Call for Papers - Epistemic stance and evidentiality (theme session)

[Dylan Glynn]

*Theme session - Call for Papers*

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**** Apologies for cross-posting ****

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At the 47th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea

11-14 September 2014 Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland

http://sle2014.eu/

www.dsglynn.univ-paris8.fr/epistemicity.html

*Title*: Epistemic stance and evidentiality: Corpus and discourse 
approaches to subjectivity and intersubjectivity

*Description:*

This theme session focuses on epistemic and evidential expressions for 
stance taking. The approach adopted here will be data-driven, with 
special use of corpora and/or discourse analysis. Modalised utterances, 
such as epistemic and evidential constructions, convey information about 
the speaker's assertions and attitudes in an interactive context. They 
can, therefore, be understood in terms of subjectivity, 
intersubjectivity, and objectivity. The direct subjective expression of 
a speaker's cognitive state (e.g., /I think/, /I believe/, /I know/, 
etc.) and the objective evidential expression of the perceived situation 
(e.g., /it seems/, /it looks, it appears /etc/./) are both fundamental 
to understanding language use and the intersubjectivity of 
communication. Indeed, these three dimensions, the personal 
(subjective), interpersonal (intersubjective), and impersonal 
(objective), play a crucial role in the interaction between the source 
of knowledge/perception and the degree of certainty.

Epistemic and evidential language is central to understanding and 
accounting for the construal and conception of scenes as well as the 
functions and intentions of utterances. The nature of this research 
places it at the crossroads of Cognitive and Functional Linguistics. The 
workshop seeks to advance an already established tradition through 
integrating these cognitive and functional frameworks.

The workshop will build on the work by Benveniste (1971), Langacker 
(1985, 1987), Traugott (1989), Guentchéva (1996),Nuyts (2001), Mushin 
(2001), Brisard (2002), Scheibman (2002), Kärkkäinen (2003), Verhagen 
(2005), Cornillie (2007), Engelbretson (2007), Simon-Vandenbergen & 
Aijmer (2007), Ekberg & Paradis (2009), Hunston (2010), and others (see 
references).

We invite contributions dealing with topics related to epistemicity and 
evidentiality in relation to questions of (inter)subjectivity and 
objectivity in an intra- and interlinguistic context. Examples of 
research areas include, but are not restricted to:

-Assessment / operationalisation of the (inter)subjective dimension of 
epistemicity and evidentiality

-The role of assertion in utterance modalisation

-Constructions and strategies available for speakers in stance taking

-Different meanings of epistemic expressions (e.g., the multiple 
meanings of /think/)

-Cross-linguistic studies in epistemicity and evidentiality

-Interactive framing and construal of stance taking

-Adverbial and adjectival expressions of stance and evidentiality

-Constructions and grammatical patterns of epistemic and evidential 
expressions (e.g., complementation types)

-Discursive patterns of epistemicity and evidentiality

-Prosody and intonation patterns in stance taking

-Grammaticalization in epistemic expressions

-Reported speech, modalisation markers and evidentiality

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*Keywords:*

epictemicity, evidentiality, subjectivity, intersubjectivity,

discourse and conversation analysis, corpus linguistics, usage-based 
linguistics

Cognitive Linguistics, Enunciative Functional Linguistics, Systemic 
Functional Linguistics

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*Instructions for abstract submissions: *

- Short abstracts of 300 words (excluding references) should clearly 
specify the (i) /research question(s)/, (ii) /method and data/, and 
(iii) the (expected) /results./

- Abstracts should be sent to: epistemicitySLE2014 at gmail.com

- Please use a modifiable file format such as .doc, .rtf, or .odt

For further information, please contact the session convenors

Françoise Doro-Mégy: fdoro at free.fr

Dylan Glynn: dglynn at univ-paris8.fr

Karolina Krawczak: karolina at wa.amu.edu.pl

*Dates:*

Deadline: November, 25^th

Notification: November, 30^th

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If accepted, longer abstracts of 500 words (excluding references) will 
need to be submitted separately to the central conference organisers by 
the 15^th January 2014

*References:*

Benveniste, E. 1971 [1958]. Subjectivity in language. In: Emile 
Benveniste, /Problems in General Linguistics/, 223--230. Coral 
Gables: University of Miami Press.

Brisard, F. 2002. /Grounding/: /The Epistemic Footing of Deixis and 
Reference/. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Celle, A. 2009. The intersubjective function of modal adverbs. A 
contrastive English-French study of adverbs in journalistic discourse. 
/Languages in Contrast/, 9, 23-36.

Chafe, W. & Nichols, J. (Eds.). 1986. /Evidentiality: The Linguistic 
Coding of /Epistemology. Norwood: Ablex.

Coltier, D. & Dendale, P. 2004. La modalisation du discours de soi : 
éléments de description sémantique des expressions pour moi, selon moi 
et à mon avis. /Langue Française/, 142, 41-57.

Cornillie, B. 2007. /Evidentiality and epistemic modality in Spanish 
(semi)auxiliaries. A cognitive-functional approach/. Berlin: Mouton de 
Gruyter.

Dendale, P. & Van Bogaert, J. 2012. Réflexions sur les critères de 
définition et les problèmes d'identifications des marqueurs évidentiels 
en français. /Langue Française/ 173, 13-29.

De Saussure, L. 2011. Discourse analysis, cognition and evidentials. 
/Discourse Studies/, 13, 781-788.

Ekberg, L. & Paradis, C. (Eds.). 2009. /Evidentiality in language and 
cognition/. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Englebretson, R. 2007. /Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, 
evaluation, interaction. /Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Guentchéva, Z. (Ed.). 1996. /L'Énonciation médiatisée. Bibliothèque de 
l'information grammaticale/. Louvain: Éditions Peeters.

Hunston, S. 2010. /Corpus Approaches to Evaluation: Phraseology and 
Evaluative Language/. London: Routledge.

Kärkkäinen, E. 2003. /Epistemic Stance in English Conversation. A 
description of its interactional functions, with a focus on I think/. 
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Langacker, R. W. 1985. Observations and speculations on subjectivity. 
In: John Haiman (Ed.), /Iconicity in Syntax/, 109--150. Amsterdam: John 
Benjamins.

Langacker, R. W. 1987. /Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Vol. 1. 
Theoretical Prerequisites/. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Mushin, I. 2001/. Evidentiality and Epistemological Stance. Narrative 
Retelling/. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Nuyts, J. 2001. /Epistemic modality, language, and conceptualization: A 
cognitive-pragmatic perspective/. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Scheibman, J. 2002. /Point of View and Grammar. Structural patterns of 
subjectivity in American English conversation/. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Simon-Vandenbergen, A. M. & Aijmer, K. 2007. /The Semantic Field of 
Modal Certainty: A Corpus-based Study of English Adverbs/. Berlin: 
Walter de Gruyter.

Traugott, E. 1989. On the rise of epistemic meanings in English: An 
example of subjectification in semantic change. /Language/, 65, 31--55.

Verhagen, A. 2005. /Constructions of Intersubjectivity. Discourse, 
Syntax, and Cognition/. Oxford: Oxford University Press.