Language and the Body: Rhetoric, Cognition, and Identity
This year’s conference theme is Language and the Body: Rhetoric, Cognition, and Identity. Language is central to human cognitive and social organization, and we often draw on the body as one of the rhetorical devices we use to conceptualize our own identities and those of others. The conference will focus on the ways speakers use bodily rhetoric to frame their identities in society. We welcome papers from all disciplines which examine the mutual influences of language, cognition, and/or the body and how these play into the formation of social identities.
We encourage papers that address questions such as:
- What role does the body play in metaphor, and how is this relationship expressed in society?
- How does rhetoric of the body inform discourses about race, gender, and other social identities?
- What is the interaction between the body and language in the context of verbal art, speech play, and/or music?
- In what ways do language ideologies regarding the body vary between cultures and languages?
- How is the relationship between language and the body enacted in spaces, places, communities, societies, and ecosystems?
- How can languages be revived, revitalized, and/or maintained through language policies and planning?
- What roles does the body play in the structure of gesture and sign languages?
- What is the relationship between gesture and spoken language?
- What is the role that language plays in our everyday cognition?
- What role does sensory-motor experience play in human cognition and symbolic communication?
- What is the impact of language diversity on theories of human cognition?
The committee of SALSA XXVI welcomes papers from all disciplines; potential topics might fall under the following areas:
- Language and social interaction
- Gesture and embodiment
- Language and cognition
- Language ideologies
- Sign language studies
- Language attitudes
- Verbal art and speech play
- Language in the media
- Language and advertising
- Language and technology
- Language policy and planning
- Interactive construction of meaning
- Language preservation, documentation, and revitalization
- Language acquisition, shift, and loss
- Multilingualism
- Languages in contact
- Pidgins and creoles
- Language and law, politics, and economics
- Linguistic and cultural identity – nationality, gender, race, & sexuality
- Linguistic landscaping studies
These topics are meant to serve as guideposts. Please feel free to submit papers on other topics related to this year’s theme.