Non-ideal communication and the architecture of the common ground (NICTACG)

April 24-25, 2027

UMass Linguistics department, Room N400

Integrative Learning Center, 650 N Pleasant St, Amherst, MA 01003

In recent years, the “social” turn in philosophy of language has generated a growing body of work that challenges the standard Gricean–Stalnakerian picture of communication and its understanding of the common ground. This literature questions the view of conversational context as a single, shared body of information (e.g., Camp 2018; Harris 2020; Berstler 2025; Simons 2025). Related work on harmful speech, ideologically laden content, and social meaning investigates the roles of ideology and perspective in the construction of meaning (e.g., Kukla 2018 and Nunberg 2018 on slurs; Henderson & McCready 2024 on dogwhistles; Biezma 2025 on mock language).

This workshop aims to bring together researchers in linguistics, philosophy, and related fields exploring these questions and to facilitate an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas.

Invited Speakers

Mandy Simons, Carnegie Melon University
Sam Berstler, MIT
Willow Starr, Cornell University

For any information, contact Shaunak Phadnis, or Gabriel Levc

Call for Abstracts

We invite abstracts for 30-minute talks (followed by 15 minutes of Q&A) from scholars at all career stages. We particularly encourage submissions from graduate students and early-career researchers. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, dynamic context management, indirect communication, not-at-issueness, social meaning, plausible deniability, and the role of perspectives (Camp 2019) in communication. More broadly, we welcome work that complicates or reconsiders standard Stalnakerian accounts of context and presupposition, as well as Gricean models of cooperative communication.

Abstracts must present original research in progress that has not been published or accepted for publication at the time of submission. Each individual may submit a maximum of one abstract as a sole author and one as a co-author, or two abstracts as a co-author.

Abstracts should be no more than two pages, using letter-size or A4 paper with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides and 12-point Times New Roman font. A third page may be included exclusively for references, large figures, or tables.

Abstracts must be submitted as PDFs via Oxford Abstracts by December 21, 2026.

Important dates

[Nov 2] Abstract Submissions open

[Dec 21] Submissions close

[Feb 10] Notifications of acceptance

[Apr 24-25] Workshop dates

Schedule

TBD

Travel and Logistics

Coming soon

Organizing Committee

Shaunak Phadnis (Department of Linguistics)
Gabriel Levc (Department of Philosophy)

Faculty advisors: María Biezma, Ana Arregui