Instruments for Creating Social Reality: Language - Discrimination - Society

The aims of the conference

The main aim of the conference is to create space for discussion which reflects questions of language participation on creating social reality, on creating social and intersubjective relations with special focus on violating equality, human rights and freedoms. Another aim of the conference is to interconnect the researchers in the Central European Region, especially the V4 countries and contribute to the international socioscientific discourse, whose task is to identify the discriminative practices in society and search for the means of their elimination.

Ideological background

Discrimination, according to our research, is seen as a relation between two subjects (individual or collective), in which the ontological and axiological balance is disturbed, and which can be observed on three levels. On the level of damaging differentiation, unequal treatment and disabling certain person or a group of people. Language can be perceived as not only the instrument and means of discrimination, but also the reason for discrimination. The cognitive frame for the discriminative instrumentalisation of language lies within acquisition and mastering of a standard language, language policy & planning, language ideologies or interpretative competence of language users.

Keynote speakers

• Marián Sloboda, Ph.D - Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Czech Republic
• Dr. habil. Csilla Bartha - Research Institute for Linguistics, Eötvös Loránd Research Network
• Dr. Mikołaj Winiewski - Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland
• doc. PhDr. Andrej Findor, PhD. - Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

Thematic frame

According to the dependant relation between discrimination as a social phenomenon and its various realisations (instrumentalisations) in language and verbal behaviour, our research sphere is vast and without any limits. We are searching not only for the basis of discrimination, but also for various interconnections, accompanying it, anticipating it or opening into it. The general thematic dimensions of the conference are framed by questions such as:

• How is discrimination and its realisations understood in language and society?
• To what extent is our (Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Czech) society sensitive to the realisations of discrimination, especially the realisation of discrimination in language use?
• Are there any prototypical situations which lead to discrimination?
• Are these situations more universal or rather specific for certain social environments?
• What motivates discrimination?
• To what extent is discrimination based on language stereotypes and prejudice?
• What stands in the way of implementation of anti-discriminatory policies?
• Is it possible to eliminate (language) discrimination practices completely?
• Is positive discrimination understood as a positive phenomenon?
• Does autodiscrimination exist?
• How can we think of language instrumentalisation in relation to discrimination?
• How and why can language be means of discrimination?
• When is language the reason for discrimination?
• How is discrimination defined in the legislation of various countries?
• Does language legislation have an impact on the existing discrimination practices?

Interdisciplinary character of the conference

We welcome papers, which react to these and also other questions connected to discrimination and its instrumentalisation. We prefer variety of viewpoints, opinions and attitudes or representations of various scientific fields, as, for instance, sociolinguistics, language policy and planning, language management, pragmalinguistics, textual linguistics, ethnolinguistics, linguistic landscape, cognitive linguistics, as well as ethics, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, social psychology, philosophy, cognitive semiotics etc.

Programme Committee

• doc. Mgr. Alena Bohunická, PhD. - Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava
• Mgr. Barbara Lášticová, PhD. - Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• PhDr. Lucia Molnár Satinská, PhD. - Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Mgr. Jaroslava Rusinková, PhD. - Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Presentations and full paper submission

Working languages: English, Czech and Slovak

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and Slovak.

Language of the paper: English only

Reviewed papers will be published in the special issue of Journal of Linguistics – Slovak scientific journal for the theory of language, indexed in the databases such as Elsevier – SCOPUS, De Gruyter – IBZ etc., in 2022.

Registration and conference fee

Registration form for speakers as well as for non-active participants is available at the conference website.

Please, send us the registration form via socioling@juls.savba.sk by March 15, 2021 (deadline for abstracts was extended).

Conference fee: € 140

The fee covers basic conference expenses. Expenses for travelling, accommodation and meals are not included in the conference fee. (Further information about payment instructions will be announced later.)