26.4251, FYI: Call for Abstracts: Im/Politeness and Globalisation

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LINGUIST List: Vol-26-4251. Mon Sep 28 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.4251, FYI:  Call for Abstracts: Im/Politeness and Globalisation

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Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2015 13:08:30
From: Maria Sifianou [msifian at enl.uoa.gr]
Subject: Call for Abstracts: Im/Politeness and Globalisation

 Call for abstracts for a special issue: Im/politeness and Globalisation

Editors:

- Maria Sifianou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, msifian at enl.uoa.gr
- Pilar G. Blitvich, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, pgblitvi at uncc.edu

Research on im/politeness has witnessed an immense expansion over the last decades (e.g. Lakoff 1973; Brown & Levinson 1978/1987; Leech 1983; Eelen 2001; Watts 2003; Mills 2003; Culpeper & Kádár 2010; Kádár & Haugh 2013; Leech 2014), although issues of im/politeness have been of concern to people for centuries. On the other hand, globalisation is a term that has gained increasing momentum relatively recently. The concept is complex and multi-faceted but broadly speaking it is assumed that it will lead to homogenisation of every aspect of people’s lives (e.g. Held et al. 2003; Coupland 2003, 2010; Fairclough 2006). Discourse practices fall at the heart of globalisation not least because it entails mobility and increasing numbers of various kinds of interactions both traditional and novel, especially given the development of technologically mediated communication. 

In this context, language itself is seen a commodity (Heller 2003) which sells well if it is wrapped up with politeness (a hallmark of this being the service sector). A powerful kind of politeness, which despite its sounding alien to many, is spreading, thus appears to be leading to the homogenisation of discourse practices (e.g. Cameron 2000, 2003). Yet this view is in sharp contrast with a basic tenet of much of the recent research on im/politeness, namely that even within one culture there is considerable variation as to what is perceived as polite or impolite (e.g. Kádár & Mills 2011; Culpeper 2011, 2012). However, since globalisation is a process which implies change, this change actually entails both homogenisation and diversification “but in relation to each other. Globalization often produces hybridity and multiplicity” (Coupland 2010: 5). Interestingly, globalisation has also been associated with an increase in impoliteness and aggression, especially in the media (e.g.
  Tannen 1993; Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 2009) rather than seeing a growth in politeness. 

The aim of this special issue is to encourage research on the many interconnections between im/politeness and globalisation, in areas such as the following:

- academic settings
- intercultural encounters
- language change
- language teaching / learning
- media discourse 
- political discourse
- second language acquisition
- second / foreign language teaching / learning
- service encounters
- the workplace
- translation
- travel and tourism

Interested colleagues are invited to submit an abstract of about 350 words to both guest-editors’ e-mail addresses above.

The abstracts should include:

- title
- author’s name, current affiliation and e-mail address
- research question(s), methodology, findings of the research
- up to five key words
- references

The deadline for abstract submission is the end of December 2015. After a preliminary review by the special issue editors, the selected authors will be invited to submit their full papers, along with a couple of names for possible reviewers, by September 30, 2016. Papers will be reviewed by the guest-editors (by the end of 2016) and the revised papers (due back, end of February 2017) will be sent out to two external reviewers. Requests for further revisions will follow and the final revised and accepted papers will be due no later than April 15, 2017. 

Our goal is to publish this special issue in the Journal of Pragmatics, pending acceptance of the proposal. 
For additional information, please contact the special issue editors.
 

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                     Pragmatics
                     Sociolinguistics



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