Keynote Speakers for the conference include leading researchers on Turkic, Iranian, and Mongolian linguistics, as well as second language acquisition:

	Jason Rothman, Professor of Literacy and Multilingualism, University of Reading Jason Rothman is a full professor in the Department of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading (UK) and Adjunct Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Tromsø (Norway). He is executive editor of the journal Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism as well as editor of one of the oldest and most prestigious book series in bilingualism, Studies in Bilingualism. He obtained his PhD from UCLA in 2005 and was previously an assistant professor at the University of Iowa and then an associate professor at the University of Florida. He has authored well over 100 peer reviewed articles, 8 edited books and has a co-authored monograph on adult third language acquisition in press to be published by Cambridge University Press. Prof Rothman is a member of various research centres/groups around the world, including the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN, U of Reading), the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (U of Reading), AcqVA (Acquisition, Variation and Attrition group (Norway UiT, NTNU), Centre for Language Sciences, (Penn State), ARC Centre for Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (Macquarie University, Australia), CLUL Centro de Linguistic da Lisboa ( U of Lisboa, Portugal), among others. Prof. Rothman’s research examines the cognitive processes of adult second language acquisition (SLA), adult multilingual (L3/Ln) acquisition, heritage language bilingualism, L1 attrition, child first language acquisition, language processing in adults (monolingual and bilingual), neurolinguistics, links between language and domain general cognition, secondary cognitive effects of bi-multilingualism and syntactic theory. He is currently director of the University of Reading’s Psycho- and Neuro-linguistics lab where methodologies including behavioural techniques, reaction time, eye-tracking, EEG/ERP and (f)MRI are combined. His main research program investigates the acquisition and processing of complex syntax and semantics.
	Vera Gribanova, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Stanford University Vera Gribanova is Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. Her research explores the principles that connect word and sentence structure to (morpho-)phonological structure, primarily in Slavic (Russian, Bulgarian) and Turkic (Uzbek). She specializes in the study of ellipsis, in particular the interaction of syntactic movement operations (phrasal and head movement) with elliptical structures. Her work on Uzbek revolves around the range of possible clausal structures in the language, and the case marking and agreement properties in these different clausal environments.
	Pollet Samvelian, Professor of Linguistics, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France Pollet Samvelian is a Professor of Linguistics at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, France. She is also the head of research unit "Mondes iranien et indien" (Iranian and Indian Worlds) at the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) and a member of the French National board of Universities for Linguistics . Prof. Samvelian‘s research interests include the syntax, morphology and lexicon of Iranian languages (with a special focus on Persian), linguistic typology, formal approaches to morphology and syntax, quantitative approaches to syntax, and Persian grammar. Her two current research projects include Languages, Dialects and Isoglosses of the Iran-Caucasus-Anatolia-Near-East Area and Developing Language Resources for Iranian Languages.
	Mehmet Yavaş, Professor of Linguistics, Florida International University Mehmet Yavaş is a Professor of Linguistics at Florida International University. Prof. Yavaş conducts research in applied phonetics and phonology and his work addresses issues in typical phonological acquisition, phonological disorders, bilingual phonological development in children, and adult interlanguage phonology. He has worked on the acquisition of English, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, German, and Turkish, as well as Spanish-English and Haitian Creole-English bilingual children. His three current research projects include Acquisition of English laterals by early Spanish-English bilinguals, VOT patterns in bilingual (Spanish-English) phonological development, and the correlation of differential degrees of success in L2 phonological targets with sonority / degree of stricture. His latest publications include Unusual Productions in Phonology: Universals and Language-Specific Considerations (2015, Psychology Press), Applied English Phonology, 3rd Edition (2016, Wiley-Blackwell); He is the lead editor of Romance-Germanic Bilingual Phonology (2017, Equinox).
	Rex Sprouse, Professor of Second Languages Studies, Indiana University Rex Sprouse is Professor of Second Languages Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, as well as the Director of Graduate Studies in the SLS department. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics and Germanic Studies. He holds a B.A. in comparative literature and German from Hiram College, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Germanic linguistics from Princeton University. His research interests include the structure, history, and acquisition of European and Turkic languages, syntactic theory, and language change. He is best known for proposing (with Bonnie D. Schwartz, University of Hawaii) the Full Transfer/Full Access hypothesis and for pioneering (with Laurent Dekydtspotter, Indiana University) research on the syntax-semantics interface in English-French interlanguage.

There will also be a number of other invited speakers, selected among linguists working on Central Asian languages and linguistics.