NUMBES Symposium: Numbers, Motion and Multimodality | Representing abstract concepts through metaphor

Numbers, Motion and Multimodality is an interdisciplinary symposium that explores how abstract concepts are developed, represented and communicated. Adopting a multimodal and cross-linguistic perspective, the event highlights the role of embodied cognition and cultural variation in shaping how we think and talk about abstract concepts, specifically numbers.

Numerical information in language plays a key role in how we interpret and navigate the world. From news and science to policy and personal decisions, numbers shape how information is presented and understood. Common expressions like a large amount or skyrocketing prices may seem straightforward, but their framing can strongly influence interpretation. Despite their prevalence, we still lack a clear understanding of how abstract concepts are conceptualized across languages and cultures. Research in this area remains limited, leaving key questions about the cognitive and cultural aspects unanswered.

The NUMBES Symposium will bring together linguists, psychologists, cognitive scientists and related researchers interested in the connections between thinking, language, gesture and culture in the expression of abstract concepts, like numbers. Its goal is to encourage reflection and discussion on how abstract concepts are understood and expressed through language. A key focus of the NUMBES Symposium is on the social implications of numerical conceptualization, that is, how our understanding and expression of numbers may influence education and social inclusion.

Numbers, Motion and Multimodality will be held at Sub Up Hostel in Cabo de Palos (Murcia, Spain). It will span two days and include eight invited talks (of approximately one hour each). In addition, the symposium will feature poster sessions open to a wide range of contributions, including experimental studies, corpus analyses, theoretical work and applied research.

The call for poster proposals will open on December 1, 2025, and close on February 15, 2026. The language of the NUMBES Symposium will be English. We particularly encourage submissions that engage with themes such as:

• Multimodal approaches to metaphor and number conceptualisation
• Embodiment and numerical cognition
• Social implications and the use of metaphor
• Experimental approaches to numerical conceptualization
• Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences in number concepts
• Numerical cognition in educational setting
• Social impact of number conceptualization
• Data communication and numerical integration in discourse
• Spatial-Numerical association
• Translation studies on metaphor, motion or number
• General magnitude systems: “A Theory of Magnitude”

 For any inquiries, please contact the organizers at: numbes@um.es

Plenary speakers

Half a Century in Motion: Lessons Learned, Roads Ahead. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (University of Zaragoza)

Understanding Numbers Through Metaphors. Javier Valenzuela (University of Murcia)

Making Numbers Meaningful: Multimodality in Numerical Communication. Bodo Winter (University of Birmingham)

Quantification and Motion in the Multimodal Representation of Migration. Christopher Hart (Lancaster University)

Before Number: Evolution, Human Symbolic Reference, and Cultural Preoccupations — or What Else is Needed for the Emergence of Exact Quantification? Rafael Núñez (University of California San Diego)

Gesture in Teaching and Learning Interactions: Representing, Highlighting and Linking Ideas. Martha Alibali (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Social media

To stay up to date with all the latest news, follow us on Instagram (@numbes2026)!

Sponsors

This symposium has been funded by the Faculty of Arts at the University of Murcia.

The symposium is part of project 22582/JLI/24, funded by FSRM/10.13039/100007801.

El simposio es parte de la actuación 22582/JLI/24, financiada por FSRM/10.13039/100007801.

The XIV SCOLA (AELCO) International Conference will take place at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Murcia. SCOLA 2026 offers a space for academic exchange that reflects the growing relevance of multimodal studies. Cognitive linguistics, by placing language as a phenomenon linked to cognitive processes, responds to a social and educational demand, providing tools, intercultural, technological, and pedagogical contexts. Its interdisciplinary nature fosters dialogue between linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, thus ensuring an impact both in the field of research and in the training of professionals.

The call for proposals will open on November 3, 2025, and close on January 20, 2026, for thematic workshops, and on February 13, 2026, for oral presentations and posters (extended deadlines). Presentations may address any topic within the field of Cognitive Linguistics, including, but not limited to, the following:

- Cognitive grammar
- Construction grammar
- Cognitive linguistics applied to language acquisition/learning and teaching
- Cognitive linguistics and corpus linguistics
- Cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis
- Cognitive linguistics and multimodal communication
- Conceptual metaphor and metonymy
- Cognitive pragmatics
- Linguistic variation and change
- Cognitive linguistics, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence
- Cognitive studies of translation and interpretation

Plenary speakers

Metaphorical competence in multicultural education contexts. Ana Piquer Píriz (University of Extremadura)

Escuchando al cuerpo: Indicadores psicofisiolóficos de emoción y rendimiento en traducción e interpretación. Ana Rojo López (University of Murcia)

Multimodal constructions in political communication. Christopher Hart (Lancaster University)

Face-to-face language use and processing. Judith Holler (Radboud University/MPI for Psycholinguistics)

Social media

To stay up to date with all the latest news, follow us on X (@aelco2026) or Bluesky (@aelco2026.bsky.social)!

Sponsors

This Congress 22876/OC/25 is funded by the Regional Ministry of the Environment, Universities, Research, and Mar Menor, through the Seneca Foundation-Science and Technology Agency of the Region of Murcia, under the Regional Program for Mobility, Collaboration, and Knowledge Exchange “Jiménez de la Espada.”