Dear SLICE friends

 
Please receive the Mid-December News (replacing the End of November and End of December issues)
containing information on
  1. The 2014 Taal & Tongval colloquium
  2. A new project in Austria (from Barbara Soukup)
  3. The 9th HiSoN Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics (from Wim Vandenbussche)
et veuillez recevoir mes vœux les meilleurs pour Noel et l’année à venir
Votre vieux rédacteur
Tore
 
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1. The 2014 Taal & Tongval colloquium
 
Much SLICE-related/relevant work was presented at the 2014 edition of the annual Taal & Tongval colloquium, which took place in Ghent on November 28 (organized by Steven Delarue,  
Anne-Sophie Ghyselen, Chloé Lybaert, Jacques Van Keymeulen, Inge Van Lancker – all of Ghent University) under the heading of '(De)standardisation in Europe: qualitative and quantitative approaches.  The book of abstracts is available online via http://www.nederlandsetaalkunde.ugent.be/file/57.
 
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2. Barbara Soukup’s new project in Austria
 
Barbara sends the message below and says she would be “very happy to hear what our colleagues have to say about it all, their experiences with similar research, etc.”

I recently (on October 1st) started a project entitled ‘English in the linguistic landscape of Vienna, Austria’ (EllViA), financed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Project V 394) from 2014 through 2018. As the name of the project suggests, I investigate meaning-making through the choice of English on written public signs in the Viennese LL. Crucially, the project focuses on the hitherto under-researched perspective of sign-readers, theoretically modelling and empirically mapping the steps involved between encountering English use on a sign, and interactionally interpreting its message (e.g. signalling of ‘cosmopolitanism’ and ‘modernity’). My undertaking is theoretically grounded in a social constructionist approach that holds that communicative messages emerge in an interactional-dialogic process of anticipation, interpretation, and negotiation between language ‘producers’ and ‘recipients’. Readers of public signage use language choice (variation) as an interpretative cue in this process, ‘contextualizing’ a text in terms of the social (symbolic) meanings indexed by the chosen language, and deriving messages accordingly. To address the steps involved in the perceptual and interpretative activities that LL sign-readers engage in, I develop and apply a multidimensional research strategy by which the recipients’ essential role in LL-meaning making can be captured. This strategy conjoins methods from variationist sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and the social psychology of language which amounts to a highly interdisciplinary approach and toolbox.
Where’s the connection to SLICE? While my main focus in the project is on the English language (as I am based in the English Department here in Vienna), I am an eclectic sociolinguist at heart, so I will of course make a record of and analyze all languages that appear in the Viennese LL, including any non-standard varieties I may encounter. Based on my experience, I believe that there will not be many instances of the latter, but either way, I expect to be able to make some statements about the use of standard vs. non-standard language(s) as attested in my data.
 
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3. The 9th HiSoN Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics
 
Registration is now open for the
 
9th HiSoN Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics
 
1–8 August, 2015
Metochi, Kalloni, Lesbos, Greece
 
The ninth Summer School organised by the Historical Sociolinguistics Network (HiSoN) will offer classes by leading experts on modern and historical sociolinguists. The venue is the University of Agder’s Metochi study centre, a former monastery on the Greek island of Lesbos.
 
The Summer School lasts for one week and classes will take place in the morning and early evening. You will have the opportunity to present your research at a special session. There is space for only 40 (post)graduate students and young (at heart!) researchers so you are advised to book early.
 
Our teachers and courses in 2015 will be
 
Peter Trudgill (Agder) on the Historical sociolinguistics of the spread of native English: 315-2015 AD Andreas Jucker (Zürich) on the Emergence of politeness in the history of English: Evidence from literary sources Jan-Terje Faarlund (Oslo) on the North Germanic character of Middle and Modern English Alexandra Lenz (Vienna) on Sociolinguistic perspectives on semantic variation and change Nils Langer (Bristol) on Invisible languages in the 19th century Rita Marquilhas (Lisbon) on Portuguese and Spanish data and the historical sociolinguistic approach Julia de Bres (Luxembourg) on Language policies targeting attitudes towards minority languages
 
The school will last for one week and will cost 600 euro (if registered by May 1st or 750 euro, if you register thereafter), which includes accommodation, three meals per day, tuition, and an excursion.
Students are accepted on a strict first come – first served basis, so secure your place and register now!
 
For further information and registration, visit