Conference on Mediterranean & European Linguistic Anthropology (COMELA 2020)

About the Conference

The COMELA 2020 theme, ‘Bounded languages … Unbounded,’ encapsulates the ongoing struggle throughout Mediterranean and European regions. As tensions between demarcation and legitimization of languages, language ideologies, and language identities, enter a new era, flexible citizenship now operates well within, and not only across, language communities, to unbind languages, and to create new boundaries, unlike those ever seen throughout history.

The COMELA 2020 invites work which addresses the shifting boundedness of Language Communities of The Mediterranean and Europe. Papers and posters should acknowledge and describe processes of language shape, change, and ideology, pertinent to social, cultural, and political histories and futures, of Mediterranean and European regions.

Topics

Anthropological Linguistics
Applied Sociolinguistics
Buddhist studies and discourses
Cognitive Anthropology and Language
Critical Linguistic Anthropology
Ethnographical Language Work
Ethnography of Communication
General Sociolinguistics
Islamic Studies and discourses
Language, Community, Ethnicity
Language Contact and Change
Language, Dialect, Sociolect, Genre
Language Documentation
Language, Gender, Sexuality
Language Ideologie

Submissions

Presentation lengths

– Colloquia – 1.5 hours with 3-5 contributors
– Papers – 25 minutes, includes 5 minutes for questions/responses
– Posters – to be displayed at designated times throughout the COMELA

Abstract Submission Guidelines

– Submission of proposals for papers, posters, and colloquia should be completed via the online submission website.
– 18-word maximum presentation title
– 400-word maximum abstract, including references
– Colloquia: Upload the abstract for the colloquium, in the submissions box. The abstract must contain both the main description of the colloquium, as well as a summarized description of each individual paper to be presented within the colloquium. This information must include the names and affiliations of each authors and presenter, and the title of each respective session/presentation, as well as any other information believed to be relevant.
– For individual papers submitted for review and acceptance into the general sessions, the first author will be the nominated ‘Corresponding Author’, but can also be a ‘Presenting author’ when completing the profile.
– Each author must also confirm their role: Presenting author, non-presenting author, chair or discussant.

Evaluation of proposals

Proposals for individual papers, posters, and colloquia will be evaluated by the COMELA Review Committee, with criteria as follows:

– Appropriateness and significance of the topic to COMELA themes
– Originality/significance/impact of the research
– Clarity/coherence of research concerns, theoretical and analytical framework(s), description of research, data collection, findings/conclusions, rhetoric, and exegesis as a whole
– For colloquia, importance/significance of the overarching topic and/or framework(s) addressed, and its coherence of and with individual presentations. All abstracts for presentations within the colloquia will not be peer reviewed by the COMELA review committee, but are expected to be at a standard commensurate to the parent colloquium abstract, which will be peer reviewed by the COMELA review committee. Thus, the acceptance of the colloquium, and hence all presentations and discussions within that colloquium, becomes predicated on the success of the review of the main proposal for that colloquium, submitted by the main organizers of the respective colloquium.
– All abstracts for general sessions, which are selected and placed by the COMELA selection committee, will be double blind reviewed.

Conditions of Submissions

– A participant may be first author/presenter in a maximum of two presentations, be it individual papers, posters, or papers within colloquia.
– In addition, a participant may act as chair, discussant, or co-author in one further presentation.
– Alternatively, participants may act as first author/presenter in one presentation, and chair, discussant, or co-author in a maximum of two other presentations.
– All proposals must present or interpret original work otherwise yet unavailable.
– The language of the COMELA is English. However, abstracts may be submitted in any language, but together with an English translation.
– Presenters can present in any language, but must prepare an English translation for the presentation.
– The COMELA Committee will assign all relevant schedules to accepted individuals and groups.
– Presenters must register and pay prior to August 15, 2020, to confirm their place at the COMELA 2020, and hence for their presentations to be confirmed in the program.
– Presenters are required to organize their own travel and accommodation arrangements. The COMELA Organizers have secured accommodation at various locations around the city (see link for accommodation), details of which will be available for booking when registering for the COMELA.

Strands

Abstract and poster proposals should address one or more of the key strands pertinent to Mediterranean and European regions:

– Anthropological Linguistics
– Applied Sociolinguistics
– Buddhist studies and discourses
– Cognitive Anthropology and Language
– Critical Linguistic Anthropology
– Documenting Language
– Ethnographical Language Work
– Ethnography of Communication
– General Sociolinguistics
– Islamic Studies and discourses
– Language Contact and Change
– Language, Community, Ethnicity
– Language, Dialect, Sociolect, Genre
– Language Documentation
– Language, Gender, Sexuality

– Language Ideologies
– Language Minorities and Majorities
– Language Revitalization
– Language in Real and Virtual Spaces
– Language Socialization
– Language and Spatiotemporal Frames
– Multifunctionality
– Narrative and Metanarrative
– Nonverbal Semiotics
– Poetics and Performativity
– Post-Structuralism and Language
– Semiotics and Semiology
– Social Psychology of Language
– Text, Context, Entextualization

Chronology

Second and Final Abstract and poster proposal submission

Opens: December 1, 2019 at midnight
Closes: June 1, 2020 at midnight

Notification of acceptance

No later than June 20, 2020 at midnight

Registration

Early bird registration

Opens: October 30, 2019 at midnight
Closes: February 28, 2020 at midnight

Normal bird registration

Opens: February 29, 2020 at midnight
Closes: June 25, 2020 at midnight

Late bird registration

Opens: June 26, 2020 at midnight
Closes: September 5, 2020 (Conference end)

Presenters will need to have registered for The COMELA by no later than August 15, 2020, midnight, to guarantee a place in the program. Registration will remain open after this date, but the conference organizers can not guarantee placement in the conference.

Fees

Students/Affiliates:

Early Bird: USD 170
Regular Bird: USD 220
Late Bird/On-site: USD 270

Others:

Early Bird: USD 220
Regular Bird: USD 270
Late Bird/On-site: USD 320

Excursion: USD 110

The conference fee includes daily buffet lunch, morning and afternoon break refreshments, and one buffet dinner. The 5th September optional anthropological program is priced separately.