Dear all,

The Department of Language and Communication at VU University Amsterdam would like to invite papers for the 9th Biennial IAFL Conference on Forensic Linguistics/Language and Law.

Date: July 6-9, 2009 

Call deadline: November 14, 2008

Location: VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Conference URL: http://iafl09.let.vu.nl/ 

Contact Email: iafl09@let.vu.nl

We invite individual papers and posters that deal with all aspects of forensic linguistics/language and law, including but not limited to topics such as:

• courtroom interaction 

• police interviews 

• courtroom interpreting and translating 

• the readability/comprehensibility of legal documents 

• the analysis/interpretation of legal texts 

• the communicative challenges of ‘vulnerable’ witnesses 

• language minorities and the legal system 

• the use of linguistic evidence in court 

• authorship/speaker identification 

• the teaching/testing of forensic linguistics/language and law 

Presentations will be 20 minutes, with 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

Abstracts should be 300-350 words and can be submitted electronically at the conference website 

http://iafl09.let.vu.nl/callforpapers.html 

We also invite proposals for thematic sessions which are scheduled for 2-hour blocks. Organizers may organize as they choose, but time should be allocated for presentations, discussion and audience response. Proposals with an indication of participants and a brief description of their contributions may be submitted electronically at the conference website: http://iafl09.let.vu.nl/callforpapers.html

Important dates:

November 14, 2008: Abstracts are due 

January, 2009: Notification of acceptance of papers. 

We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

Organizing Committee: Martha Komter, Joyce Lamerichs, Esther Pascual, Keun Young Sliedrecht, Petra Sneijder, Olga Steenhoek-Kolbasina, Tessa van Charldorp, Fleur van der Houwen.