The German and Dutch Graduate Student Association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is pleased to announce the call for papers for the 8th annual GDGSA Conference. The conference will take place in Madison, WI on March 3–4, 2006.

Aerial view of campus and downtown Madison

Voices Throughout the Ages:

Expression, Development, and Authenticity in the German Language

 

Keynote Address:

Rainer Godel, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg

(Who’s talking? On the Relevance of Analytic Precision)

 

 

Throughout the course of history, humans have striven to adequately represent themselves. The capability of expression, or the lack thereof, has been a hallmark of identity, not just for individuals, but for entire cultures. The voice, both in a literal and metaphorical sense, plays a prominent role as a means of self-pronouncement in literature, linguistics, and second language acquisition. This conference seeks to explore the function of the voice in all aspects of the German language.

 

Literature

Texts speak to us, and the ways in which they speak are as myriad as the world itself. Due to the nearly limitless freedom afforded to an individual during the process of creation, literary and philosophical writings take many forms and have functioned as outlets for personal articulation for more than two millennia. The uniqueness of texts provides for a means of distinctive expression ranging from the voice of Socrates in Plato’s dialogues to the inner monologue of Arthur Schnitzler’s Leutnant Gustl to the emergence of the voice of the Other in post-colonial literature.

 

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Linguistics

Because it provides the means of producing sound, the voice is the primary instrument of language, allowing human interaction while simultaneously driving linguistic innovation in the perpetual process of transmission and reception. Furthermore, the voice acts as a means of identity among speakers, converging and diverging as people come together and drift apart. With the diverse places and situations in which it has been spoken, the linguistic examination of the German language presents a good opportunity to deepen our understanding of the voice and its role in human communication.

 

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Second Language Acquisition

In the foreign-language classroom, the establishment and assertion of the voice is an essential process in the language learning process. Through attempts to convey and facilitate meaning, the teacher strives to improve the learner’s language ability in all areas. However, classroom communication is more than merely a sum of verbal interchanges. Depending on an array of variables such as cultural background, learning styles, and anxiety level, the voice identifies teacher and learner roles and relationships.

 

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

 

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words with a separate cover sheet indicating the author’s name, address, email, primary phone number, academic affiliation and department, and the proposed title either via email to Adam Woodis at alwoodis@wisc.edu (literature) or Mike Olson at molson3@wisc.edu (linguistics/SLA) or via post to

 

Adam Woodis / Mike Olson

Department of German

University of Wisconsin-Madison

818 Van Hise Hall

1220 Linden Drive

Madison, WI  53706

USA

 

Housing and most meals will be provided for presenters during the conference.

Papers accepted for presentation should not exceed 20 minutes in length. Deadline for submission of abstracts is January 20, 2006.

Click here for a copy of this abstract in Word format.

Sponsored by ASM