Multimodal Language 2026
Theoretical Perspectives and Research Methods
International Workshop
Firenze, 16-17 April 2026
First Call for Papers
The investigation of linguistic communication in natural contexts cannot ignore that human language is part of an inherently multimodal system. Indeed, the interaction between different modalities is articulated within closely cooperating semiotic subsystems, dynamically completing each other into a coherent message (McNeill 1992; Kendon 2014; Capirci et al. 2022). Within a perspective that sees language as a form of cooperative action, various modalities – which may include voice, gestures, gaze, facial expressions, body postures, along with their different articulators – coordinate in a clearly interdependent way. This happens both at the level of expression and at the level of content, with the different modalities interacting on the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic level (see McNeill 1992, Kendon 2004, Loehr 2012, Volterra et al. 2017, among many others).
Differently from the first generation of scholars in multimodality, whose first and essential need was to build terminologies and methods of analysis that could highlight the specifics of each modality, the foremost theoretical challenge in contemporary research is to explore theories and methodologies that could describe how these modalities interact in forming organized structures (Trujillo & Holler 2023). Of course, this requires new categories and new descriptions, together with a move away from mere quantifications of occurrences towards other variables. Therefore, it becomes necessary to give greater consideration to the qualitative aspects of each component and the way in which they are deployed in the flow of discourse.
A growing number of scholars in linguistics, psychology and related disciplines is at work to demonstrate the various levels on which the link between modalities is manifested in language production and comprehension by means of cross-linguistic comparisons (see Özyürek 2021 for a review), developmental studies (Capirci et al. 2011; Graziano 2014; Volterra et al. 2018), evolutionary theories (Levinson & Holler 2014) and neuroscientific investigation (Kelly et al. 2010; Hagoort & Özyürek 2024).
In line with the first edition, held in Catania in March 2025, the Multimodal Language 2026 workshop aims to bring together the growing scientific community interested in studying the relationships between the modalities used communicatively in in spoken and signed languages from different theoretical perspectives and based on different technologies and methodologies. The aim is to discuss the need to move from a logocentric view on language to an intrinsically multimodal perspective, the only one capable of fully restoring the complexity of language as it unfolds within the communicative event.
Contributions may concern (but are not limited to) all the themes proposed below, all concerning both vocal and sign languages:
- multimodality and models of language
- language acquisition and development from a multimodal perspective
- contrastive linguistic analysis from a multimodal perspective
- multimodality and discourse genres
- multimodality and communicative contexts
- multimodality and prosody
- multimodality and syntactic structure
- multimodality and information structure
- multimodality and semantics
- multimodality and pragmatics
- methods and tools for multimodal annotation
Keynote speaker
- Alan Cienki (VU Amsterdam, President of the International Society for Gesture Studies)
Submission guidelines
We invite submissions for oral presentations. Presentations may deal with empirical research, methodological issues or theoretical challenges. Abstracts must be written in English and have a maximum length of 600 words (figures and bibliography excluded). The proposals must be sent in open format (doc, docx, rtf, odf - not in pdf), in an anonymous form, and contain a separate file with the name, surname and affiliation of the authors and email address of the corresponding author. Please note that, given the format of the workshop, we are forced to accept a limited number of submissions.
Proposals should be submitted to the following email address: mmlworskhop@gmail.com
Important dates
Submission deadline: 19 December 2025
Notification of acceptance: 30 January 2026
Registration deadline: 27 February 2026
Registration fee (including coffee breaks and 1 light lunch)
- Permanent staff: 130 euros
- Students and fixed-term researchers: 100 euros
Social dinner (not included in the registration fee): 50 euros
Scientific committee
- Federico Albano Leoni (Sapienza Università di Roma)
- Corrado Bellifemine (Université de Lorraine)
- Emanuela Campisi (Università di Catania)
- Olga Capirci (ISTC-CNR)
- Luisa Corona (Università dell’Aquila)
- Francesco Cutugno (Università di Napoli Federico II)
- Sabina Fontana (Università di Catania)
- Renata Gambino (Università di Catania)
- Maria Graziano (Lund University)
- Massimo Moneglia (Università di Firenze)
- Alessandro Panunzi (Università di Firenze)
- Tommaso Raso (UFMG)
- Loredana Schettino (Libera Università di Bolzano)
- Virginia Volterra (ISTC-CNR)
Organizing committee
- Alessandro Panunzi (Università di Firenze)
- Emanuela Campisi (Università di Catania)
Ultimo aggiornamento
13.10.2025