ICLALIS 2026 is proud and grateful to have the following esteemed Keynote Speakers:
Professor Dr. Chang-Yau Hoon, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore.
What's in a Name? Naming, Belonging and Social Inclusion in Multicultural Southeast Asia
Language does not merely reflect social reality; it actively constitutes it. The names and labels through which individuals and communities are identified are embedded in dynamics of power, recognition and exclusion. Far from being neutral descriptors, they shape how identities are imagined, negotiated and contested, while delineating the symbolic boundaries between "us" and "them".
Drawing on two decades of ethnographic research on ethnicity, identity and multiculturalism in Southeast Asia, this keynote examines the politics of naming as an everyday practice through which belonging is constructed, negotiated and contested. It argues that names and labels derive their meanings not from semantic content alone, but from historical memory, political context and everyday social interaction. The same term may simultaneously serve as a marker of belonging, an instrument of exclusion, or a resource for identity reclamation, depending on who deploys it, in what context, and to what ends.
Rather than asking which labels are "correct", the paper shifts attention to the performative power of naming. It argues that names and labels do not simply describe identities; they constitute social realities, legitimise particular understandings of belonging, reproduce symbolic boundaries, and shape the conditions for recognition, participation and social inclusion. By foregrounding the politics of naming, the paper invites a rethinking of how language not only reflects diversity but also shapes the possibilities for living together in multicultural societies.
Prof. Hoon's Bio:
Professor Chang-Yau Hoon is Director of Global Engagement and Strategy at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. He was formerly Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of Asian Studies and Director of the Centre for Advanced Research at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. He is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, where he obtained his PhD with Distinction in 2007, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Asia in Transition book series published by Springer Nature.
Professor Hoon is a scholar whose research focuses on the Chinese diaspora, identity politics, multiculturalism, and religious and cultural diversity in contemporary Southeast Asia. His recent work has expanded to examine linguistic othering, social cohesion, and the politics of belonging in multicultural societies. He has published extensively in leading international journals and is the author and editor of numerous books, including Social Welfare Over the Life Course in Brunei Darussalam (co-edited, ISEAS Publishing, 2026), Christianity and the Chinese in Indonesia: Ethnicity, Education and Enterprise (Liverpool University Press, 2023), and Southeast Asia in China: Historical Entanglements and Contemporary Engagements (Lexington Books, 2023).
Professor Dr. Siaw-Fong Chung, National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
Digital Voice, Creativity, and the Language of Persuasion: A Corpus Linguistics Perspective
What is digital voice? Do we, as participants in online discourse, project distinctive voices that shape how meanings circulate and how communities form? This talk examines how digital voice emerges through patterned language practices in online environments. Drawing on corpus-based materials and user-generated texts, it shows how subtle and often implicit stance-taking is woven into digital voice.
Using corpus linguistic methods, the presentation demonstrates that digital voice is frequently realized through understated evaluative language, metaphorical extension, analogy, and dialogic positioning. Many of these voices are not explicitly argumentative; their meanings run deeper, and their persuasive force operates beneath seemingly playful or creative expressions.
Persuasion in online discourse often hides behind creativity. What appears to be humor, wit, or aesthetic expression may encode stance and alignment strategies that invite participation and shape audience interpretation. By situating digital voice within the broader framework of language in action, this talk argues that digital discourse is both expressive and socially consequential. Corpus linguistics enables us to uncover how creativity, accessibility, and persuasion interact to construct inclusive yet ideologically textured online spaces.
Prof. Chung's Bio:
Professor Siaw-Fong Chung is Professor in the Department of English at National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taiwan, where she served as Department Chair from 2022 to 2024. She received her PhD in Linguistics from National Taiwan University and holds a B.Ed. (Hons) in Secondary Education and English Language Teaching from the University of Exeter, UK.
She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Taiwan Journal of TESOL (ESCI; Scopus, 2025–2027), Associate Editor of the International Review of Pragmatics (ESCI; Scopus) and TESOL Communications, and as a member of the Editorial Board of Applied Corpus Linguistics (Scopus). She represents Taiwan in the Comité International Permanent des Linguistes (CIPL) General Assembly (2024–2028) and serves as Newsletter Editor on the Executive Committee of the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM). She previously served as the 13th President of the Linguistic Society of Taiwan and now continues her service as Supervisor of the Society.
Her research focuses on corpus linguistics, near-synonymy, metaphor, and digital discourse. She has published widely on corpus-based, fine-grained semantic analysis, and more recently on language use in online environments. She leads a research team at NCCU specializing in corpus-based investigations of language in digital and educational contexts.
