31.2756, Calls: Pragmatics/Switzerland

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2756. Wed Sep 09 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.2756, Calls: Pragmatics/Switzerland

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Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2020 11:44:27
From: Sandrine Zufferey [sandrine.zufferey at rom.unibe.ch]
Subject: Individual differences in pragmatics

 
Full Title: Individual differences in pragmatics 

Date: 27-Jun-2021 - 02-Jul-2021
Location: Winterthur, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Sandrine Zufferey
Meeting Email: sandrine.zufferey at rom.unibe.ch

Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics 

Call Deadline: 25-Oct-2020 

Meeting Description:

Speakers vary in their ability to use and interpret language in social
contexts. However, the existence of individual differences represents “an
inconvenient truth” (Kidd, Donnelly & Christiansen, 2018) for experimental
approaches to the study of pragmatic competence. While individual variability
is undeniable, its systematic investigation is far from being attained. This
panel explores the question of individual differences in pragmatics and its
theoretical and methodological implications. 

Research on individual differences plays a crucial role in identifying the
social and cognitive skills underpinning pragmatics. Much research has focused
on the role of cognitive skills - e.g., structural language, Theory of Mind,
executive functions - but the contribution of social factors, such as
education or socioeconomic background, is still underexplored (but see Di
Paola et al., 2016; Taguchi, 2012; Zufferey & Gygax, 2020).

Furthermore, research on variation in the mechanisms of pragmatic processing
raises foundational issues on the very nature of pragmatics, including the
question of whether pragmatics is a unitary system. For instance, to interpret
the variation in findings with ASD population, Andrés-Roqueta and Katsos
(2017) put forward a distinction between ‘linguistic-pragmatics’ and
‘social-pragmatics’. While the former would rely on structural language and
competence with pragmatic norms, the latter would also require Theory of Mind
abilities. 
Finally, the study of individual differences opens up important methodological
challenges. Crucially, it highlights the need to devise tests of pragmatic and
related skills that are suitable for correlational research, yielding
sufficient variance while tapping specific abilities (for a discussion, see
Matthews, Biney & Abbott-Smith, 2018). 

The panel is organised by Diana Mazzarella and Sandrine Zufferey. It aims to
bring together linguists and psychologists whose work on the socio-cognitive
foundations of pragmatic skills can shed new light on the interplay between
these theoretical and methodological issues.


Call for Papers: 

All submissions addressing the topic of individual differences of pragmatic
competence in children, learners and adults are welcome. 

Abstracts (250-500 words) must be submitted directly on the IPrA website
(https://ipra2021.exordo.com/login), specifying that the submission is
intended for the “Individual difference in pragmatics” panel. For more
detailed submission instructions, please visit
https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP.




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LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2756	
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