In an academic world of competing theoretical schools, ontological objects, long views, and swerves, scholars can neglect the building blocks of the texts, histories, and languages we study; too often, we overlook the words themselves. This session will focus on individual words or phrases—their ancestries, cognates, and legacies. In so doing, we hope to bring together a diverse range of scholars who share a philological bent. The session welcomes papers from linguists, literary critics, historians,theologians, and others who wish to turn their attention to the rich worlds contained in single linguistic grains. Papers may address issues of etymology, dialect, lexicography, phonetics, textual attestations, and so on.

Please submit 250-word abstracts for 15-minute papers, a brief bio, and the ICMS PIF to benjamin.barootes@mail.mcgill.ca by 15 September 2015.