LIPP-Symposium 2023 : Small languages on the big stage: Linguistic diversity in research, revitalisation, and policies

"Small" languages of the world take various shapes – indigenous languages, minoritised languages, migrant languages, or non-dominant varieties of languages of wider communication. Despite these differences, "small" languages generally face similar obstacles regarding political recognition, need for documentation and description, technological support, language activism, revitalisation or reclamation movements. These important fields for enquiry and support are not unknown to language workers, activists, or linguists. Documentation efforts have been increasing for the last thirty years and special interest groups are forming around endangered languages. Simultaneously, a plethora of publications on selected issues of minoritised and less-commonly spoken languages invite discourse on these issues. At the same time, numerous scholars and language workers lament the exoticism tied to indigenous languages and the emphasis of discourses on endangerment rather than the focus on underlying mechanisms of disenfranchisement, discrimination, or 'benign neglect'. This year's meeting of the annual LIPP-Symposium at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is dedicated to these languages and their unique sociolinguistic context and aims to create a platform – a "big stage" – for researchers of any career stage, activists, and community members to discuss similarities and overarching topics across the range of "small" languages. Given the high relevance of this topic during the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032 (https://idil2022-2032.org/), inter- and transdisciplinary research as well as reports on collaborative projects with communities are highly encouraged under the conference theme.

Possible topics include but are not restricted to
- language documentation and description efforts
- "small" languages and language typology
- "small" languages and general linguistic theory
- language policy and planning for endangered languages
- language revitalisation and reclamation
- language pedagogy for less-commonly taught languages
- "small" languages and digital humanities/information technology
- media and modes of dissemination for smaller communities
- heritage languages, migrant languages, non-dominant varieties
- social responses to language endangerment

Submissions are invited from scholars, activists, and stakeholders from all parts of the world. All disciplinary orientations or theoretical frameworks are welcome, yet the relevance of the chosen languages or frameworks for the conference theme must be evident. Submissions by advanced graduate students and early career researchers are especially encouraged. Abstracts of 300-500 words must be submitted by 11 September 2023 anywhere-on-earth time via email to [email protected]. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit full versions to the Open-Access publication JournaLIPP (https://lipp.ub.lmu.de/index.php/lipp/) after the conference. In the submission, please indicate whether you would like to have the abstract considered as a long or short paper (the choice does not affect the chances for acceptance). Long papers will be allotted 25-30 minutes (including time for discussion), while short papers will be given 15 minutes of time.

Pitch your project

In addition to long and short papers, there are plans for project pitches of graduate students or early career researchers. These 5-minute pitches shall present a research question or a topic for further enquiry, as well as current hurdles, requests for collaboration, or talking points. “Pitch your project” replaces the traditional poster session and shall enable students and scholars of any career stage and background to share their research. Abstracts for project pitches are to be submitted and reviewed under the same principles as full papers and can include late breaking research. Acceptance as a pitch does not imply a lower quality or relevance of the paper; depending on the number of submissions and representation of topics, full papers may be invited as pitches at the organising committee’s discretion.

About the conference

The conference is the 29th installment of the LIPP-Symposium (https://www.symp.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/past-conferences/) organised by doctoral students in the Class of Language at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (https://www.en.lipp.uni-muenchen.de/) and funded by the Graduate School Language & Literature. The conference will take place in hybrid format in Munich between 07-09 December 2023. There will be early and late online time slots for overseas participants. Participation is free of charge, thus no scholarships or travelling grants can be issued. Registration for online and in-person participation will open in October 2023.
Enquiries can be directed to the organising committee at [email protected] .

Organising committee

Tobias Weber
Mia Klee
Anita Salinas Castillo
Bolei Ma
Daria Zhornik

Patrons / Schirmherrschaft

Prof. Dr. Ksenia Shagal
PD Dr. habil. Peter-Arnold Mumm