37.2239, Confs: Is That Really Linguistics? That’s Too Much Linguistics for Me! On Metapragmatics and the Valuation of Everyday Practices in Language Studies (Germany)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2239. Thu Jul 02 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2239, Confs: Is That Really Linguistics? That’s Too Much Linguistics for Me! On Metapragmatics and the Valuation of Everyday Practices in Language Studies (Germany)

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Date: 01-Jul-2026
From: Jonas Trochemowitz [trochemo at uni-bremen.de]
Subject: Is That Really Linguistics? That’s Too Much Linguistics for Me! On Metapragmatics and the Valuation of Everyday Practices in Language Studies


Is That Really Linguistics? That’s Too Much Linguistics for Me! On
Metapragmatics and the Valuation of Everyday Practices in Language
Studies

Date: 03-Feb-2027 - 05-Feb-2027
Location: Bremen, Germany

Linguistic Field(s): Discipline of Linguistics

Is That Really Linguistics? That’s Too Much Linguistics for Me!
On Metapragmatics and the Valuation of Everyday Practices in Language
Studies
A Hybrid Conference of Shared Experiences
February, 03-05 2027 | U Bremen hybrid
Many linguists are familiar with the question of whether what they are
currently working on is really linguistics: Is that really
linguistics? Whether you acted passively or actively, you were either
asked the question or asked it yourself. It is a question that
presupposes a more or less clear definition of what linguistics
is—where it begins and where it ends. As Becher & Trowler ([1989]
2001) argue, disciplines are shaped by internal cultures and shared
understandings of what constitutes legitimate knowledge, which often
leads to clearly marked boundaries and resistance to new or
interdisciplinary approaches. Yet such a definition is far from fixed.
Like any other academic discipline, linguistics has undergone—and
continues to undergo—significant mutations and paradigmatic shifts.
>From the structuralist turn of de Saussure, to the generative
revolution led by Chomsky to the pragmatic turn inspired by Austin and
Searle and more recently to sociolinguistic and decolonial approaches,
the field has repeatedly redefined its boundaries and methods. These
transformations reflect not only theoretical innovation but also
evolving questions about what counts as valid linguistic inquiry. For
example, Barrett & Hall (2023: 259) argue that the question of what
linguistics really is “is repeatedly used by linguists to deny LGBTQ+
scholars access to public spaces” and can thus be considered as a form
of academic gatekeeping. According to them, opinions range from
naysayers to gatekeepers to bullies. This gatekeeping often overlooks
the productive impact of interdisciplinary engagement and
transdisciplinary challenges.
As linguistics intersects with fields such as anthropology, cognitive
science, gender studies, digital humanities, and contradiction
studies, it becomes possible—and necessary—to extend and reconsider
what counts as linguistic phenomena and linguistic practice. These
collaborations allow for richer, more inclusive perspectives that
benefit both theory and practice. Indeed, Is that really linguistics?
is often asked in a highly judgmental, harmful way and gives a
negative answer at the same time, where paradigms clash, where
boundaries are drawn. The question can be part of the hidden injuries
of academia that Gill ([2009] 2016) talks about. It can be an abysmal
question that determines hierarchical speaker positions and can be, or
is even meant to be, demotivating. The question may even put
respondents in a shameful situation. To what extent, then, is it
appropriate to contest the legitimacy of certain approaches as being
not really linguistics? For instance, rejecting discourse-analytical
methodologies or the study of internet language varieties on the
grounds that they fall outside the imagination of core linguistics
disregards how new modes of communication and identity are shaping the
very substance of language in use. These exclusions say more about
power and disciplinary politics than about intellectual rigor.
In any case, too little is said about Is that really linguistics? And
that is what we want to change.
However, while linguists not only encounter this complex question time
and again in their professional lives, a completely different
utterance often reveals outside views on linguistics: That’s too much
linguistics for me! This contrast between internal scrutiny and
external perception reveals how linguistics, like many academic
fields, is shaped by both self-definition and the need to explain
itself to those outside the discipline. Linguists thus constantly
oscillate between internal battles and the need to justify themselves
to the outside world. We see this as an interesting contradictory
constellation of everyday experiences that affects the subjectivation
of all linguists in different ways.
We therefore invite you to a hybrid conference that aims to be both:
an exchange of experiences and a reflection on how linguists position
themselves and are positioned by others. We are interested in
linguistic practices in the context of evaluating our own work and
thus also in a metapragmatic reality of linguistics.
We intend to create a space for sharing common experiences in
different subfields of linguistics and discuss implications and
practices that determine as well as shift the boundaries of what is
(not) considered linguistics. Additionally, we are interested in what
counts as a core of linguistics and what is located at the
interdisciplinary periphery of linguistics. For this, we invite
anecdotal as well as more theoretical and empirical talks—or a mixture
of both. However, we also invite advocates of this sentence to enter
into a discussion with those who criticize it. Let’s discuss the
question of whether something is linguistics, and also the assumption
that there can be too much linguistics! It is especially the tension
between topics being not linguistic enough and too linguistic that we
want to discuss together in a respectful framework.
The conference will take place at the University of Bremen, Germany,
in a hybrid way, and will be hosted by the U Bremen Collaborative
Research Platform Worlds of Contradiction (WOC) and is organized in
cooperation with DeMarg, European Research Network on Discourses of
Marginality and Marginalization. Unfortunately, we cannot reimburse
travel expenses. Abstracts can be submitted until 31. August 2026 and
should not exceed 300 words (excluding references). The conference
itself will take place from the 3rd to 5th of February 2027. Abstracts
may be submitted in either English or German. A separate section is
planned for German-language papers that address the conference theme
within the context of German linguistics.
Please submit your abstracts by using the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfR6AuMITbYSGoD8g6fwxh5-WPqu_sWpLR7s72TD-c_8KLccQ/viewform?usp=dialog
For questions please contact rltm27 at uni-bremen.de
Conference Committee:
Prof. Dr. Silvia Adler, Chair of French Linguistics | Bar Ilan
University
Dr. Isabella Ferron, PostDoc Researcher | U Modena
Lara Herford, Ph.D. student | U Bremen
Dr. Łukasz Kumięga, Assistant Professor | U Gdańsk
Jonas Trochemowitz, PostDoc Researcher | U Bremen
Prof. Dr. Ingo H. Warnke, Chair of German and Interdisciplinary
Linguistics | U Bremen
Sources:
Barrett, Rusty & Kira Hall. 2023. Closet Monsters. In Tyler E. Kibbey
(ed.), Linguistics Out of the Closet, 259–276. Berlin/Boston: De
Gruyter.
Becher, Tony & Paul R. Trowler. [1989] 2001. Academic Tribes and
Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Culture of Disciplines.
Buckingham: Open University Press.
Gill, Rosalind. 2016. Breaking the Silence: The Hidden Injuries of
Neo-Liberal Academia. Feministische Studien 34(1). 39–55. [first
published 2009. In Rosini Ryan-Flood & Rosalind Gill (eds.), Secrecy
and Silence in the Research Process. London: Routledge.]



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