«What’s in a name?» Labelling concepts and languages

What's in a name? That which we call a rose 
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii)

Terminology and labelling have engaged scholars in heated debates within linguistics. The concept of language itself – and the naming of languages and lects – has come under scrutiny. In this in-house event, we aim to discuss different positions and reflect on the debate that has been going on in sociolinguistics the past years with respect to the delineation of languages/lects (including mixing styles and registers), and naming them (both scientific names and folk names). This involves discussions concerning the nature of language contact – codeswitching and translanguaging.  The big question here is whether entities that are by their very nature not easily delimitated (as many things in the world and most things in the social world) should nevertheless be named, and how.

1400 – 1700

1400 – 1410    Elizabeth Lanza. Welcome and introduction

1410 – 1430    Li Wei: The idea of Translanguaging: what's all the fuss about?

1430 – 1440    Q&A

1440 – 1500    Peter Auer: Why it makes sense to talk about languages (and even                                name them)

1500 – 1510     Q&A

1510 – 1520     Break

1520 – 1530     Postdoctoral Fellow Samantha Goodchild

1530 – 1540     Postdoctoral Fellow Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi

1540 – 1550     Postdoctoral Fellow Aleksandra Ita Olszewska

1550 – 1600     Postdoctoral Fellow Gavin Lamb

1600 – 1630     Breakout rooms, including short break

1630 – 1700     Discussion (bring in discussion from the breakout rooms)

1700                 Closing