About

YOUNG RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE (YRC)

4th edition: February 26–28, 2025

University of Strasbourg

“Language and Identity”

”The concept of identity is difficult to define.”

Charaudeau & Maingueneau (2002, p. 299)

Group identity and conformity, personal, professional, social, regional identity, identity crisis or loss, identity claims... the notion of identity is commonly mobilized in the human and social sciences (cf. Baudry & Juchs, 2007). The difficulties of defining identity (cf. epigraph) reflect strong disciplinary and conceptual roots. Critically, Berque (1983) shows that there has always been a contradictory, even conflicting, back-and-forth between collective identity and individual identity, so much so that we might wonder whether identity is a middle ground. Dealing with the linguistic expression of identity requires recourse to the notions of subject and otherness (Charaudeau, 2023, p. 106), thus situating identity in exchange, in interaction, as a factor of sameness, identification or differentiation (cf. e.g. Trudgill 2000, p. 13).

This conference continues a tradition begun in 2012 by the LiLPa - Linguistics, Languages, and Speech laboratory at the University of Strasbourg. Organized by young researchers from the sciences du langage/Linguistics department (SDL), this fourth edition is intended as a space for contributive epistemology (Paveau, 2012, p. 55), focused interdisciplinarity (Charaudeau 2023, p. 19), and the sharing of knowledge around the theme of "Language and Identity".

The aim is to explore the uniqueness, multiplicity and/or complexity of identities, and their fixed and/or shifting dimensions in language expression. What visions of identity can coexist in Linguistics? Between text, image, and sound, what data should be used to access them? Which research methods are most suitable: existing corpora, web scraping software, fieldwork, artificial intelligence? How can we think about identity in terms of variation? What role does the researcher's identity play? Is there a disciplinary identity? These are just some of the epistemological and methodological questions addressed in the following four areas:

1. Identity and Language

2. Identity and Discourse

3. Identity and Voice

4. Identity and Stance of the Researcher

AXIS 1 - Identity and Language

Language can be instrumentalized when a community's identity is built around it (Blanchet, 2022, p. 13; Launey, 2022, p. 37), through a categorical attribution leading to a double movement of assimilation and differentiation (Camilleri et al., 2002). This process can involve any type of group: social, national, regional, religious, etc. How are languages instrumentalized by society in defining national or regional identities? In a context where the number of speakers of regional languages is declining, is the link between knowledge of a so-called "regional" language and its status as a marker of identity (personal, heritage, local, etc.) (Huck, 2022; Sperandio, 2017) being modified? Within the framework of the didactics and sociolinguistics of "heterogeneous linguistic situations" (Le Page & Tabouret-Keller, 1985), what about the links between identities (professional, plurilingual, etc.) and learner/teacher subjects? What about the correlation between language, identities, and plurilingualism in the learning process? What impact does a bi/multilingual education have on students' relationship to knowledge and on their identities?

AXIS 2 - Identity and Discourse

The concept of identity can also be linked to general or specialized language discourse (Blasco, 2022), ordinary discourse, pathological discourse (Amblard et al., 2021; Cortal et al., 2023, Lévesque et al., 2018), or institutional or militant discourse (Huck, 2005). Identity manifests itself in everyone's everyday discourse, which links it to the very concept of "self". Thus, each type of discourse  contains distinguishing characteristics that help identify it within its specific context of production and the individual who is  conveying the message. For example, the case of the personal pronouns je/I, tu/you and il/he (Kleiber & Vassiliadou, 2012) or on/they (Delaborde & Landragin, 2019) has been considered in this sense. In this context, several questions can be raised: What information does the discourse give us about the identity of the speaker? How can we use it to study the complex relationships that exist between general language and languages of specialization (medical, institutional, militant discourse)? Can certain pathologies (brain damage, depression, schizophrenia, etc) influence speakers' identities in and through their discursive productions? And what happens when the discursive act no longer belongs solely to a human being, but to an algorithm that generates text in a language that seems very natural (Zhang et al., 2024)?

AXIS 3 - Identity and Voice

The correlation between voice and identity seems obvious, given that factors such as age, gender, and origin  can all be discerned from the vocal characteristics of the speaker (Révis, 2013). But what is the link, for example, between gender identity and voice? How do gender stereotypes modify auditory perceptions according to the gender and racial identity attributed to speakers (Arnold & Candea, 2015)? On the other hand, some studies mobilize the concept of sonic identity, which includes, among other things, the voices used to make a company recognizable to an audience (cf. Carron, 2016). Can we say that the physical characteristics of a voice give it an identity? How does this apply to synthesized voice? We also talk about artistic identity, for which the voice plays a central role within oral poetic performances (rap, slam, spoken word...) (Béthune 2004; Migliore & Obin 2018; Somers 2005; Vorger 2016). How do choices of specific vocal and verbal techniques influence the audience's perception of the artist's identity? Finally, how should we approach cases of prosodic imitation or parody? Ultimately, the aim is to analyze how the voice serves as a vector of identity in different forms of expression.

AXIS 4 - Identity and Stance of the Researcher

Faced with the lack of external visibility of Linguistics among the general public, as pointed out by Charaudeau (2006), initiatives are emerging to assert the discipline's identity, such as the Linguistes atterré·e·s leaflet (2023). By affirming the identity of their discipline, does the researcher assert their own identity? If the researcher "uses themselves as a research instrument and as a filter" (Mucchielli, 2009, p. 77), how does their identity permeate their research and their discipline? If we postulate that their identity is made up of "their own categories, prior knowledge, a particular socialization, but also an unconscious" (Canut, et al., 2018: 14), how do these identity elements influence their stance in relation to their object of study? Moreover when the researcher works with speakers, how do their multiple identities, both constructed and perceived, come together? Do the interactions at different levels between these elements call for multiple stances?  How can we conceptualize the interrelations between identity(ies) and stance(s)? How do they influence and nourish each other?

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French quotations have been translated by us.

Through the prism of Linguistics (SDL), this conference provides a forum for discussion between Master’s students, PhD students and young PhDs. We encourage proposals for papers that fit into one or more of the conference themes. The languages for paper proposals, oral presentations, projected presentation materials, and posters are French and English.

Proposals for oral presentations (20 minutes + 10 minute discussion) or posters must be submitted on the 15th January, 2025 by 11:55 PM (UTC+1), via the Sciencesconf platform. They will consist of an anonymized file including a title, a maximum one-page summary (in A4 format, using Times New Roman font, size 12, with 1.5 cm line spacing), a maximum of five keywords, and a bibliography. Authors' details must be entered directly into the submission platform (see “New submission” tab) when you submit your file. Submissions will be evaluated by our scientific committee. If you have any questions, please contact us at: cjcsdl@sciencesconf.org.