Creativity in language and in discourse: beyond standard rules and usage limits?

 11-12 June 2024

 BOULOGNE-SUR-MER

Université du Littoral-Côte d’Opale & UR 4030 HLLI 

Whether understood either as disposition, attitude or activity, creativity is mainly associated with artistic performances bringing into existence new forms, unexpected and surprising in their aesthetic, semiotic, and expressive dimensions. Thus, creativity seems indissociable from innovation.

This conference aims to provide an international and multidisciplinary forum to explore creativity with respect to skills, attitudes and linguistic means put into practice in oral and written interactions, in translation, as well as in second language teaching and learning. The relationship between different forms of creativity and linguistic, social as well as institutional limits its manifestations need to comply with should be granted a particular attention.

Building on previous studies in linguistics and in the field of second language teaching and learning, particularly those carried out in the research program Images culturelles pour l’apprentissage des Langues(ICAL, 2018-2020), scholars are invited to address creativity from multiple perspectives, especially with respect to figurativeness in culture and identities, within and beyond normative limits.

The conference welcomes substantial and innovative presentations exploring any topic in the following areas:

1. Linguistics (phraseology/lexicology) In its linguistic dimension, the conference offers a forum for reflection and discussion on lexical and phraseological creativity. Indeed, new mono- and multiword expressions are constantly appearing in the lexicon. We will thus question the relationship between new forms and the set of norms, notably semantic, morphological, and syntactic. What discursive functions must be ensured by newly created or simply modified structures, for example in the case of defrosting? Do L1 speakers and L2 learners adopt the same creative processes and, if so, do they aim at similar communicative purposes? To what extent do creative practices contribute to the development of communicative skills? In connection with the other axes of the conference, we will try to understand the contribution of speakers’ creativity and the ways they deal with lexical and phraseological material.

2. Creativity and translating activity

The concept of creativity in translation is far from new, but its study has long been sidelined in traductology. According to M. Mariaule, it has always remained the "poor relation of theory" (Mariaule, 2015, p. 84). All translational approaches unquestionably admit some amount of creativity in translator’s attitudes, and the part it takes in translation itself. But the question of defining creativity within the frameworks of translatology remains open because all attempts to find a single definition seem to have been unsuccessful so far.

The aim of the conference is to discuss the question whether it is possible to produce one general definition of different forms of creativity in translation. Assuming such an overarching definition could be found, would it set limits for translator’s creative activity? If so, can we draw a clear-cut distinction between creativity and subjectivity?

3. Creativity in language teaching

Developing learner's creative use of language presents many challenges. Firstly, the expressive potential of the learner is at stake. It is generally agreed that expressivity encourages innovations: think of the recent pragmateme Belle journée, which tends to replace Bonne journée, whose affective charge seemed slightly worn out. Secondly, creativity in discourse leads to the question of norms from which the speaker is seeking to deviate. Thus, learners’ creativity involves intense metalinguistic activity. Indeed, creating new forms as well as modifying existing ones, people need to think about available linguistic means. Thirdly, by using language creatively, learners control their own language production, consciously selecting the elements necessary not only to accomplish a task, but above all to create the desired effect. Creative discourse is thus particularly sensitive to the two mechanisms inherent, according to Bialystok (1991), to any language activity: analysis of linguistic data and control of one's own production. These notions are also linked to didactic, linguistic, cultural, discursive and pragmatic issues affecting learning and training processes. What action research mechanisms should be stimulated to develop creativity in language teaching and learning? What is the impact of such training practices on professional skills future language teachers are expected to display? What role do languages and cultures play in the approach to collective creative writing? 

Working languages of the conference are French and English.

Abstracts for 20 minutes presentations (followed by 10 minutes discussions) should be uploaded on the conference website:

https://crealang2024.sciencesconf.org/user/submissions

by 31 July 2023. They should not exceed 2000 characters (spaces included), excluding bibliography and keywords.

Key dates:

Submission deadline: 31 July 2023

Notification of acceptance or refusal: 5 September 2023 

The conference will be held at the Université Littoral Côte d'Opale in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Scientific Committee:

Fabrice Barthélemy (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, EA 2288 DILTEC)

Isabelle Billoo (Université d’Artois, Centre de recherche Textes et cultures)

Jan Goes (Artois, Centre de recherche Grammatica)

Monika Grabowska (Université de Wrocławski, Wrocław, Pologne)

Anna Krzyżanowska (Université Marie Curie-Skłodowska, Lublin, Pologne)

Ewen Lecuit (INSPE, Outreau-Lille, Hauts-de-France)

Émilie Perrichon (ULCO, Unité de recherche 4030 sur l’Histoire, les Langues, les Littératures et l’Interculturel)

Iryna Shargay (ULCO, Université de Zaporijia, Unité de recherche 4030 sur l’Histoire, les Langues, les Littératures et l’Interculturel)

Dorota Sikora (ULCO, Unité de recherche 4030 sur l’Histoire, les Langues, les Littératures et l’Interculturel)

Alexandra Tsedryk (Université Mount Saint Vincent, Halifax, Canada)

Carl Vetters (ULCO, Unité de recherche 4030 sur l’Histoire, les Langues, les Littératures et l’Interculturel)

Organising committee: Émilie Perrichon, Iryna Shargay, Dorota Sikora