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<p>Dear colleagues,</p>
<p>We're pleased to announce that the 40th International LAUD
Symposium will take place in Landau/Pfalz, Germany, from 25 to 28
August 2025 and that the Call for Papers is now open.</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ksw.rptu.de/abt/anglistik/forschung-projekte/current-projects/40th-international-laud-symposium">https://ksw.rptu.de/abt/anglistik/forschung-projekte/current-projects/40th-international-laud-symposium</a></p>
<p>The 2025 theme is "Climate-change Discourse: Language in media
representations, public debates, science and science
communication" and we intend to run three parallel sessions
(presentation time: 25 minutes, plus 10 minutes for discussion).<br>
</p>
<p>Theme session 1:
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</xml><![endif]--><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Climate change in media
discourse and public
debates</span></p>
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Theme session 2: Climate change
in scientific discourse and science communication</span></p>
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Theme session 3: Animal-rights
discourse</span></p>
For more information on the symposium and the theme sessions, please
see our website or the description below.<br>
<br>
We invite you to submit abstracts by 11 November 2024.
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Please submit your abstract as
a pdf file (max. 300 words, excluding references) to:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laud2025@rptu.de">laud2025@rptu.de</a><br>
</span></p>
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Please indicate your
affiliation above the abstract and which of the theme sessions
you would like to participate in.</span></p>
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">We're delighted that the
following plenary speakers have accepted our invitation:</span></p>
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">Jonathan Charteris-Black |
University of Bristol, UK<br>
<br>
Kjersti Fløttum | University of Bergen, Norway<br>
<br>
Martin Reisigl | University of Vienna, Austria<br>
<br>
Arran Stibbe | University of Gloucestershire, UK</span></p>
<p><span
style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US" lang="EN-GB">For more details on the venue,
accommodation, etc., please consult our website: </span><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ksw.rptu.de/abt/anglistik/forschung-projekte/current-projects/40th-international-laud-symposium">https://ksw.rptu.de/abt/anglistik/forschung-projekte/current-projects/40th-international-laud-symposium</a></p>
<p>Thanks and best wishes,</p>
<p>Frank Polzenhagen, Monika Reif and Neele Mundt (conference
organisers)</p>
<p>RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau<br>
</p>
<p>____ <br>
</p>
<p><b>Synopsis</b></p>
<p>Coping with the consequences of human-induced climate change and
preserving the basis of existence on our planet are urgent, if not
the most urgent, challenges of our time. In recent years, they
have become a central topic of discourse in the media and society,
driven in particular by mass movements such as Fridays for Future
and campaigns by climate activist groups with high public impact.
Since the topic reached the discursive agenda on a larger scale
three decades ago, environmental awareness and knowledge of
climate change processes have undoubtedly increased considerably
among broad sections of the population, albeit to different
extents in various regions of the world. On the other hand, in
many countries we are currently witnessing a decline in both
political effort and support from broad sections of the population
for measures in this regard. In view of numerous other crises, the
problem of climate change has lost much of its urgency for many.
The form and speed of the necessary transformations are being met
with widespread anxieties. At the same time, we witness an
increasing discursive presence of climate change sceptics and
climate change deniers, with representatives in extremely
prominent and powerful positions. <br>
</p>
<p>One of the most fundamental problems, however, is the drastic
global disparity with respect to both the responsibility for the
present condition and the availability of resources required for
environmentally friendly transformations. The so-called “global
North” has brought about the current collapse through its
inconsiderate exploitation of nature since the industrial
revolution. The so-called “global South”, whose share of the
historical responsibility for the present condition is infinitely
smaller, is the region most affected by climate change. At the
same time, it is the region that is now expected to refrain from
and not to repeat the practices of exploitation that made the
global North economically prosperous and dominant, being, however,
compared to the global North, the region seriously disadvantages
in terms of financial resources to do so. It is a truism that the
challenges of climate change can only be met in a joint global
effort; however, such fundamental inequalities seriously undermine
this endeavour. <br>
These conditions and developments call for continuous
reconsiderations of efforts, in particular context-sensitive
measures, promoting environmentally friendly policies and
lifestyles.<br>
</p>
<p>The topic became the subject of linguistic research on a broader
scale through the so-called ecolinguistics of the 1990s (e.g. Fill
& Mühlhäusler 2001; Stibbe 2021). From the outset, several
strands were opened up in this research field, which have been
pursued ever since; e.g.:<br>
• How is ecological knowledge inscribed in languages (e.g.
Maffi 2001)?<br>
• How are non-ecological positions and ideologies (e.g.
so-called speciesism) inscribed in language (e.g. Stibbe 2012)?<br>
• Critical analysis of political and media discourses on
ecological issues (e.g. Fløttum 2017; Reisigl 2020)<br>
• Analysis of the language of climate science and
climate-science communication (e.g. Nerlich, Koteyko & Brown
2010; Janich 2022)<br>
</p>
<p>In this field, cognitive-linguistic approaches play a central
role, in particular recourse to conceptual-metaphor theory and the
notion of framing (e.g. the work by Nerlich, Goatly, Semino,
Deignan and Stibbe). These cognitive-linguistic concepts have also
been applied in science-communication manuals (e.g. Corner, Shaw
& Clarke 2018). <br>
</p>
<p>The 40th LAUD Symposium aims to address this topic from a
linguistic perspective, especially in light of the declining
public resonance of the climate change issue mentioned above. The
wider context of the conference is critical (esp. cognitive)
discourse analysis (e.g. Hart 2017, 2019; Charteris-Black 2018)
and science communication. The aim is not just to take stock, but
rather to explore possible approaches to counteract the widespread
public fatigue, anxiety and scepticism surrounding this
existential matter, and to encourage societies to rethink and
change entrenched behavioural patterns. </p>
<p>Taking up the strands of ecolinguistic research outlined above,
the symposium will be organised into the following three <b>theme
sessions</b>.<br>
</p>
<p>(1) Climate change in media discourse and public debates</p>
<p>Contributions to this theme session should explore patterns in
the public discourse and media coverage of environmental issues;
e.g.: <br>
• (Cognitive) critical-discourse studies on metaphors,
scenarios and frames in media representations and public debates<br>
• Studies on the multimodal representations of climate change<br>
• (Cognitive) critical-discourse studies on changes and
continuities in media representations and public debates over time
and in various parts of the world <br>
• Studies on the language of climate activists<br>
• (Cognitive) critical-discourse studies on the language of
climate-change sceptics and deniers<br>
• Studies on the public perception and the impact of media
discourse on lifestyles<br>
</p>
<p>(2) Climate change in scientific discourse and science
communication</p>
<p>Contributions to this theme session should explore ways of how
scientific knowledge on climate change can be presented and
disseminated in public discourse; e.g.:<br>
• Studies on heuristic metaphors in climate science<br>
• Studies on strategies and models in science communication<br>
• Studies on the impact of science communication<br>
• Studies on the representation of climate change in
educational material and public-awareness campaigns<br>
• Studies on the public perception and the impact of science
communication on lifestyles<br>
• Studies on the interrelatedness of climate change and other
crisis phenomena<br>
</p>
<p>(3) Animal-rights discourse</p>
<p>This theme session will explore how the protection of animal
rights can contribute to an environmentally-friendly agenda; e.g.:
<br>
• Studies on the interrelatedness of climate change and animal
welfare<br>
• Studies on sociological and ethical aspects of animal
consumption in consumer societies<br>
• Studies on the representation of animal rights in the media
and in public discourse<br>
• Studies on the multimodal representation of animal rights<br>
• Studies on the language of animal-rights activists<br>
</p>
<p>References:<br>
Charteris-Black, Jonathan (2018). Analysing political speeches:
Rhetoric, discourse and metaphor. 2nd. ed. Basingstoke & New
York: Palgrave-MacMillan<br>
Corner, Adam, Chris Shaw & Jamie Clarke. (2018). Principles
for effective communication and public engagement on climate
change: A handbook for IPCC authors. Oxford: Climate Outreach<br>
Deignan, Alice, Elena Semino & Shirley-Ann Paul (2019).
Metaphors of climate science in three genres: Research articles,
educational texts, and secondary school student talk. Applied
Linguistics 40(2): 379-403<br>
Fill, Alwin & Peter Mühlhäusler (eds.) (2001). The
Ecolinguistics reader: Language, ecology, and environment. London
and New York: Continuum<br>
Fløttum, Kjersti (ed.) (2017). The role of language in the climate
change debate. London: Routledge<br>
Hart, Christopher (2017). Cognitive linguistic critical discourse
studies. In: John Flowerdew & John Richardson (eds.), The
Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies. London:
Routledge<br>
Hart, Christopher (2019). Cognitive linguistic approaches to text
and discourse: From poetics to politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press<br>
Janich, Nina (2022). Warum braucht die Welt Wissenschaft?
Wissenschaftskommunikation im Klimawandeldiskurs zwischen Diagnose
und Prognose. Deutsche Sprache. Zeitschrift für Theorie, Praxis,
Dokumentation 50(3.22), 214-233. [Special issue “Diskursive
Dynamiken“, ed. by Janja Polajnar]<br>
Maffi, Luisa (ed.) (2001). On biocultural diversity: Linking
language, knowledge, and the environment. Washington, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press<br>
Nerlich, Brigitte, Nelya Koteyko & Brian Brown (2010). Theory
and language of climate change communication. WIREs Climate Change
1(1): 97-110. [Update 2015 in Volume 6(6): 613-626]<br>
Reisigl, Martin (ed.) (2020). Klima in der Krise. Kontroversen,
Widersprüche und Herausforderungen in Diskursen über Klimawandel.
Duisburg: uvrr<br>
Stibbe, Arran (2012). Animals erased. Discourse, ecology, and
reconnection with the natural world. Middleton, Conn.: Wesleyan
University Press <br>
Stibbe, Arran (2021 [2015]). Ecolinguistics: Language, ecology and
the stories we live by. London: Routledge<br>
<br>
<br>
</p>
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