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Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jodylinguistlist.org>
eva.mpg.de>Correction to announcement of Tunis conference (Linguist List 11.1352.1) [Please note the following corrected version of this call for papers. The original message incorrectly identified the host institution. All other information, including fax number and e-mail address, is correct.] Call for abstracts The Faculty of Letters (Group Language and Metalanguage) of the University of Tunis I is organizing an international conference, sponsored by ALT (Association for Linguistic Typology), on the topic "Reflexive and middle: typological approaches", on 15-17 March 2001 in Tunis. Those interested are asked to send the title of their paper and an abstract of 200 words to Prof. Ahmed Brahim (e-mail: Ahmed.BrahimMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue
student.uq.edu.au>Final Call for Contributions to the 'Chat' issue of M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture Edited by Felicity Meakins and Sean Rintel Feature Article by Charles Antaki Articles are due by the 24th of July 2000. M/C (Media/Culture) is an electronic journal of media and culture published by the Department of English Media and Cultural Studies Centre at the University of Queensland in Australia. Established in 1998, M/C has successfully grown in international standing among serious internet journals. Please visit the site (http://www.api-network.com/mc/) to read through the latest issue and for more information. Each issue of M/C is themed. For the issue released on the 23rd of August, the theme is 'Chat'. The M/C 'Chat' issue is intended to be as broad a survey of the mechanics, media, contexts and analysis of chat as possible. Robert Hopper once described argued chat as technology - "humanmade instrumentality that partially restructures the world." Hopper's notion is an excellent starting point for the 'Chat' issue of M/C, devoted to the exploration of this most pervasive of discursive modes, and, indeed, to the reflexive exploration of how researchers analyse chat. How does the technology of talk work, and what happens when talk is itself mediated by other technologies? In what sense is chat "humanmade"? What parts of the world can be restructured by chat, and how is this accomplished? In M/C 'Chat' , any chat artefacts - semantic, syntactic, phatic, contextual - may be put under the microscope. The artefacts and underpinnings of the analysis of chat, as themselves partially restructuring of the world, may also be highlighted in this issue. Methodology and ideology of analysis certainly shape the understandings of chat, particularly if those understandings are argued to be of practical significance. What results might inductive, deductive or adductive approaches to chat analysis provide, and how might they be compared and contrasted? Similar questions could be asked of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Are combinatory approaches viable? Of course the next question becomes, not how chat restructures the world, but what world it restructures. The world exists as a fractured entity, both in the way we understand it, and in the way it breaks down along cultural, social and relational lines. How do two people chat when their perceptions of the world are inherently different? How much of this represented information is mutual? In what ways does chat create ethnic groups, perpetuate racism, sexism and ageism or generally signify the other? How is it that we can swear at close friends and not at our superiors? Chat, in these situations becomes a point of mediation between the world and self - a highly constructed moment. But what happens when chat itself is mediated? What happens to the world as we know it? And to turn Hopper's statement on its head, we can ask how does the world structure our chat? Why does a person who has been living in a foreign country for 40 years still have an accent? When does "You saw that gas can explode" become a declaration about gas exploding or a can exploding. Who does "you" refer to. It seems obvious, but "you" in isolation is meaningless. It seems that meaning sought from the world also enriches our chat. Articles are due by the 24th of July 2000. M/C 'Chat' will be released on the 23rd of August 2000. Contributors are directed to previous issues of M/C (http://www.api-network.com/mc/) for article length and style guidelines. Please direct submissions to Sean Rintel (s.rintelMail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue