12th International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature (ILL-12): First Call for Papers

The topic of iconicity – resemblance mappings between form and meaning – continues to be highly relevant for the study of language (in both spoken and signed modalities) and literature, but also for other semiotic systems and media involving gesture, depiction and music, and for interdisciplinary fields such as intermediality studies, cognitive science and cognitive semiotics. The theme of the 12th Symposium is therefore Iconicity in Cognition and across Semiotic Systems.

Keynotes speakers:
* Prof. Fernando Andacht, Republican University of Uruguay
* Prof. Mutsumi Imai, Keio University at Shonan-Fujisawa
* Prof. Cornelia Mueller, Europa-Universität Viadrina
* Prof. Göran Sonesson, Lund University

Previous symposia have concentrated, on the one hand, on iconicity as a driving force in language (both 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, language and music, word and image, etc.). These possibilities remain open for the 2019 symposium, and we welcome abstracts to topics such as (but not limited to), the following:

* Iconicity in the speech signal ("sound symbolism", "ideophones")
* Iconicity in grammar and text
* Iconicity in literature
* Iconicity in signed languages
* Iconicity in gestures
* Iconicity in pictures and other visual media
* Iconicity in music
* Iconicity in intermediality
* Iconicity in narration
* Iconicity in imagination ("mental imagery")
* Iconicity in metaphors within and across semiotic systems
* Iconicity across sensory modalities ("multimodality" and "cross-modality")
* Iconicity in evolution
* Iconicity in child development

Given the wide scope of the topic, accepted presentations need to be made accessible for an interdisciplinary audience. The symposium will be held in English.


Abstract submission: We invite abstracts in English (450 words maximum, excluding references) of unpublished work for oral presentations, posters, and theme sessions.

* Oral papers: 30 minutes + 10 minutes discussion, in two or three parallel sessions. (Deadline: 1 November 2018)
* Theme sessions: three individual papers, focusing on a well-defined topic (corresponding to a two-hour slot). An abstract proposing the theme itself as well as abstracts for the three individual papers composing the theme should be submitted. (Deadline: 15 October 2018)
* Posters: there will be a 2-hour poster session for up to 30 presentations, to be held in the lobby of the Centre for Languages and Literature. (Deadline: 1 November 2018)

Abstracts are to be submitted through Easychair, which will open from 1 May 2018 (https://easychair.org/cfp/ILL-12). Each abstract will be reviewed by at least two reviewers from an international Scientific Committee of over 40 experts in the respective field. The symposium will be hosted by the Division for Cognitive Semiotics at the Centre for Language and Literature at Lund University. For specific information, including abstract submission, see http://konferens.ht.lu.se/ill-12/

For specific questions, please contact: ill-12[at]semiotik.lu.se
A selected number of essays will be published in the Iconicity in Language and Literature (ILL) series published by John Benjamins.

Local Organizing Committee
Jordan Zlatev
Simon Devylder
Sara Lenninger
Jimmie Svensson
Niklas Johansson
Georgios Stampoulidis

Permanent Organizing Committee
Prof Dr Olga Fischer
Prof Dr Christina Ljungberg