[Gala-l] Call for Papers: Panel on Historical Dimensions of Language and Sexuality

Sun Sep 10 19:28:35 UTC 2017

*** Apologies for cross-posting***
Call forPapersPanel on“Historical Dimensions of Language and Sexuality”Panel chair:Heiko Motschenbacher25thLavender Languages and Linguistics ConferenceRhode IslandCollege, Providence, RI; 20-22 April 2018  The relationship betweenlanguage and sexuality has been investigated from a number of angles to date,but historical investigations still form the exception rather than the rule.However, from a queer linguistic perspective, documenting the diachronicvariability of this relationship plays a key role in deconstructingcontemporary sexuality-related discourses, as it highlights the historicalinstability even of discourses that are highly dominant today. Theoreticaldebates in language and sexuality studies have placed great emphasis on the desire-identityshift in the conceptualisation of sexuality (Cameron & Kulick 2003), whichis claimed to have taken place at the end of the 19th century.Still, we know only little about how this conceptual shift has changed the waywe use language to talk and write about sexuality.Echoing the conferencetheme “Future Directions for Language and Sexuality Inquiry”, the panel on“Historical Dimensions of Language and Sexuality” seeks to collate work thatempirically engages with the question how language use about sexuality haschanged across time periods and invites contributions which address this issue.The historical desire-identity shift is just one significant change whoselinguistic repercussions can be studied. Other potentially relevant work mayaddress, for example, sexuality-related language use pre-dating this shift (forexample, in Old English, Middle English or Early Modern English times; e.g.Calvo 2005, Frank 2003, Nevala & Hintikka 2009, Oncins-Martínez 2006),language use before (and after) Stonewall (Leap forthcoming), linguisticrepresentation before and after a person’s coming out (e.g. Chirrey 2003, Wong2009), the influence of changing sexuality-related legislation on language use(for example, legalisation of same-sex marriage or prostitution; e.g. Love& Baker 2015, McEnery & Baker 2017), changing textual representationsof sexually defined social groups (e.g. Koller 2013), changes in sexuallyrelevant text types (e.g. Wyss 2008), developments in academic language useabout sexuality (e.g. Baker 2013), and the linguistic effects of any othersexuality-related normative historical shifts.The historical study oflanguage and sexuality can be approached with a range of methodologies,including corpus linguistics, (critical) discourse analysis, linguisticethnography, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and historical linguistics. What isimportant for this panel is that papers have an explicit contrastive historicaldimension which highlights how sexuality-related discourses and language usehave changed due to – and in support of – certain social changes.
ReferencesBaker, Paul (2013): Fromgay language to normative discourse. A diachronic corpus analysis of LavenderLinguistics conference abstracts 1994-2012. Journal of Language andSexuality 2 (2): 179–205.Calvo, Juan José (2005):Sexual euphemism in the history of the English language. Sample probe 0. InJosé Santaemilia (ed.): The Language of Sex. Saying and Not Saying.València: Universitat de València, pp. 63–74.Cameron, Deborah; Kulick,Don (2003): Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.Chirrey, Deborah A. (2003):‘I hereby come out’: What sort of speech act is coming out? Journal ofSociolinguistics 7 (1): 24–37.Frank, Roberta (2003): Sexin the Dictionary of Old English. In Mark C. Amodio, O’Brien O’Keeffe,Katherine (eds.): Unlocking the Wordhord. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Memory ofEdward B. Irving, Jr. Toronto: University of Toronto, pp. 302–312.Koller, Veronika (2013):Constructing (non-)normative identities in written lesbian discourse. Adiachronic study. Discourse & Society 24 (5): 572–589.Leap, William L.(forthcoming): Language ‘Before’ Stonewall: Language, Sexuality, History.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Love, Robbie; Baker, Paul(2015): The hate that dare not speak its name? Journal of LanguageAggression and Conflict 3 (1): 57–86.McEnery, Tony; Baker, Helen(2017): Corpus Linguistics and 17th-Century Prostitution: ComputationalLinguistics and History. London: Bloomsbury.Nevala, Minna; Hintikka,Marianna (2009): Cider-wenches and high prized pin-boxes. Bawdy terminology inseventeenth- and eighteenth-century England. In R. W. McConchie, AlpoHonkapohja, Jukka Tyrkkö (eds.): Selected Proceedings of the 2008 Symposiumon New Approaches in English Historical Lexis (HEL-LEX 2). Somerville,MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, pp. 134–152.Oncins-Martínez, José L.(2006): Notes on the metaphorical basis of sexual language in Early ModernEnglish. In Vázquez González, Juan Gabriel, Montserrat Martínez Vázquez, RonVaz, Pilar (eds.): The Historical Linguistics-Cognitive LinguisticsInterface. Huelva: Universidad de Huelva, pp. 205–224.Wong, Andrew (2009):Coming-out stories and the ‘gay imaginary’. Sociolinguistic Studies 3(1): 1–36.Wyss, Eva L. (2008): Fromthe bridal letter to online flirting. Changes in text type from the nineteenthcentury to the Internet era. Journal of Historical Pragmatics 9 (2):225–254.

Researchers who areinterested in contributing to this panel are invited to submit an abstract tothe panel organiser by 20 October 2017 (motschenbacher at em.uni-frankfurt.de). Abstracts should be no more than250 words (excluding references) and include the presentation title, thepresenter’s name, affiliation, and email address. Abstracts must explain whichsexuality-related shift is addressed, and sketch out theoretical foundations,data type, research method and basic findings. Paper presentations are20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for discussion.  PD Dr. Heiko Motschenbacher 

 ==General Editor: Journal of Language and Sexuality (JLS)== 
http://www.benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/jls 

www.quinguistics.de
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