We invite submissions for the second edition of the conference Quantitative Diachronic Linguistics and Cultural Analytics 2027 (QDLCA27), to be held at King’s College London (Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS, London) on 14–15 January 2027. This will be an in-person event.
Language is in constant flux, shaped by social, cultural, and cognitive forces over time. With the increasing availability of large-scale textual data and computational tools, researchers are now better equipped than ever to uncover patterns and mechanisms of language change across different linguistic areas (e.g., morphology, syntax, semantics). This conference explores the intersection of quantitative diachronic linguistics and cultural analytics, to investigate how language evolves and how these changes relate – directly or broadly – to cultural dynamics.
We welcome contributions that engage with any aspect of historical linguistics and diachronic language analysis, provided they incorporate quantitative approaches and offer insights into the interplay between linguistic and cultural change.
Confirmed keynote speakers are Prof Dirk Geeraerts (KU Leuven) and Dr Stefania De Gaetano-Ortlieb (Saarland University).
- We invite abstract for 20-minute presentations, followed by 10 minutes of discussion.
- The abstracts should be anonymised and consist of a maximum of 400 words (excluding references).
- Please submit your abstract via EasyChair.
In case of a large number of high-quality submissions, some abstracts may be selected for poster presentations. Authors will be invited to indicate whether they would consider their submission suitable for a poster session, should one be included in the programme. Poster selections will be based both on authors’ preferences and on reviewers’ recommendations, as reviewers will also be asked to assess the suitability of submissions for poster presentation.
Deadline: 13 September 2026, 23:59 BST
Topics (non-exhaustive list)
Submissions may include (but are not limited to) the following areas, with no restrictions on language(s) or historical periods:
- Quantitative studies of language change across time
- Corpus-based analyses of language evolution
- Computational modelling of diachronic syntax, semantics, morphology, etc.
- Cross-linguistic comparisons using large-scale data
- Language change in connection with historical, literary, or cultural trends
- Digital methods for exploring linguistic and cultural shifts
- Applications of cultural analytics to linguistic data
Important Dates:
13 September 2026: Abstract Submission Deadline
26 October 2026: Notification of Acceptance
14-15 January 2026: Conference Dates
For any inquiries, please contact the organiser, Andrea Farina (andrea.farina@kcl.ac.uk).
This conference is organised by the project COALA – Computational Corpus Annotation for Quantitative Analysis of Latin Lexical Semantics (https://coala.er.kcl.ac.uk/about/), successfully evaluated by the European Research Council and funded by UK Research and Innovation. COALA develops computational methods and corpus annotation tools for the large-scale quantitative analysis of semantic variation and change in Latin across more than two millennia of textual history. It combines advances in historical word sense disambiguation, corpus linguistics, and computational semantics to transform research on historical lexical semantics and provide new insights into how meaning changes across genres, registers, and cultural contexts over time.
Scientific Committee
Eleonora Litta (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)
Pierluigi Cassotti (University of Gotenburg)
Jurica Polančec (Old Church Slavonic Institute Zagreb)
David Goldstein (UCLA)
Alek Keersmaekers (KU Leuven)
Erin Canning (University of Oxford)
Sabine Tittel (Heidelberg University)
Luisa Miceli (University of Western Australia)