Methods in Historical Pragmatics

Workshop on Methods in Historical Pragmatics

December 8, 2022, 13:00-15:30 (CET), Zoom

Organized by Sofia Rüdiger (University of Bayreuth) & Theresa Neumaier (TU Dortmund)

Registration: free & available here (deadline: December 5)

Funding by Deutscher Anglistenverband

Speakers

Claudia Claridge (University of Augsburg)

Jonathan Culpeper (Lancaster University)

Andreas H. Jucker (University of Zurich)

Minna Palander-Collin (University of Helsinki)

Description

Pragmatic researchers have typically investigated ‘acting through speaking’ on the basis of face-to-face conversation (Levinson 2017:202). However, while this is relatively unproblematic when looking at Modern English, analyses of pragmatic phenomena in other periods of English are faced with a lack of comparable data. In order to solve this problem, historical pragmatics has produced a significant body of research drawing on text types considered ‘speech-like’, ‘speech-based’, or ‘speech-purposed’ (Culpeper & Kytö 2010:17): letters (e.g., Fludernik 2007), plays (e.g., Culpeper & Archer 2008), dialogue in other fictional texts (e.g., Fitzmaurice 2007), and court proceedings (e.g., Claridge & Kytö 2014). Still, despite this great interest, many questions remain unanswered in the field of historical pragmatics, particularly at the level of politeness and impoliteness (Jucker 2020:3).

This workshop offers an introduction to the methodologies and data of historical pragmatic research. It is primarily aimed at early career researchers but is also open to BA and MA students as well as anyone with an interest in historical pragmatic research. The program includes an overview lecture and a roundtable, where discussants respond to prompts and discuss these with the audience.

Schedule

Funding