Oct. 2, 2025 - Oct. 4, 2025
https://www.workshoponimmigrantlanguages.com/wila-16.html
The 16th annual Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas will be held at the University of Stavanger, October 2–4, 2025.
We invite abstracts for 30-minute presentations (20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions) on any aspect of the linguistics of heritage languages in the Americas (e.g., structural, historical, sociolinguistic, or experimental). Research on (im)migrant and heritage languages in the Americas covers a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches, including: formal/structural analyses of heritage language grammars; investigations of bilingual grammars and language contact phenomena; study of diachronic language change in extra-territorial varieties; analyses of social, cultural, and political factors affecting language maintenance, shift, and revitalization; acquisition of heritage languages; synchronic variation in heritage languages, and much more. In addition to supporting that breadth of approaches to the study of heritage languages, WILA has also explicitly been a forum to facilitate cross-linguistic comparisons of all sorts, including different languages and dialects, different socio-historical contexts, varied demographic patterns of (im)migration and settlement, and different historical periods up to the present day.
2025 is a commemoration year for multiple occasions. First, WILA celebrates its 15th year anniversary since its inception in 2010, beginning as a workshop on Norwegian and Germanic immigrant language structures and over the years expanding to include more language families and more themes and perspectives that are relevant for the study of immigrant and heritage languages. Second, this year marks the 200-year anniversary of what is recognized as the first organized emigration from Norway to the United States, with the departure of the Restauration from Stavanger July 4, 1825. Finally, the city of Stavanger itself celebrates 900 years by commemorating the completion of the cathedral, Stavanger domkirke, and the formation of the Diocese of Stavanger in 1125.
We would therefore like to take advantage of this spirit of reflection, and encourage presenters to touch on how the study of language, migration, community, and history over the past 15 to 20 years has developed and lead to a better understanding of structural and social aspects of linguistic patterns.
Submission instructions:
We invite abstracts for 30-minute presentations (20 minutes + 10 minutes for questions) on any aspect of the linguistics of heritage languages in the Americas (e.g., structural, historical, sociolinguistic, or experimental). Abstracts should be anonymous, and should be no longer than a single page. A second page may be included for data, graphics, and references.
Selected papers from the conference will be published. There will be a separate call for papers for the publication.
Submissions open: March 1, 2025 - June 15, 2025
Contact Email: [email protected]