Call for papers: ILLA Focus Conference
A foreign language effect on legal decisions?
11 April 2025 in Maastricht (NL)
Research in cognitive psychology and linguistics has shown that individuals making decisions in a language other than their mother tongue are subject to the so-called ‘Foreign-Language effect on moral decision-making’, which holds that bilinguals tend to respond differently to moral questions when reading/deliberating them in their acquired language rather than their mother tongue. Until now, the effect of language on decisions has been observed mainly in relation to moral issues rather than legal ones. As questions of public morality and large-scale societal problems – ranging from climate change to human rights or even genocide – are increasingly taken in international judicial bodies, where they are resolved by judges from diverse linguistic backgrounds, the question whether the foreign-language effect also holds for legal decisions becomes more pressing.
This ILLA focus conference is dedicated to investigating the foreign-language effect and its (potential) implications for legal decision-making and international institutions more closely.
Possible topics include
- Foreign-language effect and law: methodology
- Foreign-language effect and law: (first) empirical data
- Foreign-language effect and law: implications for multi-level governance and legitimacy (theory and practice)
- Foreign language effect and law: implications for judicial practice
- Foreign-language effect and law: implications for (theories of) legal reasoning
- Foreign-language effect and law: implications for (theories of) morality
- Foreign-language effect and law: implications for the relationship between language and morality
- Foreign-language effect and law: implications for the relationship between language and law
The conference will feature a number of invited talks. Next to that, we also invite scholars interested in giving a talk on one of the topics indicated above to submit a short bio and abstract (250 words max.) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 15 January 2025.
