[Linganth] CFP for AAA panel - Discourse Analysis of Online Talk: Revisiting Core Concepts

[Dominika Baran, Ph.D.]

Dear Colleagues,

Papers are invited for an AAA panel called “Discourse Analysis of Online Talk: Revisiting Core Concepts.” Please send abstracts (250 words) to dominika.baran at duke.edu<mailto:dominika.baran at duke.edu> no later than April 4, 2018.

Best regards,

Dominika Baran



Discourse Analysis of Online Talk: Revisiting Core Concepts



Online interactional spaces are characterized by new forms of intertextuality, multimodality, interactivity and variability, as well as by translocality, multi-authorship, and extensive audience participation in narratives (Georgakopoulou 2013, De Fina 2016, Tagg 2015). De Fina (2016) also points to the “dialogicity and openness of storytelling practices” in online contexts (477; see also Page 2012, Georgakopoulou 2013). Online spaces of various types – Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, messenger conversations, blogs, YouTube – open up new possibilities for interaction. Audiences can be spontaneously constituted; in some cases, participants can join or leave without being noticed. Virtual conversations are, unlike face-to-face ones, not events that are time-bound, but rather spaces that can be revisited and rearranged. They also exhibit variable intentionality and performativity because contributions can range from being fully extemporaneous to carefully curated.



These features of online interactional spaces call for a re-examination of theoretical and methodological approaches in discourse analysis. This panel aims to examine the implications of the characteristics of online spaces for narrative study, the ethnography of speaking, and conversation analysis (CA). For example, in a departure from canonical models of narrative, Ochs & Capps (2001) propose a set of narrative dimensions, such as tellership, tellability, embeddedness, linearity, and moral stance, as a more dynamic approach than attempts at defining what a narrative is. Meanwhile, De Fina (2016) suggests that narratives on social media are especially well-suited for practice- and user-oriented approaches, because they encourage extensive audience participation and collaboration, and emerge over time in an open-ended fashion (see also Page 2012). Building on these ideas, we may ask: What new aspects of Ochs & Capps’ narrative dimensions are made possible in online contexts? How do online spaces influence authorship and audience participation in storytelling? How do they contribute to the emergent and “sequentially unfolding” (De Fina & Georgakopoulou 2012: 46) aspects of narrative structure?



Similarly, we need to re-examine traditional methodologies such as the ethnography of speaking and CA in the context of online interaction. For example: what are the implications of online contexts for concepts such as speech events and speech acts? How can we best understand turn-taking and adjacency pairs in online interactions? How can we best classify contributions that are not verbal, such as photographs, stickers, video clips, or emojis? How can we best examine multimodal contexts, where participants in a face-to-face interaction are simultaneously and together engaged in an online one with other participants who are not physically present? Some work addressing these questions already exists (Tannen 2017; Tannen 2013; Giles et al. 2015; West 2013; West & Trester 2013; DiDomenico & Boase 2013; Meredith, in press; Meredith & Stokoe 2014; Meredith & Potter 2013). The goal of this panel is to further explore these theoretical and methodological questions and challenges.



Dominika M. Baran
Associate Professor
Director of Undergraduate Studies
English Department
Duke University
Allen Building 303
Durham, NC 27708
tel.: 919-684-1719

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