Theme: Terminological Processes

Date: September 3-4, 2026

Venue: Research Centre for Linguistics, Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary

Rationale

The past decades have witnessed a profound transformation of our linguistic context, driven by globalization, rapid technological advancements, and increased awareness of linguistic diversity. Terminology is central to effective communication and establishing and using it effectively presents significant challenges for language management practices at both micro and macro levels everywhere.

This symposium invites contributions exploring how terminological processes are managed within contemporary speech communities. The symposium will focus on the management of terminology across a wide range of contexts. Terminology and its derivatives may refer to various behaviors. In language management, its core activities are the delineation of content and its definition as it reflects a given concept and arriving at agreement of a term to name it. This process may be carried out in parallel in many languages, including the presumed challenge of including smaller languages and minority languages; and problematic in a different way with relation to coordination between large languages.

Agencies engaging with terminology come in different guises, follow different work routines, are variously subjected to other interests and operate with different authority and budgets. Under the label of language management of terminology, we seek to understand both the abovementioned fundamental processes and the circumstances under which they unfold. The symposium will address, among others, the variations and ambiguities inherent in co-existing term forms and meanings, and the incorporation of neologisms and Anglicisms, often driven by technological innovation and the widespread influence of English as a lingua franca. Further topics of interest include the codification of specialized orthographies, the exploration of translation strategies such as domestication, foreignization, functional equivalencing, paraphrasing, or term creation. The symposium will also consider the challenges of multilingual content creation, with an emphasis on maintaining terminological consistency and coherence.

We welcome contributions from researchers, scholars, and practitioners in linguistics, cognitive sciences, terminology, translation studies, communication studies, computer science, sociology, education, and other fields. Though the preferred theoretical framework is Language Management Theory, originated in the works of J. V. Neustupný and B. H. Jernudd, other approaches are also welcome.

Call for individual papers

We invite proposals for papers which reflect any topic related to language management and particularly, the main theme of the symposium. Issues for discussion include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Variation and ambiguity in term use
• Neologisms and Anglicisms in specialized language
• Challenges in orthography and codification
• Country-specific and pluricentric terminology issues
• Translation strategies and multilingual content creation
• Terminological harmonization and standardization
• Language technologies and terminology databases in support of terminological work
• Language ideologies and power dynamics in terminology
• The role of language consulting services in terminology management
• Prescriptive vs. descriptive approaches to terminology management
• Community-based approaches to terminology
• Historical development and institutional coordination in terminology work

Abstract submission

Abstracts should be submitted via Google Forms through the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe94sDrXlbCLxaL4QnCfkykVoX51ECjw2fWffudprkJ_9AT2g/viewform

The deadline for submitting applications is March 15, 2026. The acceptance will be notified by April 30, 2026.

Invited speakers

• Björn Jernudd (Washington D.C., independent scholar)
• Theo Du Plessis (Professor Emeritus, University of the Free State, South African Sign
  Language & Deaf Studies)
• Ágota Fóris (Professor, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary)

Programme committee

• Ali, Nor Liza (University Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur)
• Dovalil, Vít (Charles University, Prague)
• Fan, Sau Kuen (Kanda University of International Studies, Tokyo)
• Fóris, Ágota (Professor, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary)
• Hamid, Obaidul, (The University of Queensland, Brisbane)
• He, Shanhua (Yangzhou University)
• Kimura, Goro Christoph (Sophia University, Tokyo)
• Muraoka, Hidehiro (Chiba University)
• Nekula, Marek (University of Regensburg)
• Nekvapil, Jiří (Charles University, Prague)
• Sebők, Szilárd (Comenius University, Bratislava)
• Sherman, Tamah (Czech Language Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague)
• Tamás, Dóra Mária (Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest)
• Vuković, Petar (University of Zagreb, Zagreb)
• Zhao, Ronghui (Shanghai Foreign Studies University)

Local organizing committee

chair: Ludányi, Zsófia (ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest)

secretaries:

• Kozma, Judit (ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest)
• Jakab, Dorottya (ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest)

members:

• Domonkosi, Ágnes (ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest)
• Lipp, Veronika (ELTE Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest)
• Sherman, Tamah (Czech Language Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences,
• Prague)
• Nekvapil, Jiří (Charles University, Prague)