The LSL Language Change Forum invites proposals for the following panels at the 2027 MLA Annual Conference in Los Angeles:

Empowering Language Change

This guaranteed panel invites papers examining how linguistic changes enable—and emerge from—emancipatory practices across spoken, written, digital, pedagogical, and/or related contexts.

Listening to Language Change: Evidence of Emancipation

This guaranteed panel invites papers examining how emancipatory movements become visible through linguistic changes—historically, contemporarily, or in imagined futures—across disciplines.

To apply, please send an abstract (max 300 words) and bio (max 50 words) to laura.francis@mu.ie. I hope you will consider submitting your work if it aligns with either topic, and the committee will be accepting proposals until March 25th, 2026.

More information about the conference dates, location, etc. can be found here, and please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.