While potentially any linguistic item is subject to change, some seem to present a higher tendency to do so. That is the case of verbs of thought and speech, which usually develop pragmatic uses: you know, I’m telling you, etc.

These two relatively large groups show some common features: they are highly frequent, they are commonly used in interaction and they are prone to deal with (inter)subjectivity. The main aim of this conference is to delve into the pragmaticalization of thought and speech verbs in order to shed light on the main tendencies shown by the languages of the world and to try to establish some shared trends across languages and language-families.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Typological approaches to the pragmaticalization of verbs of thought and speech


• Contrastive analysis in different languages


• Diachronic studies on specific languages


• The emergence of discourse markers out of verbs of thought and speech


• Subjectivity and intersubjectivity at play: thinking and speaking as activities-in-interaction

We welcome proposals from researchers on any stage of their career. Proposals may be presented in any language, but the use of English is recommended as a lingua franca.

Please fill the following form with the data of your proposal: https://thoughtandspeech.usal.es/submiss... target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://thoughtandspeech.usal.es/submiss...

If you are interesting in just attending the conference, please contact the organizers in thoughtandspeech@usal.es