The Section for Sign Linguistics, Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw is very pleased to announce that it will host the SIGN9 conference, to be held on 22-25 August 2018 at the University of Warsaw. Organized in a number of countries all over the world, the SIGN conference has a long tradition as an event dedicated to the issues of Deaf people, their languages and culture.

Conference webpage: http://sign9.uw.edu.pl/en/

We would appreciate your help in bringing the following information to the attention of possible participants.

Call for papers

The organizing committee of the SIGN9 conference invites submissions of conference presentation proposals. There will be three types of presentations:

1. Signed presentations,?2. Posters,?3. Interactive workshops.

Presentation proposals should deal with one of the following subjects:

1. Sign language and sign linguistics,
2. Community, culture and education,
3. Sign language, sign linguistics and the Deaf community in Central and Eastern Europe.

Issues that will be in focus of the upcoming conference include:

* structural aspects of sign languages – both studies of individual languages and comparative cross-linguistic studies),
* tools, technology and methods applied for investigating sign language (issues such as corpora, transcription tools, databases, etc.),
* ethical issues involved in collecting sign data,
* the psycholinguistics of signed communication (language acquisition, processing and production),
* the sociolinguistics of signed communication (e.g. linguistic contact, multilingualism, attitudes towards language, language variants, languages under threat of extinction),
* the neurolinguistics of signed communication (e.g. research involving the use of fMRI and EEG),
* language teaching (e.g. teaching sign language as a foreign language, teaching a language of the hearing majority to Deaf individuals),
* linguistic, social and educational aspects of interpreting between a spoken language and a sign language,
* social situation of signing individuals in various parts of the world,
* ethnography and anthropology of Deaf communities,
* language policies with respect to signed languages,
* education of Deaf individuals,
* the situation of Deaf individuals in Central and Eastern Europe.

Signed presentations

Each time slot will be 40 minutes long (30 minutes for a presentation followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion). Each presentation must be signed in International Sign (IS) or Polish Sign Language (PJM). Other sign languages can also be used as long as the presenter provides an interpreter into IS or PJM.

Posters

Each poster session will have 1.5 hours of slotted time, although the posters will additionally remain on display throughout the conference time. Poster sessions will be carried out in sign languages, with participants required to use IS or PJM to present their research. Posters must be printed in English or Polish.

Interactive workshops

Participants are also invited to submit proposals for workshops featuring prominent interactive elements. Elements of this sort may include practicing a skill or holding a panel discussion, workgroup or similar activities.
Workshops should be related to the conference topics, but we are also open to other ideas. The time slots allocated for workshops are 40 or 80 minutes. Please select the preferred duration of the workshop and describe its structure in your submission proposal. Workshops may be conducted by more than one person – teamwork is most welcome. The working languages for workshops are IS and PJM.

Guidelines for presenters

Important deadlines:

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 31 JANUARY 2018
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: 28 FEBRUARY 2018

Please note that the working languages of the conference are International Sign (IS) and Polish Sign Language (PJM). The languages of written communication are English and Polish. Presentations must be delivered in IS or PJM. Other sign languages may also be used if the presenter provides an interpreter into IS or PJM.

Submissions should be short (max. 5 minutes) video recordings signed in IS or PJM. Please send them to the following address:

sign9@uw.edu.pl

by 31 January 2018, writing “SIGN9 submission” as the subject of the email. In the main body of your email please specify a presentation type (signed presentation, poster or workshop).

In cases when submitting such a video recording is not possible, candidates may also submit a written abstract in English or in Polish. Such abstracts must not exceed 500 words.

Each candidate may be author or co-author of maximally two submissions.
?We cordially invite you to send in proposals for signed presentations, posters and interactive workshops.