Languages of Southeast Asia - UC Berkeley and UC Los Angeles - Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2009

From Indopedia

• Call for Papers: Languages of Southeast Asia

-- UCLA – UC Berkeley Joint Conference on Southeast Asian Studies - University of California, Los Angeles

-- January 30-February 1, 2009

-- Keynote speakers: Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute / UC Santa Barbara) Andrew Simpson (University of Southern California) John Hartmann (Northern Illinois University)

-- The linguistic map of Southeast Asia is extraordinarily rich, embracing a wide range of ethnic and typological groups, including Austronesian, Hmong-Mien, Mon-Khmer, Tai-Kadai, Tibeto-Burman, and many language families of New Guinea. The shifting boundaries of Southeast Asian polities over time, historic cross-regional migration, and colonization have all added to the complexity of language genealogies in the region, making Southeast Asia a particularly fertile field not only for the study of specific language types and groups but also for the testing and development of theoretical frameworks and models of linguistic analysis. Recent outward migrations to the US, Europe and elsewhere, and the concomitant rise in Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Tagalog and other heritage language groups, present further opportunities for the study of Southeast Asian languages.

-- Despite the critical place of language studies in the development of area studies, and the diverse implications and applications of linguistics for other fields, the conversation between scholars of Southeast Asian linguistics and specialists in Southeast Asian area studies is surprisingly thin. And, within the U.S., Southeast Asian language communities such as Hmong, Khmer, Vietnamese, Lao and Tagalog risk being sidelined in the emerging body of scholarship on Heritage Language learning and teaching, whose focus gravitates towards larger communities such as Spanish and Chinese speaking communities.

-- This conference aims to bridge this gap. By providing a forum for presentations of new research and the exchange of ideas, we aim to create fresh conversations between scholars and teachers of Southeast Asian languages. Building on the 2000 UCLA Conference on Heritage Language Research Priorities, we also hope to stimulate new research linkages with scholars and teachers working among Heritage language communities.

-- We invite papers on Southeast Asian languages in any area of linguistics­phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, typology, diachronic and comparative linguistics, sociolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, discourse analysis, conversation analysis­or language teaching. We particularly encourage papers that engage with other disciplines. Submissions from early career researchers and graduate students are strongly encouraged. In addition, a special poster session for undergraduate research will be held. Limited competitive financial assistance for travel is available.

-- Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent to the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies <cseas@international.ucla.edu> by Monday, November 3, 2008. Include name, affiliation and full contact information. Please indicate whether the submission is for a talk or for the undergraduate poster session. Notification of acceptance will be sent out by December 1, 2008.

-- The Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA and the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at UC Berkeley are a consortium U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center for Southeast Asian Studies.