NEW WAYS OF ANALYZING VARIATION 54 (NWAV 54)
Université de Montréal
October 22-24, 2026
Website: nwav54.org
Deadline for Abstract submission: June 1, 2026
The organizing committee of New Ways of Analyzing Variation 54 (NWAV 54) invites abstract submissions for the conference to be held at the Université de Montréal from October 22 to 24, 2026.
Since its first meeting in 1972, NWAV has served as a major international forum for research on language variation and change. The conference brings together scholars interested in understanding how linguistic practices vary across speakers, communities, and social contexts, and how such variation contributes to processes of linguistic change. Over the past five decades, NWAV has become a central venue for empirical, theoretical, and methodological innovation in sociolinguistics.
Montréal provides an especially rich setting for these conversations. As a multilingual metropolis shaped by longstanding contact between French and English and by successive waves of migration, the city offers a dynamic sociolinguistic landscape in which mobility, contact, and linguistic diversity play a central role. Montréal has also played an important role in the development of variationist sociolinguistics, with influential research conducted in the city contributing to the empirical and theoretical foundations of the field.
Reflecting this context, the theme “Voices in Motion: Migration, Contact, and Minority Communities” highlights the role of mobility and social diversity in shaping linguistic practices. We particularly encourage submissions examining how variation emerges and evolves in contexts of migration, language contact, minority language communities, and sociopolitical transformation.
PLENARY SESSIONS
- Heather Burnett, Université Paris Cité
- Philip Comeau, Université Sainte-Anne
- Derek Denis, University of Toronto Mississauga
- Marie-Claude L’Homme et Yvette Mollen, Université de Montréal
TOPICS OF INTEREST INCLUDE
- sociolinguistic variation and language change
- multilingualism and language contact
- dialect contact and new dialect formation
- linguistic practices in minority and heritage language communities
- migration, mobility, and linguistic diversity
- sociophonetics and socially embedded phonetic variation
- grammatical variation
- stylistic variation, stance, and identity
- language and gender
- corpus-based and computational approaches to variation
- ethnographic and community-centered sociolinguistic research
- the teaching of sociolinguistics
We particularly welcome submissions that bring variationist perspectives into dialogue with related areas of inquiry, including linguistic anthropology, sociophonetics, corpus linguistics, linguistic ethnography, and computational approaches to language.
Graduate students and early-career researchers are especially encouraged to submit abstracts.
ABSTRACT GUIDELINES
Abstracts must not exceed 500 words. References, examples, tables, and figures may be included on additional pages and do not count toward the word limit.
All abstracts must be fully anonymized and should not contain any identifying information about the author(s).
Abstracts may be submitted in English or French. Authors are welcome to include an optional second version of their abstract in another language for inclusion in the conference program.
SUBMISSION TYPES
Regular Papers and Posters
Both papers and posters will be presented in person and will include time for discussion.
The standard presentation format will be 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of discussion. A limited number of presentations may be scheduled in a 20-minute format at the discretion of the program committee. Authors do not need to indicate a preferred presentation length.
Project Launch
Project Launch submissions provide an opportunity for researchers to present the early stages of a research project and receive feedback from the NWAV community. This format is particularly well suited for graduate students and early-career researchers. All Project Launch presentations will take place in poster format to facilitate discussion and interaction.
Special Sessions
Proposals for themed sessions are welcome, particularly those aligned with the theme of the conference. A special session proposal should include:
- an abstract describing the proposed session
- an abstract for each individual paper included in the session
Proposals should be submitted as a single PDF file, with each abstract on a separate page.
Individual paper abstracts must remain anonymized. The session description itself may include identifying information if necessary for evaluation.
Prospective organizers of special sessions are encouraged to contact the organizing committee at: nwav54@ling.umontreal.ca
SUBMISSION LIMITS
Each author may submit:
- one single-authored and one co-authored abstract, or
- two co-authored abstracts
This limit applies across all presentation types.
SUBMISSION PLATFORM
Abstracts will be submitted through Oxford Abstracts. The submission portal will open on May 1, 2026 and will close on June 1, 2026 (11:59pm EDT).
NWAV 54 is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful scholarly environment. We welcome submissions from researchers at all career stages and from all regions of the world, and we particularly encourage proposals from those working with underrepresented communities and languages. We look forward to welcoming scholars from around the world to Montreal and to continuing NWAV’s long-standing tradition as a vibrant forum for scholarly exchange on linguistic variation and change.