It has long been acknowledged that language and culture intersect. Linguistic forms represent meanings which are often culturally distinctive, even in an age when much of everyday life is articulated through the influence of global culture. For example, while various forms of music and other forms of ‘mediatised’ entertainment, including cinema and reality TV, are global cultural forms, through drawing on local languages and cultural references, they are also ‘local’ forms – aspects of what Robertson (1990) has referred to as glocal culture. Indeed, one salient effect of globalisation has been to highlight linguistic and cultural differences, as can be seen, for example, with diasporas which remain trans-locally connected by distinctive forms of language and culture.

We understand ‘language’ broadly to encompass not only words in speech and writing, but gestures, postures, facial expressions and vocal qualities. Language can be linked in manifold ways to specific, localised cultures, particularly in the context of specific everyday practices such as, for example, shopping, playing sport, or attending a theatre play. These activities can articulate a strong sense of belonging underscored by common patterns of taste, lifestyle and aesthetic preference.

This one-day symposium will feature two Keynotes, by Professor Norma Mendoza-Denton (UCLA) and Dr Brady Robards (Monash). In addition to the Keynote sessions, the symposium will be organised into three Panels, loosely themed around Words, Sounds and the Body, respectively. Panels will involve a series of papers and open discussion.