Call for papers

The 8^th International Conference on Figurative Thought and Language (FTL 8) will be hosted by the Department of English at the University of Klagenfurt. Continuing the tradition of the conference series, which offers inspiring venues for research on Figurative Thought and Language from multiple perspectives and approaches, the conference theme of FTL 8 is Diversity in Figurative Thought and Language.

Contributions are invited across a wide range of diverse aspects of figurativeness in thought and in various semiotic modes. Diversity is intended to comprise modes of figurative enactment, discourses and representations of figurative meaning making, methods of analyses, theoretical approaches and applications, topics of investigation, sources and actors of figurativeness, as well as recipients of figurative processes.

Some suggested areas of research on figurative thought, language and other semiotic modes are listed below. Proposals for individual paper presentations and theme sessions are invited in these areas and beyond:

Investigating figurative processes on all levels of language (e.g. semantics, lexis, morphosyntax, pragmatics)
Production and producers of figurative acts
Reception and recipients of figurative language
The relationship of figurative processes and grammar
Figurativeness in language development and acquisition
Figurativeness in multimodal settings
Figurative processes in gestures and sign languages
Cognitive poetics and stylistics
Diachronic aspects of figurativeness
Figurative aspects of humour
Cultural diversity in figurative processes
Artificial intelligence and figurativeness

Submission of individual papers

Please send your abstracts for paper presentations (20min presentation + 5min discussion) as doc or pdf files to ftl8 [at] aau [dot] at by January 31, 2025. Abstracts should not exceed 400 words (excluding references) and will undergo anonymous peer review. Notifications will be sent out by the end of February 2025. Please provide your author details and contact information on a cover page preceding the abstract.

Submission of thematic sessions

A limited amount of thematic sessions can also be accommodated in the programme. Applications for prospective theme sessions should consist of a general description (600 words max., excluding references) and provide a list of planned paper titles and presenters. Theme sessions should consist of a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 papers. Proposals for theme sessions need to be submitted by December 5, 2024, and notification of acceptance will be sent out by mid-December, 2024. Abstracts of theme session papers need to be submitted individually by the presenters to ftl8 [at] aau [dot] at by January 31, 2025 and are subject to peer review. The title of the theme session has to be stated on the abstract.

Submission of multiple papers

Authors may submit a maximum of two abstracts for presentation. It is possible to submit one single authored and one co-authored or two co-authored abstracts. Authors can be part of further papers in case of multiple authorships in which the author is listed as third or higher.

Slots for paper presentation will be 20 minutes followed by 5 minutes for discussion. Please send your abstracts as doc or pdf files (400 words max., excluding references) to
FTL8 [at] aau [dot] at

Abstracts should be anonymous and preceded by a title sheet stating the author(s) contact details.

Please state “abstract submission FTL8″ in the subject line of your e-mail.

Final date for the submission of theme session proposals: December 5, 2024

Final date of abstract submission: January 31, 2025

Notification of acceptance: February 28, 2025

Updated / Final versions of abstracts due: March 31, 2025