Words, as used in real communication, are not fully independent units. They are connected in some way to the rest of accompanying words and to the text within which they are inserted, be it the phrase, the sentence or larger texts. From such a perspective, we may refer to a true 'sociology of words'. The sociology of words, similar to what we understand by sociology applied to human society (as structured in a variety of individuals and organized in groups and strata), aims at the study of words in relation to their environment, that is, other words, sentences, paragraphs and texts. It is possible to apply this term to lexis precisely due to the fact that relationships among words are real and also complex, since they follow specific patterns and models, even if these are not always obvious or easily perceived.

This symposium was born out of the need to gather and put together specialists’ research on the interface between lexical meaning and lexical combinatorics, so that studies currently undertaken in the field may become widely known as well as being discussed by international experts; therefore, we hope that research and studies on lexical meaning will take root and expand. Accordingly, the Symposium is intended as a forum for the presentation, discussion, debate and development of a leading but still not well-known line of research.

The symposium will host two kinds of participants:

a) Invited participants (plenary talks, plenary papers and round tables). These participants  -who will cover 15 different sessions to be attended by all the registered participants-  have been selected and invited by the Organizing Committee due to their status as experts in each one of the three specific topics around which the symposium has been structured.

b) The number of regular participants are (i) those registered to attend the symposium, and (ii) those registered as authors of a poster or short communication, with the right to attend and participate in all the plenary sessions. The number of regular participants will be limited to 100. Posters and short papers will be selected among the entire proposals received, on the basis of their quality and relevance regarding the topic of the symposium.

The official language of the Symposium will be English. Posters and short papers may be written and presented in either English or Spanish.
Short papers will take 10 minutes.
The symposium will revolve around three interconnected  and interdependent axes:

Axis 1: Approaching Lexical Meaning from the perspective of Idiomaticity and/or Grammar

The first talk, by Professor Ignacio Bosque (Madrid Complutense University and Royal Academy of the Spanish Language), will be followed by three plenary papers whose authors are specialists on the topic of this session. Such a topic will also be the subject of a debate in the ensuing Round Table. This will be chaired by a coordinator and will include the participation of three experts, who will discuss the ideas put forward in the preceding talk and plenary papers.

Axis 2: The structure of Lexical Meaning: Intralexicality and Extralexicality

Professor Thomas Herbst (University of Erlangen, Germany) will introduce the topic of this axis with a plenary talk, which will be followed by three plenary papers' experts  and a Round Table. The Round Table will offer opportunities for discussion and debate of all the ideas proposed.

Axis 3: The implementation and the Mathematics of Lexical Meaning: Its Potential and Limitations

Professor Rusland Mitkov (University of Wolverhampton, UK), specialist in the mathematical and computational dimension of language, will open this session with a plenary talk. Three plenary papers and a third  Round Table chaired by professor Pascual Cantos will respectively follow so as to discuss the computational implementations of lexical meaning.
Finally, two-hour sessions of the symposium will be reserved for the presentation of the selected short papers and posters. These sessions will be open and are intended to encourage the presentation of new and complementary ideas and proposals. Such selected papers will also be centred on the main topic of the symposium.

Deadline for proposals: 15 October, 2011.

For further information, please consult the submission guidelines on the main menu.