This is a call for participation in a colloquium session on Applied Onomastics at AAAL 2018, to be held in Chicago, IL, March 24-27, 2018. Names figure prominently in our identities and interactions as individuals, families, groups, organizations, and societies. Factors as varied as geography, culture, socioeconomic status, legal constraints, and marketing strategies influence names and naming. The study of names (onomastics), including personal, place, and commercial names, among others, is both multi- and interdisciplinary. Because of the ubiquity and important functions of names, they are also of “enduring interest to the wider public” (Hough 2016), confirmed by the long tradition of collaboration between academics and non-academics in name studies. The aim of this colloquium is to demonstrate how onomastics can offer practical solutions and insights to issues encountered in a wide range of contexts. Proposals are invited on any topic relating to Applied Onomastics, including but not limited to:
names and education
names and media
names and lexicography / name dictionaries
onomastic aspects of marketing and tourism
onomastic aspects of language planning
name-related policies, regulations and laws
onomastics and forensic linguistics
onomastics and psychology or cognition
name-based data mining and technologies
names and bi/multilingualism
cross-cultural naming practices
societal trends in naming
the relationship between Applied Onomastics and Applied Linguistics
the aims of Applied Onomastics as a field
Please send proposals containing a title, key words, abstract (300 words), and brief summary (50 words) by July 10th, 2017 to Maryann Parada (mparada1 AT csub.edu). the Colloquium Organize. Notifications will be sent by July 20th, 2017.