RECLAM language policy

The academic culture has led us to create meetings/gathering spaces where multilingualism is understood as a logistical problem for sharing our scientific results and projects. How can we guarantee a sociolinguistically inclusive academic space and, at the same time ensure inter-comprehension between scientific players? This is a challenge for academic communities, particularly when they do not have the material resources to provide translators and interpreters for their events. 

The inter-comprehension problem becomes even more complex when the object of study that brings us together concerns minorised languages. We highlight the complexity of inter-comprehension but also, the diglossia to which they are subjected. Usually,  we do so in the languages on the other side of this diglossic relationship, and paradoxically, tends to perpetuate it. How can we deal with this contradiction and launch a debate on the place of these languages in the academic world? 

For RECLAM, this question is both a study object and a challenge in the organisation of our conference. This is why an important part of our organisational work has consisted in drawing up a language policy that is as effective as possible; right from the organisation of our first Workshop in January 2025. We were able to experiment with various multilingual communication formats. 

We wondered about the number of limitations for the languages used for oral communication and the creation of multilingual support materials to help us ensure inter-comprehension. 

Through a survey, we collected the participant’s opinions (communicators and audience) on their linguistic experience during the event to serve as a basis for improving our inter-comprehension system for the international conference. 

Within the scope of this call for papers, we would like you to submit an abstract in at least two of the proposed languages (French, Portuguese, Spanish and English). You may also attach an additional abstract in a minoritised language (optional and according to your preferences in terms of communications).