Abstract submission for iMean7 conference
Conference theme and call for papers.
After a protracted pandemic-related pause, the iMean conference returns in 2024. The conference adheres to its original broad theme of Meaning in Social Interaction with a particular focus on Language and Inclusion.
Theme
Social inclusion mediated through language
Language can (be used to) increase or decrease an individual’s or group’s sense of social inclusion. The history of the 21st century thus far shows little evidence of any progress made in the direction of greater equality or social justice. The conference thus welcomes papers which analyse the way that language can help or hinder inclusion, or potentially result in exclusion. This includes, but is not limited to, empirical studies of:
- the ways that the justice system, politicians, news outlets and social media use language to cast events in a particular light
- the perceptions of the non-standard language used by language learners and children with speech and language impairment.
Language structure shaped through social inclusion
But the desire for inclusion can also shape language, through the development of particular language policies aimed at promoting greater equality – the loss of grammatical gender in Dutch and the use of particular pronouns such as ‘they, them’ in English spring to mind.
The conference thus also welcomes studies which look at such developments in the language – and in the criticism which is sometimes evoked by such developments with epithets such as ‘politically correct’ or ‘woke-ism’, serving to try to undermine legitimate attempts to combat discrimination.
In a similar vein, we welcome reports of studies which look at the way that social inclusiveness has an impact on language structure, at various levels of linguistic analysis.
Call for papers
Abstract submissions are now closed.
Authors have been notified about the outcome of their submissions by email. If you have not received any email in your inbox, please check your Junk/Spam folder and/or contact Dr Kate Beeching (kate.beeching@uwe.ac.uk) with any queries.
Plenary speakers
- Professor Rachel Wicaksono, York St John University.
- Professor Innocent Chiluwa, Visiting Professor, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, and Loughborough University.
- Dr Federica Formato, University of Brighton.
- Professor Yvonne Wren, Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit.
Panels
The conference will host the following panels to which you can propose a paper:
- Professor Jo Angouri and Professor Meredith Marra: Advancing inclusion in the workplace.
- Dr Kate Beeching: Discourse markers and inclusion.
- Dr Kate Steel: Language, inclusion and the law.
- Dr Olga Zayts-Spence and Dr Mariana Lazzaro Salazar: Advancing inclusion in healthcare: Linguistic equity and health.
Workshops
- Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Unit and deafPLUS Bath showcase their activities and communication aids.
- Dr Annamaria Fabian and Dr Lorella Viola: The language and communication of inclusion and exclusion on social media.
Whereas there is a wealth of studies on the language of discrimination, particularly within Discourse studies, works addressing specifically the linguistic practices of inclusion of minorities are comparatively rare. At the same time, many linguistic studies make use of data from digital media, itself an increasingly popular object of study in linguistics (e.g. Abel et al., 2020; Marx et al., 2020; Wright, 2020; Bubenhofer, 2017; McKeever, 2019; Wang & Taylor, 2019; De Decker & Vandekerckhove, 2017; Marx & Weidacher, 2014; Zappavigna, 2012; Crystal, 2006). This panel aims to explore the language of inclusion and discrimination of minorities and marginalized collectives in social media discourses.
The panel will present one theoretical and methodological contribution on the linguistics of diversity and inclusion as well as three case studies that analyse social media data and apply methods of digital corpus linguistics. The main objective is to study the communication of inclusion and exclusion on social media in different countries and across languages (i.e., Italian, German, and English).
Throughout the four papers, this panel will examine strategies of inclusion, empowerment and counter-speech, references to minorities in social media by both members and non-members of the minorities, and the linguistic and discursive aspects of any activities and policies fostering the inclusion and/or countering the exclusion of minorities. Thus, the panel will figure out the communicative markers of inclusion, discrimination and exclusion in a digital corpus from social media across languages and cultures. Following questions will be discussed:
1. What is the lexicogrammar and phraseology used in the linguistic construction of minorities with respect to inclusion and discrimination on social media?
2. What are the salient communicative strategies seeking inclusion in digital interactions?
3. How are inclusion and empowerment linguistically realised?
4. What are the strategies of anti-discrimination and counter speech for the inclusion of people with disabilities?
Additionally, the panel will offer reflections on effective digital linguistic methods (tools, software etc.) adaptable for the communicative analysis of data in digital media. The panel will
appeal to both humanities and social science scholars interested in studying how language structure is shaped through social inclusion, as well as in exploring how the challenges brought by the current focus on data-driven research can be addressed in scholarship of social media.
Conference panels
You may also be interested in
iMean7 Conference
Find out more about iMean conference from the Bristol Centre for Linguistics (BCL) at UWE Bristol.
Registration for iMean7 conference
Information on iMean conference rates and registration.
About the iMean7 conference
Information about the iMean conference including the conference programme, panels, welcome reception and conference dinner.