CFP: STAL 2026

We invite submission of abstracts for 50 min talks (30-minute presentation + 20 minutes for Q&A). Abstracts should be anonymous, the main text should be 2 pages in length, with an optional third page for glossed examples, references, or figures (Note: use a third page for examples only when they are non-English examples and are glossed.) Abstracts are due before December 15, 2025 and should be submitted via Google Forms at this link: https://forms.gle/W6McPvUbAWnkPhX79. We expect to notify authors of their acceptance by February.   (NOTE: We are aware that mentioning terms like slurs is a controversial issue. We will not, however, take a stance on this matter, but we'd like to ask submitters to be sensitive to the issue.)   We especially encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply.  

Special session

STAL-2026 will include a special session entitled Valence asymmetries in expressive language, supported by the ERC Advanced Grant VALENCE ASYMMETRIES n°101142133 (PI: Isidora Stojanovic). We invite contributions on issues concerned with the positive, negative or ambivalent valence of expressive terms. In particular, we encourage:

• empirical studies (experimental, corpus and field studies) concerned with the valence of expressive terms (incl. slurs, pejoratives, amelioratives);
• analyses of how the valence of a term can shift (as, for example, in slur reclamation).

The ERC Grant can pay for the travel (up to 500€) of the selected contributors (NB: only one contributor per submission can be granted funding). Please indicate whether you want your contribution to be considered for the special session. (Submissions deemed insufficiently relevant to this session will still be considered for the general session.) For more information about the Valence Asymmetries project (ERC Advanced Grant), visit https://www.upf.edu/web/valence-asymmetries.