Congist'26: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Crisis

Session

Session 4.3 (Day 2)

D2-S4-A8

14 May 2026, 15:15

A8 (Istanbul University Faculty of Letters)

Conveners

Session 4.3 (Day 2): Dilbilim & Göstergebilim / Linguistics & Semiotics

• Lorenzo Incardona (University of Bologna)

Decoding Crisis: Divine Wrath and the Semiotics of Governance in Mursili II’s Plague Prayers (D2-S4-A8)

Zehra Yedidal (Bilkent University)

14/05/2026, 15:15

Oral Presentation

This paper employs a discourse-analytic framework to investigate the construction and management of crisis in the Hittite Empire. Moving beyond a purely historical account, it argues that crises—as best seen in the devastating 20-year plague that began c. 1322 BCE—were not merely catastrophic events but were processed as complex signs within a pervasive cultural discourse of divine-human...

Crisis of Sign in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (1992) (D2-S4-A8)

Murat Kabak (İstanbul Kültür University)

14/05/2026, 15:35

Oral Presentation

Responding to a dual crisis of semiotics, and accelerating computer technologies, William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (1992) offer a messianic vision of coding and computer language in the face of the disintegration of stable relationship between the signifier and the signified. The virtual worlds in both texts evoke a fantasy of primordial unity, offering...

Language in Crisis? Language Politics in Post-Soviet Russia: A Comparative Study of Tatar, Bashkir, and Sakha (D2-S4-A8)

Alina Minsafina (Istanbul University)

14/05/2026, 15:55

Oral Presentation

During the period of post-Soviet transformation, language policy in the Russian Federation is characterized by a tension between centralized governance and regional autonomy. The article investigates the trajectories of three Turkic languages – Tatar, Bashkir, and Sakha or Yakut) – in navigating national language maintenance within the context of evolving federal regulations. Challenging the...