (100 euro after 31 May 2006)
Non-Members:	100 euro (130 euro after 31 May 2006)
Students:	30 euro (60 euro after 31 May 2006)
For scholars from Eastern Europe:	60 euro (90 euro after 31 May 2006)

There is an on-line registration service available: http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/sle2006 . Please visit our conference website (see above). This website also tells you how to pay the registration fees.

Important dates

1 April 2006	Deadline for submission of papers and workshop descriptions
30 April 2006	Notification of acceptance
31 May 2006	Payment of regular registration fees
30 August – 2 September 2006	Conference

Contact

Thomas Stolz (President)

Fachbereich 10: Linguistik

Universität Bremen

Postfach 33 04 40

D-28334 Bremen

Tel.: ++49(0)421/218-4993

Fax: ++49(0)421/218-4283

Email: sle2006@uni-bremen.de

Meeting URL: http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/sle2006