Conference

Multimodality is one of the most influential semiotic theories for analyzing media artefacts nowadays, and it enjoys growing popularity globally. However, this popularity does not imply universality: the empirical application and even the conceptual anchoring of multimodality often remain nationally and regionally grounded. Definitions of modality and even mediality thus differ from each other in terms of their starting points. From a German national perspective, language remains the main point of description.

3rd International conference of the Group for Social Engagement Studies
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade

***How to act together: From collective engagement to protest***

Belgrade, November 19-21, 2015

Keynote speaker: Judith Butler

Description

The conference will explore the broad issue of action – in its various sociological and philosophical traditions – and the particular question of collective engagement in its contemporary forms of protest assemblies.

While ‘discourse’ has long been an object of investigation in many disciplines, the contours of a new field of transdisciplinary research are now coming to the fore: Discourse Studies. Known for theoretical orientations and methodological tools at the intersection of language and society, discourse research usually deals with social phenomena with a particular focus on the entanglements of power and language.

Call for Papers
ESTIDIA (European Society for Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Dialogue)

4th ESTIDIA Conference
Dialogues without Borders: Strategies of Interpersonal and Inter-group Communication
29-30 September 2017

Faculty of Philosophy
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky”
Sofia, Bulgaria

in partnership with

Institute of Rhetoric and Communications, Sofia
Centre for New Media and Transdisciplinary Dialogue, Constanţa

Conference Venue

During the conference we propose to discuss the process of mediation of culture, its effects and consequences, focusing on the following aspects (but not limited to them).

This biennial conference, which has constantly been gaining importance since its first occurrence in Barcelone (1990), is open to all scholars and researchers working in the field of textual data analysis; ranging from lexicography to the analysis of political discourse, from information retrieval to marketing research, from computational linguistics to sociolinguistics, from text mining to content analysis.

The nature of genres has always been defined as both static and dynamic, functioning as discursive action within particular social, historical and cultural contexts but open to individual and collective creativity and innovation. Corpora can be powerful tools in tracking this kind of change, as clearly shown by a well-established tradition in historical linguistics, where growing interest has been shown in the diachronic analysis of specialized genres. Elements of change, however, can also be seen at work in contemporary discourse.

AIMS OF THE CONFERENCE

1) To bring together scholars, researchers, and practitioners from around the globe to contribute to a stimulating and rewarding exchange of ideas and techniques regarding discourse studies;

2) To enhance cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and research innovation in discourse studies;

3) To facilitate the formation of collaborative research networks among conference participants.

THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE

Cultural reflexivity and innovation in discourse studies

Organized by Babylon, Center for the Study of Superdiversity and the Network on Globalization in the Margins

Following up on a very successful workshop in June 2012, Babylon organizes a sequel workshop addressing new forms of authenticity in an age of globalization and superdiversity. The central argument in the workshop is that forms of authenticity today need to be understood in terms of complexity rather than multiplicity, and thus demand a new and creative framework for addressing them.

Studies in language science and communication have shown that in any form of discourse there may be a gap between what is said and what is meant. It is the contents actually intended to be communicated – the meaning we can call implicit, unexpressed, figurative, or indirect – which has to be taken into account to get the speaker’s actual meaning. Fields of study such as pragmatics and rhetoric make it possible to define the various existing implicit forms and, above all, unveil the various strategies used in the production and understanding of this type of form.