Background
Historical sociolinguistics studies the interrelatedness of linguistic and social factors in language history, succesfully applying principles of modern sociolinguistics to the historical development of language. This relatively young domain developed in the 1980s, and gained enormous momentum worldwide since the late 1990s and early 2000s (Auer et al. 2015; Hernández-Campoy & Conde-Silverstre 2012). Central themes and approaches are the study of standardization and the relation between language norms and language use, multilingualism and historical code-switching, migration and language contact, the tension between written evidence and the spoken vernacular, ideological aspects of language variation and change, language history from below, the impact of social networks and communities of practice, and historical language policy and planning.
In 2005, the Historical Sociolinguistics Network (HiSoN) was founded by Wim Vandenbussche (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Stephan Elspaß (Universität Augsburg), Joachim Scharloth (TU Dresden) and Nils Langer (University of Bristol) as an informal gathering of scholars in the field, organizing yearly summer schools (celebrating the 10th anniversary edition this year in Leiden), alongside regular conferences and colloquia panels on various key subjects within the discipline. In 2012, the network launched two book series on historical sociolinguistics, with John Benjamins (Amsterdam/Philadelphia) and Peter Lang (Oxford), and 2015 saw the launch of a dedicated international Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics with De Gruyter Mouton (Berlin/Boston). In spite of the success of HiSoN, currently connecting over 500 scholars worldwide, the network has remained an informal gathering of scholars, without any structural financial support, depending on ad hoc funding and repeated support from the universities involved.
Objectives
The aim of this FWO Scientific Research Network application is threefold:
- to consolidate the HiSoN network and firmly secure the position of Flemish expertise in the research network internationally;
- to initiate a range of new activities as part of a broader Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (HSRTP), with a distinct focus on postgraduate training and joint research initiatives;
- to expand the existing network interdisciplinarily and attract young and established scholars from neighboring disciplines.
Firstly, we believe that today, the time is ripe to consolidate the network as an FWO Scientific Research Network, and thus formalize the long-standing tradition of research collaboration and training that the Historical Sociolinguistics Network initiated. The establishment of an FWO Scientific Research Network would reinforce the position of excellence of Flemish researchers within the discipline. In spite of the limited institutional support, with relatively small research teams in Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp, Flanders has always held a pioneer role in the development of the field, with FWO-funded research exploring historical sociolinguistic approaches from below since the early 1990s. A formalized research network would allow us to secure this leading position by strengthening its role in the international research network, and provide the necessary contacts and training opportunities for both Flemish and international researchers.
Secondly, we aim to establish a new Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (HSRTP), building on the 10-year experience of the summer school which attracts young scholars at the PhD and postdoctoral level from across Europe and beyond. Our network would offer them a comprehensive range of research, networking and training events, such as a yearly young researchers workshop, a series of guest lectures about key issues in historical sociolinguistics, the yearly summer school, and smaller dedicated training events with, for instance, a methodological focus, based on specific needs within the research community. Given the limited training opportunities for historical sociolinguistics in traditional doctoral and postdoctoral training programs, such an in-depth training initiative is deemed crucial for the development of the discipline in future years.
Thirdly, apart from drawing from a wide pool of young scholars within the field, this initiative explicitly sets out to also attract academics from neighboring disciplines. The historical sociolinguistic enterprise is interdisciplinary by nature, not only bringing together contemporary sociolinguistics with historical linguistics, but also explicitly exploring the common ground between linguists (historical and contemporary), translationscholars, social or cultural historians, and literaryscholars. Examples of such interdisciplinary collaborations in the past are the 2009 Bristol conference and subsequent edited volume onLanguage and History, Linguistics and Historiography, and the 2015 Brussels master class and colloquium on Linguistic and historical perspectives on identity and authenticity in egodocuments and other writings ‘from below’. This grant would aim to strengthen and expand this cross-disciplinary collaboration, both within and beyond Flanders, and explicitly aim at organizing events to attract scholars from neighboring fields into historical sociolinguistics.
Network partners
To achieve these goals, we have assembled a strong team of four Flemish partners (VUB – UGent – UA – KUL), all of whom have contributed to the development of the field of historical sociolinguistics at an international level. In addition to the Flemish partners, however, we also set up a wide consortium of sixteen international partners, all of whom are internationally recognized key players in the field, and all of whom are eager to contribute to the Scientific Research Network by offering their(cross-)disciplinary expertise as a basis for training, networking or joint research initiatives. Given the strong European focus of the discipline, all of our international partners are based at a wide range of European universities, in addition to our North American partners at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, who will act as a liaison between our network and the North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics (NARNiHS).
National consortium
Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Centrum voor Linguïstiek (CLIN)
Universiteit Gent – Diachronic & Diatopic Linguistics (DiaLing)
Universiteit Antwerpen – Mind-Bending Grammars
KULeuven – Onderzoekseenheid Vertaalwetenschap
International consortium
Universitetet i Agder (Norway)
Freie Universität Bozen (Italy)
University of Cambridge (UK)
Universität Duisburg-Essen (Germany)
Europa-Universität Flensburg (Germany)
Helsinki Yliopisto (Finland)
Université de Lausanne (Switzerland)
Universiteit Leiden (Netherlands)
Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)
Université du Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Germany)
Universidad de Murcia (Spain)
Université de Namur (Belgium)
Universität Salzburg (Austria)
University of Sheffield (UK)
University of Wisconsin – Madison (USA)
Network organization
Coordinator
Rik Vosters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Steering committee
Rik Vosters – coordinator
Wim Vandenbussche – Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Klaas Bentein – Universiteit Gent
Peter Petré – Universiteit Antwerpen
Lieven D’hulst – KULeuven
Laura Wright – University of Cambridge
Gijsbert Rutten – Universiteit Leiden
Jeroen Darquennes – UNamur
Stephan Elspaß – Salzburg
Funding possibilities
To apply, all we need is a short description of the event and its intended audience, and a proposed budget. The steering committee will decide on the applications and the budget as proposals come in. There is no deadline and no fixed format: we just want to work with an open call among our the members of our Scientific Research Community. Preference will be given to events that are aimed at an international audience, that are either interdisciplinary or open up historical sociolinguistics to other, neighboring fields, and/or to events explicitly targeted towards young researchers. If we can (co)fund your event, all we ask is a mention of FWO Flanders and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program as sponsors.
Note that FWO can cover most types of academic expenses, such as travel costs, accommodation, and so on, except for catering or reception costs (see here for details).
Upcoming activities
Course: New MA class and guest lecture series 2019-2020
Master’s level course on ‘Historical sociolinguistics’ offered as a specialized course as part of the Multilingual Master in Linguistics and Literary Studies and Master Taal- en Letterkunde of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, as part of a specialization profile on ‘Multilingualism and language acquisition’. Covering topics such as dialect contact, standardization, networks, communities and individuals, genres, speech and writing, language history from below, multilingualism and language contact, and language planning.
Taught by Rik Vosters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), with (public) guest lectures by Gijsbert Rutten (Leiden University) and Peter Trudgill (Université de Fribourg, formerly also Agder University).
Guest lectures funded by the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Workshop: Situating Swedish research in the field of historical sociolinguistics
18 October 2019 – Department of Scandinavian Studies, Uppsala University
Organized by Memet Aktürk Drake (Uppsala University)
Funded by the Gun Widmark’s Foundation for Research in Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
2 keynote speakers and discussants (Rik Vosters – Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Wim Vandenbussche – Vrije Universiteit Brussel) providing to the Swedish studies researchers present an introduction to the field of historical sociolinguistics, covering its history, scope, current research networks and publication channels, followed by 9 different speakers from Uppsala University and Stockholm University.
Panel workshop: LSA NARNiHS – New Orleans, January 2020
2-5 January 2020 – University of Louisiana – New Orleans, USA
Organized by Mark Lauersdorf (University of Kentucky) and our partner network North American Research Network in Historical Sociolinguistics (NARNiHS), and co-located with the 94th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
Funded by NARNiHS and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Scientific committee: Josh Brown (University of Wisconsin), Alexandra D’Arcy (University of Victoria), Mark Richard Lauersdorf (University of Kentucky), Joseph Salmons (University of Wisconsin), Israel Sanz-Sánchez (West Chester University), Nandi Sims (The Ohio State University), Fernando Tejedo-Herrero (University of Wisconsin), Donald Tuten (Emory University) and Kelly E. Wright (University of Michigan)
Training event: Young Researchers Forum (HSYRF) 2020
6-7 March 2020 – Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Organized by Rik Vosters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Gijsbert Rutten (Universiteit Leiden)
Funded by Doctoral School of Human Sciences Vrije Universiteit Brusand the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Speakers, teachers and workshop leaders included Douglas Biber (Northern Arizona University), Joan Beal (University of Sheffield), Jukka Tyrkkö (Linnaeus University) and Marijke van der Wal (Leiden University).
Conference: HiSoN-2020: intra-writer variation in historical sociolinguistics
1-3 April 2020 – Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Funded by Elitenetzwerk Bayern – Flexible Schreiber in der Sprachgeschichte, FAU Erlangen and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Keynote speakers: Terttu Nevalainen (University of Helsinki), Stephan Elspaß (University of Salzburg) and José del Valle (The City University of New York)
Summer school: Historical Sociolinguistics Summer School 2020
12-19 July 2020 – Ban Horn, Amrum, Germany
Organized by Nils Langer (Europa-Universität Flensburg), Samantha Litty (University of Wiscon – Madison / Europa-Universität Flensburg), Hauke Heyen (Europa-Universität Flensburg) and Jan Niklas Heinrich (Europa-Universität Flensburg)
Funded by the Europa-Universität Flensburg and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Teachers included Sheila Watts (University of Cambridge), Joe Salmons (University of Wisconsin – Madison), Peadar O Muircheartaigh (University of Aberystwyth), Monica Macaulay (University of Wisconsin – Madison), Silvia dal Negro (Freie Universität Bozen), Lieselotte Anderwald (Universität Kiel), James Hawkey (University of Bristol)
Past activities (selection)
Summer school: Historical Sociolinguistics Summer School 2017
16-23 July 2017 – Metochi Study Centre of Agder University – Lesbos (Greece)
Organized by Gijsbert Rutten (Leiden University)
Funded by Leiden University, University of Agder, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Teachers included Nancy Niedzielski (Rice University – Houston), Pieter Muysken (University of Nijmegen), Eli Bjørhusdal (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences), Merja Stenroos (Stavanger), Miriam Meyerhoff (University of Wellington), Jeroen Darquennes (Université de Namur) and Alexander Bergs (Universität Osnabrück)
36 participants, mostly PhD students, but also including advanced MA students, postdocs and faculty, from 14 different countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA) and 23 different institutions (including from network partners University of Sheffield, Leiden University, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Universität Salzburg, University of Cambridge, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University)
Training event: Young Researchers Forum (HSYRF) 2018
2-3 March, 2018 – Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Organized by Gijsbert Rutten (Universiteit Leiden) and Rik Vosters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Funded by the Doctoral School of Human Sciences and the Center for Linguistics of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen).
Speakers, teachers and workshop leaders included Tanja Säily (University of Helsinki), Markus Schiegg (Friedrich-Alexander- Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Gijsbert Rutten (Universiteit Leiden) and Terttu Nevalainen (University of Helsinki).
32 participants, mostly PhD students, but also including advanced MA students, postdocs and faculty, from 11 different countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK, USA) and 21 different institutions (including from network partners Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universiteit Antwerpen, KU Leuven, Leiden University, University of Sheffield and Université de Namur).
Conference: Global Approaches to Multilingualism and Standardisation
16-18 April 2018 – Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
Organized by Wendy Ayres-Bennett and John Bellamy (University of Cambridge)
Funded by the AHRC Open World Research Initiative – Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies (MEITS) and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
29 different speakers, both establish and early-career researchers, from 27 different institutions, among which network partners University of Duisburg-Essen, University of Salzburg, Leiden University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Summer school: Historical Sociolinguistics Summer School 2018
22-29 July 2018 – University of Lausanne
Organized by Anita Auer (University of Lausanne), Nils Langer (Europa-Universität Flensburg) and Tino Oudesluijs (University of Lausanne)
Funded by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lausanne and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Teachers included Suzanne Aalberse (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Jonathan Culpeper (Lancaster University), Alexandra Lenz (Universität Wien), Spiros Moschonas (University of Athens), Taru Nordlund (University of Helsinki), Simon Pickl (Universität Salzburg) and Israel Sanz-Sanchez (West Chester University).
37 participants, mostly PhD students, but also including advanced MA students, postdocs and faculty, from 17 different countries (Australia, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA) and 25 different institutions (including from network partners Europa-Universität Flensburg, Leiden University, Universiteit Gent, University of Helsinki, University of Sheffield, Vrije Universiteit Brussel).
Training event: Young Researchers Forum (HSYRF) 2019
8-9 March, 2019 – Leiden University
Organized by Gijsbert Rutten (Universiteit Leiden) and Rik Vosters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Funded by Leiden University Centre for Linguistics and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Speakers, teachers and workshop leaders included Kristine Horner (University of Sheffield), Benedikt Szmrecsanyi (KU Leuven; cancelled due to personal circumstances), Melanie Röthlisberger (University of Zurich/KU Leuven; replaced Benedikt Szmrecsanyi), Lieselotte Anderwald (University of Kiel), and Stephan Elspaß (Universität Salzburg).
36 participants, mostly PhD students, but also including advanced MA students, postdocs and faculty, from 16 different countries (Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK, USA) and 24 different institutions (including from network partners Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, Ghent University, Leiden University, University of Cambridge and Universität Duisburg-Essen).
Summer school: Historical Sociolinguistics Summer School 2019
16-23 July 2019 – Metochi Study Centre of Agder University – Lesbos (Greece)
Organized by Gijsbert Rutten (Leiden University), Brenda Assendelft (Leiden University) and Adriaan van Doorn (Leiden University)
Funded by Leiden University, University of Agder, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
Teachers included Peter Trudgill (University of Fribourg, formerly also Agder University), Esther-Miriam Wagner (University of Cambridge), Donald Tuten (Emory University, Atlanta), Markus Schiegg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen), Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy (University of Murcia), Simeon Dekker (Universität Bern) and Nuria Yáñez-Bouza (University of Vigo).
36 participants, mostly PhD students, but also including advanced MA students, postdocs and faculty, from 14 different countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA) and 26different institutions (including from network partners University of Wisconsin, Leiden University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, University of Sheffield, Ghent University and Europa-Universität Flensburg)
Conference: Novel Perspectives on Communication Practices in Antiquity
3-5 October 2019 – Het Pand, Ghent University
Organized by Klaas Bentein (Ghent University) and Yasmine Amory (Ghent University)
Funded by Everyday Writing – ERC Ghent University and the Historical Sociolinguistics Research and Training Program (FWO Vlaanderen)
28 different speakers, both establish and early-career researchers, from 15 different institutions, among which network partners University of Cambridge, Leiden University, KU Leuven, Ghent University and the University of Helsinki. Keynote lectures by James Clackson (University of Cambridge), Mark Depauw (KU Leuven), Jean-Luc Fournet (Collège de France – École Pratique des Hautes Études), Antonella Ghignoli (Sapienza University of Rome) and Petra Sijpesteijn (University of Leiden)