[EDLING:970] CFP: The Pragmatics of CMC

[Tamara Warhol]

Via the Linguist List . . .

Message 1: The Pragmatics of Computer-Mediated Communication
Date: 09-Sep-2005
From: Susan Herring <herringindiana.edu>
Subject: The Pragmatics of Computer-Mediated Communication


Call for Papers

THE PRAGMATICS OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

Editors:
Susan Herring (Indiana University, USA)
Dieter Stein (Heinrich Heine University, Germany)
Tuija Virtanen (Abo Akademi University, Finland)


Although many aspects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) have
already been addressed by scholars from a number of disciplines, the
pragmatic dimensions of CMC have yet to be fully accounted for. By
'pragmatic' we intend a range of phenomena from the narrower sense of
presupposition and speech act conditions, to sociopragmatic aspects
such as politeness and genre, all of which are concerned in some way
with language use and (social) meaning. Pragmatic effects are found
in CMC modes that include instant messaging, SMS, weblogs, email,
web forums, and experimental and graphical virtual worlds. They are
produced by adults and adolescents (and sometimes children) at an
increasing rate in a rapidly growing number of languages around the
world.

We invite submissions for an edited book on the Pragmatics of
Computer-Mediated Communication, to be published by John Benjamins
Publishing Company. Suggested topics include:

- Gricean maxims and implicatures
- Presuppositions and indirectness
- The use of greetings, openings and closings
- Speech acts and performativity
- Naming and referring conventions
- Cohesion and coherence
- Applications of politeness theory to CMC
- Analysis of new genres or genre-related features
- Culture-specific effects
- etc.

Scholars working within diverse theoretical paradigms are encouraged
to submit current research that addresses computer-mediated
communication from pragmatic perspectives. The overarching goal of
the book is to forge ties with existing pragmatic theory as regards
language use phenomena in CMC, as well as to advance theoretical
understanding of pragmatics through integrating technological
mediation as an explanatory variable for language use.

Submission Guidelines:

Potential contributors should email a 500-700 word proposal OR a
complete manuscript draft if one is available (no partial drafts,
please), including a title, and describing the topic, CMC data,
analytical methods, and (preliminary) findings or observations,
to all three editors by November 1, 2005. Complete, polished
versions of accepted proposals or drafts (approximately 7000-10000
words) will be due March 30, 2006. Publication of the book is
anticipated by late 2007.

Submitters are kindly asked to follow the style in the Pragmatics &
Beyond New Series (John Benjamins). In addition to referencing the
pragmatics literature, potential contributors should make efforts
to cite existing literature on CMC and language.

Please direct inquiries and preliminary proposal ideas to the editors:
Susan Herring (herringindiana.edu), Dieter Stein
(steinphil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de), or Tuija Virtanen (tuvirtanabo.fi).