VisLang 2027 CFP

The last two decades have seen an increasing focus on visual and multimodal media, particularly comics, emoji, and memes both in society and in scholarship. Growing work has applied theories and empirical methods from the linguistic and cognitive sciences to the study of visual and multimodal communication. The second edition of the Visual Language Conference for 2027 (VisLang2027) at Tilburg University aims to bring together scholars focused on these issues to further work towards establishing a community around this research.

We invite submissions to the Visual Language (VisLang) Conference 2027, a two-day conference at Tilburg University in the Netherlands on 17-18 June 2027 (Thursday and Friday). The conference will feature a plenary by Joe Magliano, and will be preceded by a one-day optional workshop taught by Neil Cohn on 16 June 2026.

We invite presentations on all dimensions of visual languages and associated fields. This includes research on (but not limited to):

– pictorial expressions (drawings, art, emoji, cartoons)
– visual narratives (comics, graphic novels, manga, picture books, film, etc.)
– non-narrative sequential images (instructions, signage)
– multimodality (memes, text-emoji relations, cartoons, gesture, etc.)
– historical and/or cultural graphic systems
– visual event cognition and scene perception
– …and other pictorial and/or multimodal media

We welcome both theoretical and empirical research (corpus, experimental), particularly those situated within (but not limited to) linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, and cultural evolution. We also welcome research with developmental, applied, and/or educational focus, such as those in graphic medicine or about comics and education, among others.

Submissions are welcomed from researchers at all levels of scholarship. Submissions include an abstract of up to 400 words (plus images, filling no more than one page), which will be chosen for either a talk or a poster. Deadline for submissions is 15 January 2027.

Presenters will appear in person at Tilburg University, but the conference will be livestreamed for remote participation on 17-18 June 2027 (Thursday and Friday). There will be no online presentations

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VisLang2027 is hosted by the Visual Language Lab within the Department of Communication and Cognition and is funded through an ERC Consolidator Grant for the PICTREE Project. Tilburg University is located in the city of Tilburg, in the south of the Netherlands, roughly 1.5 hours by train from Amsterdam. The university is accessible via trains from several surrounding cities, and by busses (and bikes!) within Tilburg. Accommodation information to follow.

Additional questions can be sent to neilcohn@visuallanguagelab.com