Call for papers

Eugenio Coseriu (1921-2002) was one of the most influential linguists of the 20th century. His language theory has had an important impact on contemporary Romance and General Linguistics. In several branches of linguistics (such as the theory of language change, pragmatics and text linguistics, variational linguistics or semantics), Coseriu’s proposals of the 1950s can be considered groundbreaking, however, even if several of his linguistic concepts have become part of the canon of linguistics, others have remained largely unknown at least outside the circle of Coseriu’s disciples.

The centenary of his birth in 2021 will be the occasion for the celebration of an international conference organized at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). The aim of the conference is to

  • discuss the origin and the evolution of Coseriu’s thought,
  • discuss the influence of Coseriu’s concepts on the evolution of linguistics of the 20th century and their ongoing presence,
  • discuss the relationship of Coseriu’s linguistics with respect to other theories and schools.

Apart from this general focus, each day of the conference will have a thematic focus in the following four areas:

  • Language varieties
  • Language change
  • Pragmatics and text linguistics
  • Norm and correction

Abstracts for oral presentations (30 minutes + 10 minutes discussion) and posters should be submitted before December 31st to kabatek@rom.uzh.ch.

Conference languages: English, Romance languages, German. Acronym: COSERIU100
Romanisches Seminar, Universität Zürich
Event-URL: www.coseriu100.info
Zürich, Switzerland
From 16/06/2021 until 19/06/2021
On June 19th, there will be an excursion to the University of Tübingen, including a visit to the Eugenio Coseriu Archives.

Contact: kabatek@rom.uzh.ch

Plenary speakers: TBA

Other events that will take place during the conference:

  • Book presentations
  • Project presentations: Coseriu Archives, Edition Projects, C@seriu
  • Round table: Coseriu’s linguistics today
  • Round table: Digital edition of letters

Scientific advisory council:

  • Sarah Dessì Schmid, Universität Tübingen
  • Wolf Dietrich, Universität Münster
  • Carlos Garatea Grau, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
  • Miguel Casas Gómez, Universidad de Cádiz
  • Gerda Hassler, Universität Potsdam
  • Araceli López Serena, Universidad de Sevilla
  • Óscar Loureda Lamas, Universität Heidelberg
  • Alfredo Matus Olivier, Academia Chilena de la Lengua
  • Wiltrud Mihatsch, Universität Tübingen
  • Emma Tamaian-Morita, Kindai University, Osaka
  • Klaas Willems, Universiteit Gent