Symposium on Diversity in Early Multilingualism

Many children worldwide grow up learning and using two or more languages. Early multilingualism can provide numerous benefits, but often comes with unique challenges. The experiences of multilingual children vary greatly. Multilingual children differ from one another, for example, in the languages they speak, how different these languages are from each other, how often they use each language, or the societal prestige associated with their languages. Therefore, it is impossible to treat multilingual children as a homogeneous group, and an increasing body of research examines how multilinguals differ from one another and how these differences influence their development. We aim to bring together interdisciplinary researchers who have adopted this perspective and are working toward a more realistic and inclusive view of early multilingualism for a two-day symposium.

Dates: 6th and 7th of October 2026
Place: University of Zurich, Switzerland

Keynote speakers:

• Debra Titone  (McGill University)
• Rachel Barr (Georgetown University)

Participation fee: none

Timeline: 

• Abstract submission deadline: 30th of June 2026
• Notification of abstract acceptance: 17th of July 2026
• Registration open: 17th of July 2026
• Registration application deadline: 14th of August 2026 (Priority will be given to the applications of presenting authors.)

Abstract guidelines and submission
We invite abstract submissions on any aspect of diversity in early multilingual development from infancy through the early childhood years (up to the primary school years). For instance, projects submitted may focus on assessing the diversity in multilingual environments, or investigating the influence of diversity markers (e.g., language entropy, parental language strategies, number of interaction partners) on children’s behaviour and development.

We invite submissions for oral presentations (15 min presentation + 15 min discussion) and posters. We also invite early-career ‘no-results-yet’ poster submissions to showcase research ideas that may or may not include preliminary data. Since there are limited spots for oral presentations, we might invite some authors who applied for oral presentations to submit a poster.

Please submit your abstract here (max. 250 words, text-only).
You can submit only one submission per presenting author. If you submit multiple abstracts per presenting author, we will only consider the first submission.

If you have any queries, please contact us at weltentdecker@psychologie.uzh.ch

Financial support
Unfortunately, we cannot provide financial support to symposium participants. However, there is no participation fee, and parts of the symposium will be streamed online.