Call for papers

INAR I: Address choice and negotiation of address  forms

 

Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, June 10-12, 2014

 

INAR (International Network for Address Research) is a recently formed network,  following the workshop on ‘Sociolinguistics and Grammar of Terms of Address’ held  in Berlin in the early summer of 2013. The aim of the network is to describe address  in as wide a number of languages as possible in order to arrive at an overarching  model of address. It will do so by enhancing closer ties between members, all of  them linguists who have been working on address for years.  This workshop is the first in a series that will take place once a year, organized by  different network members around the globe. We wish to bring together practitioners  in the field the specific workshop focuses on (e.g. diachrony, translation etc.) and researchers studying address in different languages and working in different frameworks (e.g. sociolinguistics, interactional studies, pragmatics and grammatical  description).

 

Aim of the workshop:

Many theories of address so far have been rather static, implicitly or explicitly  assuming that address, once established between interlocutors, will remain the same  throughout the relationship. Lately, interaction studies and studies focusing on  address in the social media have shown that change in address forms occurs far more often than previously thought, indexing the interlocutors’ perception of the current state of their interpersonal relationship. Also, there is a strong ludic element to be observed. In the case of multilingual address choice, interlocutors may opt for one language over another in order to avoid having to choose between address pronouns that may be deemed too intimate or too distanced (as is the case of English as a Lingua Franca on international conferences). The workshop invites papers that observe the negotiation of address choice in ongoing interaction and variation in address choice. Topics might include, but are not limited to, discussion of the following phenomena:

- strategies for permanent change in address pronouns: how exactly is address ‘negotiated’ between interlocutors?

- temporary changes and their motivation, e.g. to mark a heightened emotional state (anger, but also fondness and love)

- choice and negotiation of address in specific groups, e.g. in the workplace or in internet discussion forums

- address choice in larger groups, where some participants use T-address, while others use V-address - playing with pronominal and nominal address, e.g. for ludic purposes, teasing, name-calling, flattering, or ironic distancing

- language choice in order to avoid decision on address in another language