36.3294, Confs: Seminar at the 2026 ESSE Conference: Disinformation In and Out: Qualitative Linguistic Analyses of Digital Disinformation Texts (Spain)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3294. Wed Oct 29 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3294, Confs: Seminar at the 2026 ESSE Conference: Disinformation In and Out: Qualitative Linguistic Analyses of Digital Disinformation Texts (Spain)

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Date: 28-Oct-2025
From: Dominika Beneš Kováčová [dominika.kovacova at osu.cz]
Subject: Seminar at the 2026 ESSE Conference: Disinformation In and Out: Qualitative Linguistic Analyses of Digital Disinformation Texts


Seminar at the 2026 ESSE Conference: Disinformation In and Out:
Qualitative Linguistic Analyses of Digital Disinformation Texts

Date: 31-Aug-2026 - 04-Sep-2026
Location: Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Meeting URL: https://www.esse2026.com

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; Morphology; Pragmatics;
Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s): English (eng)

Submission Deadline: 31-Jan-2026

The 2026 European Society for the Study of English Conference
Seminar 10.- Disinformation in and out: Qualitative Linguistic
Analyses of Digital Disinformation Texts
With the challenges and crises of recent years, digital disinformation
texts (in popular – though not always precise – usage also referred to
as ‘fake news’) have become increasingly popular and seem to have
gained ground among various groups of internet users. Defined as
“false information [that] is knowingly shared to cause harm” (Wardle &
Derakhshan, 2017), disinformation is essentially the result of one’s
text production – shaped by the author’s intentions that manifest
themselves in the text’s intentionality (cf. Haugh & Jaszczolt, 2012)
– and its spread is contingent on the readers’ perception and further
interaction with it.
While previous (primarily quantitative) studies of disinformation
texts have mainly focused on disinformation detection by identifying
recurrent grammatical patterns and stylistic features (e.g., Grieve &
Woodfield, 2023), this seminar seeks to bring together contributions
that expand this research and underline the relevance and potential of
qualitative analyses of disinformation discourse currently on the rise
(e.g., Maci et al., 2024). Acknowledging the methodological and
ethical challenges this kind of research faces, the seminar takes into
account the diversity of the topics disinformation texts are devoted
to (e.g., immigration, conflicts, climate change, conspiracy theories)
as well as the variety of their discursive structures and formats
(e.g., antiestablishment websites, social media posts, online
broadcasts). Given the impact disinformation texts are likely to exert
both online and outside the digital environment, the seminar also aims
to emphasize that adding a critical dimension to the analysis may be
necessary in certain contexts.
Considering the above, we invite contributions exploring
disinformation texts from a qualitative linguistic perspective that
address (but are not restricted to) the following areas:
 - recurrent linguistic and multimodal strategies
 - adopted argumentative strategies
 - linguistic differences between mainstream news and disinformation
texts (e.g., information-structural, lexical and other features)
 - uptake and audience reactions to disinformation texts
 - cross-linguistic differences between disinformation texts
Convenors of the seminar: Dominika Beneš Kováčová (University of
Ostrava, Czech Republic), Massimiliano Demata (University of Turin,
Italy), Jiří Lukl (University of Ostrava, Czech Republic)
Please submit your abstract (max. 300 words, excluding references) to
the 3 convenors by 31 January 2026: dominika.kovacova at osu.cz,
massimiliano.demata at unito.it, jiri.lukl at osu.cz
For further information, see the conference website:
https://www.esse2026.com
References:
Grieve, J., & Woodfield, H. (2023). The Language of Fake News.
Cambridge University Press.
Haugh, M., & Jaszczolt, K. M. (2012). Speaker Intentions and
Intentionality. In K. Allan and K. M. Jaszczolt (Eds.), The Cambridge
Handbook of Pragmatics (pp. 87-122). Cambridge University Press.
Maci, S. M., Demata, M., McGlashan, M., & Seargeant, P. (Eds.).
(2024). The Routledge Handbook of Discourse and Disinformation.
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003224495
Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information Disorder: Toward an
Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy Making. Council of
Europe.
https://edoc.coe.int/en/media/7495-information-disorder-toward-aninterdisciplinary-framework-for-research-and-policy-making.html



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