International workshop:

sound affects

Voice, language and emotion

Monday 27th April 2026, Campus Biotech, Geneva

The way we say the words we say helps us convey the meanings we intend. The way words are ‘chunked’ into intonation phrases conveys information about grammatical structure and constituency relations, and within these phrases, differences in the relative amplitude, length and pitch of syllables help direct a listener’s attention to the most salient points of a message. But as well as conveying linguistic information, prosodic elements such as pitch, stress and intonation convey information about a speaker’s affective state. This one-day workshop focusses on the latter group of cases: on the way the voice is used to communicate affect and emotion, even – in some cases – betraying the emotional state of the speaker, perhaps against their wishes.

We invite applications from speakers for a one-day workshop in Geneva which will explore all aspects of voice, language and emotion. The workshop will offer participants the possibility of exploring the various ways that human (and, perhaps, non-human) vocal expression shapes affect and emotion.

The aims of the event are genuinely interdisciplinary, and applications are invited from:

• Affective scientists
• Linguists
• Philosophers
• Neuroscientists
• Artists
• Speech therapists
• Mental health professionals

And professionals from other relevant domains.

Papers are invited for 20 min. talks (+10 min. Q&A) in any of the areas at the intersection of voice, language and emotion as described above.  Please submit your title and abstract (max 300 words including references) using the link provided below before 31^st December 2025.

We hope to offer funding (for travel & accommodation) for two or three participants to attend the workshop. Applicants in the call for papers will be selected in line with the SNSF’s policy to prioritise female and early-career-researchers. Please mention this in your application if it applies to you.

PAPER SUBMISSION

IMPORTANT DATES:

Documentation in PDF

This workshop is organized by Prof. Didier Grandjean (University of Geneva) and Prof. Tim Wharton (University of Brighton) in collaboration with the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences (CISA) of the University of Geneva. The organizers thank the funding support from CISA, the Leverhulme Trust RPG-2025-198, and the SNSF.