ICPL IV: 4th International Conference on Prominence in Language

The 4th International Conference on Prominence in Language (ICPL IV) investigates the concept of prominence—the cognitive and linguistic mechanisms by which certain elements stand out over others—across multiple levels of linguistic analysis. From phonological stress and pitch accent to morphosyntactic focus and discourse-level topicality, prominence is a unifying thread running through spoken, signed, and written language.

ICPL IV brings together phoneticians, phonologists, morphosyntacticians, discourse analysts, sign language researchers, and language acquisition specialists. The conference is especially valuable for researchers exploring how prominence interacts across linguistic modules and modalities, including gesture and multimodal communication. By integrating empirical and theoretical perspectives, ICPL IV advances a cross-disciplinary understanding of how salience is encoded and interpreted in human language.

linguistic prominence phonology phonetics morphosyntax discourse pragmatics sign language language acquisition multimodality