31.687, Calls: Pragmatics/Denmark

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-687. Mon Feb 17 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.687, Calls: Pragmatics/Denmark

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Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 15:44:23
From: Simon Borchmann [sub at ruc.dk]
Subject: Language in Action

 
Full Title: Language in Action 

Date: 12-Nov-2020 - 13-Nov-2020
Location: Roskilde University, Denmark 
Contact Person: Simon Borchmann
Meeting Email: sub at ruc.dk
Web Site: https://ruc.dk/en/research-group/language-culture-and-cognition 

Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics 

Call Deadline: 07-Jul-2020 

Meeting Description:

Malinowski's term 'language in action' implies that language is embedded in
courses of non-linguistic, non-communicative actions attuned to a continuously
changing environment, that the basic purpose of language is to contribute to
the completion of such courses, and that regularities in language use must be
explained and analyzed in terms of this purpose. 

Saussure's idea of languages as autonomous systems entailed a separation of
language and action and thereby made it irrelevant to explain and analyze
linguistic units and regularities in terms of human activity. Early on, this
separation was called into question from an anthropological point of view: ”It
is nothing short of absurd to assume (...) that grammar has grown up as a sort
of wild weed of human faculties for no purpose whatever except for its own
existence” (Malinowski, 1969/1923: 327). According to Malinowski, grammatical
categories must be a ”reflection of the makeshift, unsystematic, practical
outlook” imposed by our “struggle for existence” (ibid. 328). Malinowski’s
alternative to Saussure’s linguistic object is ‘language in action’ defined as
“language spoken by a group of natives engaged in one of their fundamental
pursuits in search of subsistence - hunting, fishing, tilling the soil”
(Ibid.: 311-312), and described as “full of technical terms, short references
to surroundings, rapid indications of change'' (ibid. 312). ‘Language in
action’, thus, implies that language is embedded in courses of non-linguistic,
non-communicative actions attuned to a continuously changing environment, that
the basic purpose of language is to contribute to the completion of such
courses, and that regularities in language use must be explained and analyzed
in terms of this purpose. 

The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers – linguists,
psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists and others - who study language
in action. The aim is partly to discuss and develop pragmatic, semantic and
grammatical concepts and analyses of language in action, partly to present the
results of studies that can form the basis for such developments.


Call for Papers: 

All papers that contribute to the description of the relation between
linguistic and non-linguistic, non-communicative actions are welcome. The only
specific requirement is that theoretical issues are based on observations of
language use - spoken and / or written - embedded in non-linguistic,
non-communicative courses of actions, and that the presentations include
examples of material collected in such studies.

Within this scope, there are a number of issues that can be addressed,
including:
- How do we classify language in action?
- Which tasks does language serve in courses of non-communicative actions?
- How are non-linguistic, non-communicative actions coordinated by means of
linguistic actions?
- How do listeners and / or readers understand language in action?
- What are the cultures of procedures? How do practitioners relate to written
procedures?
- What characterises successful language in action?
- How do linguistic actions support the acquisition of non-linguistic skills
and abilities?
- How can a description of language in action contribute to a theory of
language evolution?
- How can a description of language in action contribute to a theory of
language development?
- How do linguistic structures – paradigmatic and syntagmatic - arise and
change in language in action?
- Which semantic structures characterize language in action?
- What is the information structure of language in action?
- What is the grammar of language in action, e.g. short forms?

Deadlines: 
Abstracts of 300 words with full author names and affiliations should be sent
to sub at ruc.dk by July 7, 2020. Acceptance notification will be sent by August
7, 2020. 

Further information: 
https://ruc.dk/en/research-group/language-culture-and-cognition

References: 
Malinowski, B. (1969/1923) The problem of meaning in primitive languages. In:
Ogden, C.K., Richards, I.A. (Eds.) The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the
Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism, eighth ed.
Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, pp. 296–336.




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LINGUIST List: Vol-31-687	
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