21.3798, Calls: Disc Analysis, Pragmatics/United Kingdom

Tue Sep 28 16:07:18 UTC 2010

LINGUIST List: Vol-21-3798. Tue Sep 28 2010. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 21.3798, Calls: Disc Analysis, Pragmatics/United Kingdom

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1)
Date: 28-Sep-2010
From: Liesbeth Degand < liesbeth.degand at uclouvain.be >
Subject: Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:05:52
From: Liesbeth Degand [liesbeth.degand at uclouvain.be]
Subject: Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers

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Full Title: Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers 

Date: 03-Jul-2011 - 08-Jul-2011
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom 
Contact Person: Liesbeth Degand
Meeting Email: liesbeth.degand at uclouvain.be

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics 

Call Deadline: 06-Oct-2010 

Meeting Description:

The panel on 'Modal particles and discourse markers: two sides of a same 
coin?' will be organized during the 12th International Pragmatics conference 
in Manchester (July, 3rd - 8th, 2011).

Convenors: Bert Cornillie (Leuven), Liesbeth Degand (Louvain-la-Neuve) 
and Paola Pietrandrea (Rome)
Discussant: Elizabeth Traugott (Stanford)

The aim of the panel is to define the class of modal particles and to set up a
classification of its members. Therefore, we will investigate the intersection
between modal particles and discourse markers (i.e. including relational 
markers on a local level and structure markers on a macro level) and 
discuss whether or not it is possible to draw a line between these two types 
of linguistic expressions. 
Are modal particles a subtype of discourse markers, or should both be seen 
as subcategories of the more encompassing pragmatic markers (Fraser 
1996), or discourse particles (Fischer 2006)? If the latter is the case, what is 
it that distinguishes discourse markers from modal particles? Clearly, both 
linguistic expressions are multifunctional and 'function in cognitive, 
expressive, social, and textual domains' (Schiffrin 2001: 54).  But modal 
particles have often been described in a more restricted sense, i.e. as 
specifying 'the relationship between speaker and hearer' (Hansen 1998: 42) 
or 'to signal one's understanding of what the situation is all about with 
respect to the argumentative relations built up in the current situation.' 
(Fischer 2007: 47). On the other hand, discourse markers too 'are related 
to the speech situation [and] (...) express attitudes and emotions' 
(Bazzanella 2006: 449). 'The study of discourse markers is therefore a part 
of the study of modal and metatextual comment' (Lewis 2006, 43).  
Distinctions between modal particles and discourse markers thus become 
hard to maintain. As noted by Traugott (2007: 141), 'One approach is to 
distinguish sharply between discourse markers and modal particles on both 
formal and discourse functional grounds (?). Another is to make no 
difference between the terms, apparently on discourse pragmatic grounds, 
while recognizing that 'formally' clause-internal position is the modal particle 
position.' The panel aims at disentangling the functions of modal particles 
and discourse markers, both in synchrony and diachrony, in speech and 
writing, and cross-linguistically. We envisage a one day workshop with 5 to 
8 paper slots of 30 minutes and a discussion slot lead by Elizabeth Traugott 
(Stanford). 

Call For Papers

We welcome submissions to our panel on 'Modal particles and Discourse 
markers: two sides of the same coin?' at the next IPrA conference in 
Manchester. If you are interested, please send a one-page abstract  to
liesbeth.degand at uclouvain.be. Abstracts for internal reviewing will be due 
Oct. 6th.

Presentations are invited on the following topics/questions: 
-Can MPs be seen as a subclass of DMs? 
-Are modal particles language-specific, and if so, what are their functional 
and formal equivalents in 'modal particle free' languages? 
-If they are completely different, what makes them different? 
-Where does the modal content of MPs come from, and how is it expressed 
in DMs? 
-Is there a division of labor between MPs and DMs? 
-Is there any interaction between MPs and DMs? 
-Is it possible to maintain a cross-linguistic distinction between modal
particles and discourse markers, both on a formal and on a function level? 
-Do MPs and DMs show similar or diverging paths of diachronic evolution?

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