The International Conference on Language Research (CIIL2026) will return to Vigo on 19 and 20 November, following its successful inaugural edition last year. Organised by the iLingua Research Institute, the event will be hosted at the Redeiras building and will feature a comprehensive programme that includes keynote speeches, presentations, and poster exhibitions.
Javier Pérez Guerra, president of the organising committee and director of iLingua, stated that the conference aims to explore topics aligned with the institute's research lines. These encompass internal linguistics, linguistic variation, the relationship between society, ideology, and language policy, as well as language, cognition, education, translation, interpretation, literature, accessibility, and digital humanities.
This year's conference will particularly highlight the applications of artificial intelligence in the field, as numerous submissions related to this topic have been received. Alongside Pérez Guerra, symposium coordinator Alexandre Rodríguez Guerra has developed an academic programme that places a strong emphasis on research concerning the Galician language.
Key topics for discussion will include the challenges posed by AI in philology, linguistics, and translation; accessibility as a citizen's right; plain language in administrative and legal contexts; opportunities in digital humanities; contributions of sign languages to linguistic research; critical text editions; queer studies in translation and linguistics; sociolinguistics; indigenous languages and linguistic diversity; applied linguistics (computational, forensic, clinical); and the management of university research centres and scientific journals in languages, literature, and translation.
With the deadline for submissions closed since summer, the organisers received more proposals than could be accommodated, despite expanding the number of sessions and the duration of the conference. In addition to the keynote speeches, over 60 presentations will be delivered by authors from universities and research centres in Galicia, Spain, and up to ten other countries.
The programme also includes four confirmed keynote speakers. The first is Miguel Casas Gómez, Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Cádiz and guest professor at the University of Saarbrücken, who will present on “Semantics, terminology, and digital linguistics.” Another speaker is writer Teresa Moure, a linguistics doctor and lecturer at the University of Santiago de Compostela, who will reflect on hate speech in light of language philosophy. Xosé Luís Regueira, Professor of Galician and Portuguese Philology at the University of Santiago de Compostela, will discuss “Doing linguistics from a minoritised language: a look at Galician linguistics over the last 50 years.” The final keynote speaker will be Jorge Díaz Cintas, Professor of Translation and founder of the Centre for Translation Studies at University College London, who will address “Between fidelity and responsibility: the challenge of sensitive language in audiovisual translation.”
Pérez Guerra noted that the first edition of the conference was a success, providing significant national and international visibility for iLingua, which has led to the decision to make it a regular event, ideally on an annual basis. The CIIL2025 also facilitated networking opportunities with other research institutes in the field, both within Spain and internationally.
