Call for Papers: XXVI International Onomastics & Literature Symposium (19-21 October 2023)

ONOMASTICS & LITERATURE

Call for Papers

Onomastics & Literature, the Italian Society for literary onomastics studies based at the University of Pisa, is issuing a Call for Papers for the XXVI International O&L Symposium to held at the University of Cagliari, 19-20-21 October 2023.

 

The topics it will focus on are the following:

  • Names and memory
  • Names and translation
  • Other Proper Names: not only Names of person and place
  • ‘Protected’ Names
  • Regional literary onomastics

Those who intend to participate in the Conference or who wish to submit their article to the editorial staff of the journal “Il Nome nel Testo” are requested to send Donatella Bremer (donatella.bremer@unipi.it) no later than 30 June 2023 an abstract, not generic, but sufficiently indicative (about 2200 characters with spaces) of their contribution.

Please also attach a short resume.

The length of the articles to be submitted to the peer review process for a possible publication in the journal “Il Nome nel Testo” must be around 12 pages.

For more information see the O&L webpage http://oel.fileli.unipi.it/

or contact Giorgio Sale: giosale@uniss.it

About Names: “Cleveland Evans: Like Elvis Costello asks, has Veronica gone to hide?”

St. Veronica with the Holy Kerchief (ca. 1420 CE, Public Domain)

St. Veronica with the Holy Kerchief (ca. 1420 CE, Public Domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his February 26th column, he discusses the name “Veronica”.

Veronica is bringing ancient Greece to the far future.

“Arch-Conspirator,” latest novel by Veronica Roth, author of the bestselling “Divergent” dystopian science fiction series, debuted Feb. 21. It retells the legend of Antigone in a far-future desolate Earth where an Archive stores human genes from which our species can be recreated.

The name Veronica also reshapes an ancient Greek source. Berenike, Macedonian form of Greek Pherenike, “bringing victory,” became well-known throughout the eastern Mediterranean after Alexander the Great’s conquests in the fourth century B.C.

The Gospels of Mark and Luke tell of an unnamed woman with “an issue of blood” who’s healed simply by touching Jesus’s robe. Around 400, the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus named her Berenike.

Soon after, stories of the crucifixion were elaborated to include a woman who wipes Jesus’ face with a cloth while He’s on His way to Golgotha. The cloth retains an image of His face. By 900 A.D. the cloth was displayed as a relic in Rome, and Berenike was identified as the woman.

“Vera icon” is Latin for “true image.” Latin versions of the story changed Berenike to “Veronica” to link the name to the relic.

Though St. Veronica’s legend spread the name throughout western Europe, it was never common in England. Puritans avoided it along with other non-Biblical saint names. The 1851 census found only 74 Veronicas in Britain.

Call for Papers: “American Onomastics” (Onoma)

The editorial board of Onoma, journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences publishing in English, German, or French, seeks contributions to a themed volume (number 59 to appear in 2024) on the study of names in America (i.e., as they are used or applied in North, Central, or South America, or as they may be studied by scholars from those regions). The subject matter is open (i.e., place names, personal names, commercial names, or names in literature). Guidelines may be found on the Onoma website: https://onomajournal.org

Please send abstracts of about 250 words to the principal guest-editor, Grant Smith (gsmith@ewu.edu), and to the co-guest-editors, Yolanda Guillermina López Franco (yolalf1@yahoo.com.mx) and Márcia Sipavicius Seide (marciaseda4@hotmail.com). Abstracts must be received by July 15, 2023, recommendations or acceptance will be sent by August 1, 2023, and final drafts must be completed by February 11, 2024.

Call for Papers: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Names and Naming in Literature” (ANS panel, MLA 2024)

The American Name Society is issuing its Call for Papers for the ANS panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention, which will take place 4-7 January 2024 in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION: NAMES AND NAMING IN LITERATURE

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Individually, each word has been used in multiple contexts with varying connotations. Narrative works can create scenes that make space for us to consider deeply the essence of the ideas encased in the labels. In this panel, we ask how literary components of narrative fiction and non-fiction works address DEI concepts through names of characters (charactonyms), places (toponyms), institutions, and events as well as through depictions of socio-cultural, religious, ideological, personal, and political practices of naming, renaming, and unnaming. We welcome explorations of these themes through literature from around the world, from any era, from any narrative genre, and for readers of any age. Useful resources might include the ANS list of terminology (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/keywords), the ANS archives (https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/issue/archive), Luisa Caiazzo and I.M. Nick’s edited collection Shifting Toponymies: (Re)naming Places, (Re)shaping Identities (2020), Guy Puzey and Laura Kostanski’s edited collection Names and Naming: People, Places, Perceptions and Power (2016), and the Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (2018).

Proposal Submission Process:

  1. The abstract of the proposal (350 words), with NO author identification, should be sent as an email attachment (PDF format) to Dr. Anne W. Anderson (awanderson@usf.edu);
  2. The subject line of the email should include “MLA 2024 proposal”;
  3. The body of the email must include the title of the proposal, the abstract, the full name(s) of the author(s), their affiliation(s), and their email address(s);
  4. DEADLINE: Proposals must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Friday 17 March 2023. Authors will be notified about the results of the blind review on or by 24 March 2023;
  5. Contributors selected for the thematic panel must be members of both MLA and ANS in order to present their papers; MLA membership must be obtained by 7 April 2023.

For further information, please contact Dr. Anne W. Anderson (awanderson@usf.edu).

About Names: “Cleveland Evans: Say it ‘Loud’, Lincoln’s approval ratings ebb and flow”

President Abraham Lincoln, From a painting by G. P. A. Healy, 1868 (Public Domain)

President Abraham Lincoln, from a painting by G. P. A. Healy, 1868 (Public Domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his January 29th column, he discusses the name “Lincoln”.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th U.S. president, was born 214 years ago today. In 1867, the village of Lancaster was renamed Lincoln after the assassinated leader when it became Nebraska’s state capitol.

The surname Lincoln is derived from the city in England first settled around 100 B.C.E. Its original Celtic name, Lindon, “the pool”, described a deep spot along the River Witham. Roman army veterans settling there called it “Lindum Colonia”, which became Lincoln in English.

Most surnames derived from a place name mean one’s medieval ancestor had left town. Last names were all originally nicknames. It made little sense to call John “Lincoln” while he was living there. If he’d moved elsewhere, “John (from) Lincoln” made clear which John one was discussing.

Some medieval person moved from Lincoln to Hingham in Norfolk County, England, establishing the surname Lincoln there. When Massachusetts was settled in the 1630s, several Lincolns helped found the town of Hingham in that colony.

Samuel Lincoln (1622-1690) arrived in 1637. Through son, Samuel Jr., he was great-great-grandfather of Levi Lincoln Sr. (1749-1820), U.S. Attorney General under Thomas Jefferson. Levi Lincoln Jr. (1782-1868) was governor of Massachusetts 1825-1834. Younger brother, Enoch (1788-1829), was governor of Maine 1827-1829.

Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810) was a Major General during the Revolution, prominent in the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown. His great-great-grandfather was Thomas Lincoln (1600-1691), probably a distant cousin of Samuel’s who landed in Massachusetts in 1635. Benjamin Lincoln was nationally famous; counties in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee are named for him.

Call for Papers: “The workings of discrimination: Gender-inclusive language between acceptance and opposition” for the Journal of Language and Discrimination

From Dr. Federica Formato:

 

Title: The workings of discrimination: Gender-inclusive language between acceptance and opposition

This call for papers is aimed at collecting contributions for a special issue of the Journal of Language and Discrimination (https://journal.equinoxpub.com/index.php/JLD/index) to be published in  Autumn 2024. The topic of this special issue revolves around discriminatory practices, beliefs, and ideologies opposing gender inclusivity in language. Here, inclusivity is mostly referring to ways in which speakers have attempted to or have been successful at breaking the (grammatical) feminine/masculine binary, ideas around linguistic normativity, and the so-called ‘anti-gender’ ideology or gender war. Papers can focus on linguistic changes aimed at achieving gender inclusivity, for instance, lexical items, (new) morphological inflections, etc., The editors will also consider papers on how institutions, specific speakers, the media, and politics (or a combination of these) actively engage in demystifying, demonizing, and attacking linguistic  inclusive  practices.  The  papers  need  to  discuss  relevant  literature  and  appropriate methods/methodologies and be solidly grounded in theoretical underpinnings. Analysis of dataset/s can be quantitative or qualitative (or mixed methods). The special issue will consist of 6-7 papers, all possibly dealing with different languages or contexts.
All abstracts, no longer than 500 words (references excluded) and in English, should include information about the context(s), the dataset/s, the methods, and/or theoretical framework/s, and
should be sent to f.formato@brighton.ac.uk by 28th February 2023. Informal inquiries are also welcome.
For  information  about  submissions  and  contributions  see  the  journal’s  guidelines:
Important dates:
Abstract deadline: 28ᵗʰ February 2023
Notification of acceptance: 31ˢᵗ March 2023
Full paper: 15ᵗʰ December 2023
Notification: 1ˢᵗ April 2024
Final submission: 1 July 2024
Publication date: October 2024

Call for Papers: British Association of Applied Linguistics Special Interest Group in Language, Gender and Sexuality

From Dr. Federica Formato:

Please find below all information about this year’s BAAL SIG (British Association of Applied Linguistics Special Interest Group) in Language, Gender and Sexuality.

 

BAAL LGaS SIG 2023

2 May 2023 – University of Brighton 

Call for papers

We are delighted to announce the call for papers for the BAAL LGaS 2023 to take place at the University of Brighton on 2 May 2023. Brighton is recognized as the unofficial LGBTQIA+ capital of the United Kingdom, making it the perfect place to gather and reflect on aspects of language, gender and sexuality. The topic of this year’s event is Dismantling the CIS-tem: queer and trans perspectives on language, gender, and sexuality. 

The keynote speakers are:

  • Lucy Jones, Associate Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham
  • Alon Lischinsky, Senior Lecturer in Communication & Discourse at Oxford Brookes University

The one-day symposium will include presentations on the theme of the conference. For instance, we invite contributions on topics such as:

  • Media representation of queer identities and or LGBTQIA communities
  • Language ideologies, e.g., inclusive language
  • Language, gender and sexuality in politics
  • Historical perspectives 
  • Analysis of communication in a variety of genres and spaces (e.g., literature, social media)

Each paper will be allocated 30 minutes (20 presentation, 10 Q&A). The contributions should not exceed 300 words (references excluded) and should be sent to f.formato@brighton.ac.uk by 10 February 2023.

 

About Names: “Cleveland Evans: What is the 2022 Name of the Year?”

Stamp of Ukraine (Public Domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his January 29th column, he discusses the 2022 Name of the Year competition at the annual meeting of the American Name Society.

In 2022 Russia taught us to honor Ukraine and its names.

At its Jan. 22 annual meeting (held online for the third year in a row), the American Name Society voted Ukraine as 2022’s Name of the Year. Though Americans used to call this country “the Ukraine,” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and Ukrainians’ heroic resistance cemented the use of “Ukraine,” which Ukrainians themselves prefer, as the way Americans refer to the country.

ANS chooses Names of the Year for place names, personal Names, artistic-literary names, trade names, Enames and miscellaneous names before picking the overall Name of the Year.

Kyiv won as Place Name of the Year. The capitol city of Ukraine used to be called “Kiev” in English, a version still used in terms like “Chicken Kiev.” In 2022 American media almost all switched to “Kyiv”, which more accurately represents the Ukrainian language name of the city. Kyiv’s main competitors in the category were Mariupol, another Ukrainian city largely destroyed by Russian forces before they occupied it last May; and Uvalde, name of the Texas town which became a symbol of gun violence after the mass shooting at an elementary school last May 24 killed 19 children and two teachers.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was declared Personal Name of the Year. When he was elected President of Ukraine in 2019, many American publications called him “Vladimir Zelensky,” the Russian form of his name. Here also we’ve learned to use the correct Ukrainian form. Other nominees in the category were Ketanji Brown Jackson, who became the newest justice on the Supreme Court June 30; and King Charles III. When he succeeded to the British throne upon Queen Elizabeth’s death, some were surprised he designated himself “King Charles”, despite his lifetime as Prince Charles, thinking it “unlucky” since King Charles I (1600-1649) was beheaded during the English Civil War.

“Encanto” triumphed as Artistic-Literary Name of the Year. The title of this Disney animated film, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature last March, means “charm, charming, enchantment” in Spanish. It was a fitting name for a magical village in Colombia, setting of this Disney film which, unusually, was not based on another source. The name helped the film set box office records throughout Latin America.

Want to learn more about the 2022 Name of the Year? Read on to learn more!

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Genealogy “Family Names: Origins, History, Anthropology and Sociology”

From Prof. Dr. Richard Coates:

Dear Colleagues,

We propose to jointly guest-edit a Special Issue of the online periodical Genealogy on the topic of Family Names and Naming. This is a call for papers.

Relatively little is published globally on this topic. We therefore consider that it would be timely to bring together contributions from as many as possible of the different disciplines which have an established or potential professional interest in personal naming at the family level: linguistics/onomastics, lexicography, history, genealogy, social psychology, anthropology, human biology, genetics, computer science and AI, marketing, etc.,  and from as many geographical, linguistic and cultural areas as possible. Much published work involving family names is genealogical (therefore highly specific) and lexicographical (therefore essentially summarizing a current state of historical knowledge).

Seeing just how little is published in comparison with work in toponymy, given-naming and business and institutional naming, for example, we consider that a useful step would be to bring together work of disparate types without a single overarching theme in order to expose scholars in the various fields to the full richness of current thinking about family names and possible directions for further research and cross-disciplinary collaboration. For the purposes of this issue, the Guest Editors will understand “family name” (or “surname”) to include names which perform an analogous role in a range of cultures, such as patronyms and metronyms, clan names, nasab and nisba, etc.—any name, in fact, which explicitly positions the individual within a larger social structure. Lack of family name is also a topic of interest. The Guest Editors will be pleased to consider submissions from any disciplinary area, whether oriented to history, praxis or theory, but will look especially favourably on papers that endeavour to make links across conventional disciplinary boundaries or seek to establish new methodological approaches to the study of family names. We expect submissions may fall into five broad areas:

  1. Projects and methods in family name research;
  2. Systematic aspects of family names and naming;
  3. Linguistic aspects of family names and naming;
  4. Praxis in relation to family naming;
  5. Studies relating to individual family names (in which the focus should be on the  name itself rather than on wider genealogical matters).

We offer a range of references below as an indication of some of the directions that might be followed by contributors, but without seeking to limit submissions to predefined topic areas.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words, in English, summarizing their intended contribution, within one month of this call for papers. Please send it to the Guest Editors (richard.coates@uwe.ac.uk and h.parkin@chester.ac.uk) or to Genealogy editorial office (genealogy@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

For those for whom it is relevant, the policy of Genealogy on article fees is set out at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/genealogy/apc.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please pass on this call to any scholar you think might wish to contribute.

Dr. Harry Parkin
Prof. Dr. Richard Coates
Guest Editors

 

For manuscript submission information, follow the link to the journal here.

On Naming Our In-Laws

“His Mother In-Law” Lithograph by Thomas Worth (1877, Public Domain)

In a Louisville Courier Journal column, Andrew Wolfson writes about what people call their in-laws. Consensus regarding these relational appellatives isn’t so easily met. Wolfson writes: “According to a YouGov poll of Americans in July, 29% of couples call their in-laws by their first names (including Louisville Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg and his wife, Rachel), 17% refer to them as Mom or Dad, and 9% use Mr., Mrs. or Ms. The rest don’t have relationships with their in-laws or aren’t sure what to call them.”

Read more in the Louisville Courier Journal.