28.1618, Calls: Pragmatics/UK

Mon Apr 3 19:53:41 UTC 2017

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-1618. Mon Apr 03 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.1618, Calls: Pragmatics/UK

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Helen Aristar-Dry, Robert Coté,
                                   Michael Czerniakowski)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
                       Fund Drive 2017
                   25 years of LINGUIST List!
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Yue Chen <yue at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2017 15:53:28
From: Pilar Blitvich [pgblitvi at uncc.edu]
Subject: Post-civility and ALT-Impoliteness Panel

Full Title: Post-civility and ALT-Impoliteness Panel 

Date: 12-Jul-2017 - 14-Jul-2017
Location: York, United Kingdom 
Contact Person: Pilar Blitvich
Meeting Email: pgblitvi at uncc.edu

Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics 

Call Deadline: 15-Apr-2017 

Meeting Description:

The post truth era characterized, among others, by alternative facts and fake
news has made it evident to the public at large that the definitions of true
and false are clearly subject to discursive struggle. The assumption of truth
is, however, fundamental to society. According to Keyes (2004), society would
crumble if we assumed others were as likely to mislead as they were to tell
the truth. Keys warns us that we are dangerously close to that point.  Not
only notions of truth, but notions of what counts as civility as a necessary
foundation of public discourse (Sellers, 2004) are also under close, societal
scrutiny. 

Crucially for this panel, truth and civility are frequently seen as
intertwined. Recently, a fake news webpage editor argued on a segment of the
US program Sixty Minutes that fake news headlines need to be incendiary to
increase their likelihood of being believed (recent examples are articles
accusing Hilary Clinton of supporting the mutilating and abusing of children,
Barbwire, October 8, 2016). It seems that, in an extremely polarized world,
information rings truer if it constructs those people or ideologies you abhor
in a negative light, in extremely uncivil terms. This has led some to argue
that civility is one of the casualties of the post-truth era.

Although civility/incivility are broader terms than politeness/impoliteness,
we can bring them together by arguing that politeness and impoliteness refer
to the linguistic part of civility and incivility (Garcés-Conejos Blitvich,
2010; Lorenzo Dus, Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Bou-Franch, 2011). 

The aim of this panel is to delve into the reasons behind the massive turn to
impoliteness in public (institutional and non-institutional) discourse, to
understand why it has become such a powerful weapon in the hands of so many,
and how it relates to understandings of truth. 

Panel convenors: Pilar G. Blitvich and Patricia Bou-Franch

You can reach us at:

Pilar G. Blitvich pgblitvi at uncc.edu
Patricia Bou-Franch patricia.bou at uv.es

References:

Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar, 2010. The YouTubification of politics,
impoliteness and polarization. In: Rotimi, T. (Ed.), Handbook of research on
discourse behaviour and digital communication: Language Structures and Social
Interaction. IGI Global, pp. 540–563.

Keyes, Ralph. 2004. The post-truth era: Dishonesty and deception in
contemporary life. Macmillan.

Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria, Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar & Bou-Franch, Patricia
(2011). ''On-line polylogues and impoliteness: The case of postings sent in
response to the Obama Reggaeton YouTube video.'' Journal of Pragmatics 43,
2578-93.

Sellers, Mortimer, 2004. Ideals of public discourse. In: Sistare, C.T. (Ed.),
Civility and its discontents. University Press of Kansas, Kansas, pp. 15–24.

We welcome contributions exploring, but not restricted, to the following
topics:

- Is massive impoliteness in public discourse a new development or has it
always been around? Historical perspectives.
- Discursive struggle over understandings of public impoliteness.
- Internet enabled impoliteness.
- Political/Partisan rhetoric and impoliteness.
- Polarization and impoliteness.
- Fake news and impoliteness. Impoliteness and notions of truth.
- Public impoliteness and its merits
- Multiplicity of news/communication outlets and impoliteness
- Impact of highly publicized impoliteness and strategies for dealing with it.

Abstracts, circa 500 words (including references) to be considered for
inclusion in the panel, should be emailed to the convenors by April,15.
Authors of accepted papers will then be directed to submit their abstracts
individually to the 10th International Symposium on Politeness organizers
(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sympol10 ) by end of April, clearly
marking their abstracts with the name of our panel at the top.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*****************    LINGUIST List Support    *****************
                       Fund Drive 2017
Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
            http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

This year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $70,000. This money
will go to help keep the List running by supporting all of our 
Student Editors for the coming year.

Don't forget to check out the Fund Drive 2017 site!

http://funddrive.linguistlist.org/

We collect donations via the eLinguistics Foundation, a
registered 501(c) Non Profit organization with the federal tax
number 45-4211155. The donations can be offset against your
federal and sometimes your state tax return (U.S. tax payers
only). For more information visit the IRS Web-Site, or contact
your financial advisor.

Many companies also offer a gift matching program. Contact
your human resources department and send us the necessary form.

Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-28-1618	
----------------------------------------------------------