Syntactic Variation and Emerging Genres - Section of the Annual Meeting of the German Linguistics Society

[Heidrun Dorgeloh]

Date: 28-Feb-2007 - 02-Mar-2007
Location: Siegen, Germany
Contact Person: Anja Wanner
Meeting Email: awanner at wisc.edu
Web Site: 
<http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/%7Eawanner/dgfs2007.htm>http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/~awanner/dgfs2007.htm 


Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics

Call Deadline: 31-Jul-2006

Meeting Description:

This workshop, co-organized by Heidrun Dorgeloh (Heinrich-Heine-University
Duesseldorf) and Anja Wanner (University of Wisconsin-Madison), is an integral
part of the Annual Meeting of the German Linguistics Society (DGfS). It will
explore the question of how syntactic variation is linked to the context of
genre and, more specifically, how such variation can be studied with view to
contexts of constantly changing and emerging genres.
The conference includes plenary talks and parallel thematic workshops.

Workshop description:

Modern genre theory emphasizes the importance of genres as typified utterances
that share a set of communicative purposes, emerging and developing through
repeated use in similar situations. For some registers a trend towards
''genrefication'' has been observed. Cases in point are the standardization of
review processes and other performance assessments in academic and
administrative discourse, or the emergence of new patterns of style in
newspaper language.

We would like to explore in this workshop the question of how syntactic
variation is linked to the context of genre and, more specifically, how such
variation can be studied with view to contexts of constantly changing and
emerging genres. How and when do new genres emerge, and how does syntactic
variation reflect or contribute to that process?

Studies that fall into the scope of this proposal include:
- sociolinguistic studies of different registers
- corpus studies of emerging genres or constructions
- studies focusing on the link between syntax and pragmatics

We primarily invite empirical work, but there should also be space for
discussing more theoretical issues, in particular of how to incorporate
variation according to genre into theories of 
grammar. We hope to bring together
insights from different approaches to syntactic variation (corpus linguistics,
construction grammar, historical and synchronic pragmatics, genre theory),
unified by the connection they make between linguistic form and communicative
purpose.

One-page abstracts (max. 500 words) should be 
sent by e-mail to the coordinators
by July 31, 2006 (as attachment in .doc or .pdf format). Contributors should
indicate their name, affiliation, e-mail address under which they can be
contacted over the summer, and their DGfS membership status. Please send your
abstract to both coordinators at the same time
(dorgeloh at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de and awanner at wisc.edu).

For more information and for updates please visit the workshop website:
<http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/%7Eawanner/dgfs2007.htm>http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/~awanner/dgfs2007.htm 


--------------------
Dr. Heidrun Dorgeloh
Institut fuer englische Sprachwissenschaft - Anglistik III
Universitaet Duesseldorf
Universitaetsstr.1, D-40229 Düsseldorf
Tel.49-(0)211-81-13774, Fax -13026