37.2641, Confs: Panel at IPC20 - Voices of Crisis: Reporting in Crisis Discourse (Finland)

Tue Aug 11 13:05:02 UTC 2026

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2641. Tue Aug 11 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2641, Confs: Panel at IPC20 - Voices of Crisis: Reporting in Crisis Discourse (Finland)

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Date: 11-Aug-2026
From: Jenni Räikkönen [jenni.m.raikkonen at helsinki.fi]
Subject: Panel at IPC20 - Voices of Crisis: Reporting in Crisis Discourse

Panel at IPC20 - Voices of Crisis: Reporting in Crisis Discourse
Short Title: Panel at IPC20
Theme: Voices of crisis: Reporting in crisis discourse

Date: 27-Jun-2027 - 02-Jul-2027
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact: Jenni Räikkönen
Contact Email: jenni.m.raikkonen at helsinki.fi
Meeting URL: https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP2027

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis;
Pragmatics; Text/Corpus Linguistics

Submission Deadline: 15-Oct-2026

We would like to invite you to submit an abstract to the panel we are
organising as part of the 20th International Pragmatics Conference to
be held in Helsinki in June 2027:
Voices of crisis: Reporting in crisis discourse (organizers: Minna
Nevala, Hanna Limatius, Jenni Räikkönen)
This panel focuses on the pragmatics of direct and indirect reports in
different crisis-related texts. In particular, we are interested in
the ways in which various voices are expressed or suppressed in crisis
discourses. In public discussions about a crisis, the inclusion and
exclusion of specific voices affects citizens’ impressions of the
crisis in question. Therefore, different voices can also be used
strategically by authorities and the media to influence these
impressions (Limatius & Koskela 2024; Räikkönen 2026). For example, as
a specific linguistic strategy, intertextual reporting can be used to
bring out the voices in different discursive contexts, affecting the
way in which we report, what is reported in general, and when (cf.
Collins 2001; Nevala & Palander-Collin 2010).
Furthermore, during crises, different segments of the populace need to
feel that their concerns are understood. For this reason, the
discursive representation of various voices in public discussion is
crucial. For example, if crisis communication fails to platform the
voices of minorised groups that are affected by the crisis, or their
voices are only represented in ways that enforce negative stereotypes,
trust in crisis management efforts within these groups is likely to
suffer (Limatius 2025).
We welcome abstracts focusing on pragmatic studies of various aspects
of voice and reporting in crisis discourse. Possible topics include
but are not restricted to:
 - How and in which contexts are direct and indirect reports used in
different crisis-related texts?
 - What types of differences are there in how the voices of different
social groups are reported and expressed?
 - Whose voices are represented in specific genres of crisis discourse
/ texts about crises?
 - To whom is the language used in specific crisis-related texts
targeted?
 - How are crisis messages received by different demographic subsets?
We welcome contributions dealing with various different types of
crises (e.g., large-scale societal crises on a global or local level,
institutional or organisational crises, inter-personal crises) and
exploring different types of data (e.g., news reporting, social media
data, political language).
Please submit your abstract (up to 500 words) via the conference
website (https://ipra2027.exordo.com/) by 15 October 2026. In step 4
(‘Topics’) of the submission process select the panel ‘Voices of
crisis: Reporting in crisis discourse’. Further information on
submitting abstracts can be found in the IPC20 Call for Papers
(https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP2027). Please note that an
active IPrA membership is required to submit an abstract. If you have
any further questions regarding the panel, please feel free to contact
us directly.
References:
Collins, D. 2001. Reanimated Voices: Speech Reporting in a
Historical-Pragmatic Perspective. John Benjamins.
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.85.
Limatius, H. 2025. “The impacts are not evenly distributed”:
Representation and inclusion of marginalized groups in authorities’
COVID-19 communication. Discourse & Society.
https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265251353793.
Limatius, H. and M. Koskela. 2024. Voices in government crisis
communication in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A
rhetorical arena perspective. VAKKI Publications 16: 90–107.
https://doi.org/10.70484/vakki.145712.
Nevala, M. and M. Palander-Collin. 2010. “O England! England! She says
– my Father – my Sisters – my friends! – shall I ever see you more?” –
Reporting in 18th-century correspondence. In Discourses in
Interaction, ed. by S-K Tanskanen et al., 133–50. John Benjamins.
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.203.
Räikkönen, J. 2026. Epistemic authority of experts in the New York
Times and the New York Post: A corpus-assisted comparative study.
Discourse & Communication 20(1): 152–169.
https://doi.org/10.1177/17504813251412081.

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