Sept. 3, 2025 - Sept. 5, 2025
https://conferences.vdu.lt/etn/general-illa-conference/
The 7th ILLA General Conference will be held at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, following the 5th ILLA Focus Conference on Forensic Linguistics (https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/ILLAFocus-FL/). Both conferences are organized as part of a joint event.
The conference focuses on the uncertainties of the 21st century, which greatly impact different areas in present-day societies, including linguistic behaviours and law practices. This conference invites scholars, legal practitioners, policymakers, and other professionals from different areas to share their research on language and law by relating it to the context of transition and uncertainty, addressing such issues as:
• changing modes of communication,
• austerity,
• migration,
• growing digital divides,
• new technologies undermining traditional routines,
• AI,
• issues of (mis)trust and democratic confidence,
• the COVID-19 pandemic,
• environmental catastrophe,
• the right-wing populism that challenges international agreements,
• globalisation,
• etc.
Within this thematic focus, we welcome papers that address a variety of questions, including:
• What uncertainties have emerged about language and law?
• What vulnerabilities does the age of uncertainty and transition bring in?
• Which approaches from the past are most relevant, how do they need to be modified, and what new perspectives need to be developed?
• Considering the existing level of uncertainty, how should we deal with our desperate need for certainty: how is it addressed in law practices?
• What remains stable? Are there any stable genres, conventions, and language forms?
• How have technological developments affected the emergence of new genres and sub-genres and their fluidity? What ethical and legal dilemmas have arisen?
The conference encourages discussion of the plurality of theories, methods, and approaches, such as corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, and pragmatics.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Auksė Balčytienė (Vytautas Magnus University)
Eleonora Esposito (University of Navarra)
Rodney Jones (University of Reading) and Christoph Hafner (City University of Hong Kong)
Ralf Poscher (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law)
Rosanna Sornicola (University of Naples Federico II)
We invite TWO TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS:
1 Individual papers for thematic areas (see below);
2 Proposals for conference panels on key issues related to the general theme.
The thematic areas are as follows:
1. Historical (Socio)linguistics and Legal Documentation
Coordinator: Paolo Greco (University of Naples Federico II)
2. Linguistic Meaning in Legal Interpretation
Coordinators: Cleo Condoravdi (Stanford University), Brandon Waldon (Georgetown University), Dieter Stein (Heinrich-Heine-Universität)
3. Language and Power in the Courtroom
Coordinators: Magdalena Szczyrbak (Jagiellonian University), Jacqueline Visconti (University of Genoa)
4. Media and Multimodal Texts Communicating Legal Knowledge
Coordinator: Jan Engberg (Aarhus University)
5. Language of Prejudice, Discrimination and Violence
Coordinator: Victoria Guillén-Nieto (University of Alicante)
6. European Legal Culture and Multilingualism
Coordinator: Anne Lise Kjær (University of Copenhagen)
7. Philosophy of Law
Coordinators: Tomasz Gizbert-Studnicki (Jagellonian University); Adam Dyrda (Jagellonian University); Paweł Banas (Warsaw University)
8. Approaches to Legal Argumentation and Interpretation
Coordinators: Stanisław Goźdź-Roszkowski (University of Lodz), Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka (University of Lodz)
9. Extremist Narratives and Cybercrime
Coordinators: Julien Longhi (CY Cergy Paris université), Ana Yara Postigo Fuentes (Heinrich-Heine-Universität)
10. Law, Language and Politics
Coordinator: Frances Olsen (UCLA)
Submission instructions:
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION (for thematic areas)
We invite abstracts for oral presentations (20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of discussion).
Anonymize your abstract: Please do not include any personal information in the abstract file that you upload. There is a separate space within EasyAbs to list author names and affiliations.
Please note that abstracts should deal with research that is clearly in progress (if not yet completed). Please make sure that your abstract includes the following information:
1 Purpose statement
2 Research problem
3 State of the art
4 Hypotheses or research questions
5 Description of the methods, instruments and tools
6 Summary of the main conclusions or statement about the relevance and potential
impact of the piece of research
7 References (up to five).
PANEL PROPOSALS
In addition to the fixed thematic areas, we invite proposals for conference panels on key issues related to the general theme. Panel proposals should be submitted by the panel chair.
Panel proposals have to contain:
1 Title of the panel
2 Name of the person(s) who will chair the panel
3 A brief outline (min. 250 and max. 500 words) of the theme and purpose of the panel
4 Names of the speakers
5 Titles and abstracts for each paper (minimum 3 papers)
Note: Authors of individual papers of the panel should also submit their abstracts as separate submissions following the general guidelines.
GUIDELINES FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS
Title (14pt Times New Roman, bold type)
Text (12pt Times New Roman)
Length: 500 words
Keywords: up to five keywords separated by a semicolon
Language: English
Please follow APA style
Note: Failure to follow the guidelines may be a reason for abstract rejection.
IMPORTANT DATES
• 15 September 2024 – Call for papers
• 15 November 2024 – 2nd Call for papers
• 1 February 2025 – Deadline for submission of abstracts
• 1 March 2025 – Notification of acceptance/rejection
• 15 August 2025 – End of registration
• Early bird registration deadline: 15 May 2025
• Regular registration deadline: 15 August 2025
Submissions open: Sept. 15, 2024 - Feb. 1, 2025
Abstract review period: Feb. 2, 2025 - Feb. 27, 2025