37.2397, Confs: Panel at IPC20: Pragmatic Acts of Neo-Imperialism. Reference, Presupposition, Indexicality (Finland)

Fri Jul 17 12:05:02 UTC 2026

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2397. Fri Jul 17 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2397, Confs: Panel at IPC20: Pragmatic Acts of Neo-Imperialism. Reference, Presupposition, Indexicality (Finland)

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Date: 17-Jul-2026
From: Rita Vallentin [vallentin at europa-uni.de]
Subject: Panel at IPC20: Pragmatic Acts of Neo-Imperialism. Reference, Presupposition, Indexicality

Panel at IPC20: Pragmatic Acts of Neo-Imperialism. Reference,
Presupposition, Indexicality
Short Title: IPrA
Theme: Pragmatic Acts of Neo-Imperialism. Reference, Presupposition,
Indexicality

Date: 27-Jun-2027 - 02-Jul-2027
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact: Rita Vallentin
Contact Email: vallentin at europa-uni.de
Meeting URL: https://ipra2027.exordo.com/login

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis;
Linguistic Theories; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics

Submission Deadline: 15-Oct-2026

Call for Panel Contributions
20th International Pragmatics Conference (IPC20)
University of Helsinki, 27 June - 02 July 2027
Pragmatic Acts of Neo-Imperialism. Reference, Presupposition,
Indexicality
Panel Organisers: Rita Vallentin (European University Viadrina),
Miriam Lind (European University Viadrina), Britta Schneider
(University of Vienna)
The nexus of language and imperialism has been explored previously
from a variety of angles, starting with the rich research on
linguistic imperialism (e.g. Phillipson 1992), and further reaching
from investigations into discursive constructions of empire (e.g.
Thompson 1997) to the critical study of colonial naming practices
(e.g. Levkovych 2020) and the impact of colonialism on language
research (Deumert/Storch 2020).
While the prime epoch of imperialism is often located in the past, we
currently witness a rise in neo-imperalist claims and practices. In
terms of geopolitical conflict, Russia’s war against Ukraine, Trump’s
threats to invade Greenland and the US’ current attacks on Iran, the
increasing Chinese influence and economic expansion in Africa (e.g.
Lumumba-Kasongo 2011), and tech giants’ fantasies of so-called
“freedom cities” come to mind. Yet, neoimperialism goes much further
than that: it concerns AI, technology, platformization, and
datafication (Mannion 2020), and stretches beyond the spatial
constraints of Earth in fantasies of colonising Mars
(‘exoimperialism’, see Dy/Roberts 2025) and the new-found eagerness
for moon missions.
While neo-imperial projects have become a central concern across the
social sciences (Mbembe 2021, Mejias/Couldry 2024), pragmatic research
has so far put little attention on their linguistic dimensions. Thus,
this panel aims to bring together pragmatically oriented research on
neo-imperial language use, with a particular focus on referential
practices, indexicality and presupposition, and how they might
contribute to the discursive naturalization or contestation of
neo-imperial claims.
The overarching question guiding the panel is what shared
characteristics and differences can be identified across these (and
other) pragmatic acts of neo-imperialism. Possible topics include:
- Geopolitical neo-imperialism, e.g. in the Arctic, Eastern Europe,
and Africa
- Expedition projects and ‘new frontiers’ (e.g. in ‘exoimperialism’)
- AI/techno-neocolonialism
- (Post-)Colonial toponymy
- Linguistic neo-imperialism
- Freedom Cities
- …
Abstract Submission:
Please submit your abstract (max. 500 words) through the conference
website (https://ipra2027.exordo.com/login) by October 15th 2026
(23:59 CEST). Please select our panel “Pragmatic Acts of
Neo-Imperialism” in step 4 (Topics). We ask contributors to flag
possible use of AI in creating the abstracts. An active IPra
membership is required to submit an abstract and for participation in
the conference. Please note that each person may be first author of
only one conference contribution; anyone may be involved in a second
or even a third paper if some else is the first author and will be
present at the conference as well.
Further information on the submission process can be found on the
official IPC20 Call for Papers
(https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP2027); general information
on the conference is available on the IPra website
(https://pragmatics.international/page/IPC20Helsinki).
Please contact the organisers of the panel (Rita Vallentin:
vallentin at europa-uni.de; Miriam Lind: lind at europa-uni.de; Britta
Schneider: britta.schneider at univie.ac.at) if you have any questions
regarding the panel.
References:
Deumert, Ana, and Anne Storch. 2020. Colonial and Decolonial
Linguistics – Knowledges and Epistemes. Oxford University Press.
Dy, Angela Martinez, and David Roberts. 2024. Geek saviours to the
rescue? Primitive accumulation, astropropriation, and exoimperialism
in NewSpace entrepreneurship. Politics and Space, 43(3): 558–575.
https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544241271475
Levkovych, Nataliya. 2020. Advances in Comparative Colonial
Toponomastics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Lumumba-Kasongo, Tukumbi. 2011. „China-Africa Relations: A
Neo-Imperialism or a Neo-Colonialism? A Reflection*“. African and
Asian Studies 10 (2–3): 234–66.
https://doi.org/10.1163/156921011X587040.
Mannion, Cara. 2020. „Data Imperialism: The GDPR’s Disastrous Impact
on Africa’s ECommerce Markets Notes“. Vanderbilt Journal of
Transnational Law 53 (2): 685–712.
Mbembe, Achille. 2021. Out of the Dark Night. Columbia University
Press.
Mejias, Ulises A., and Nick Couldry. 2024. Data Grab. The New
Colonialism of Big Tech (and How to Fight Back). Penguin.
Phillipson, Robert. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. OUP Oxford.
Thompson, Andrew S. 1997. „The Language of Imperialism and the
Meanings of Empire: Imperial Discourse in British Politics,
1895–1914“. Journal of British Studies 36 (2): 147–77.
https://doi.org/10.1086/386132.

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