LINGUIST List 21.3798 Tue Sep 28 2010 Calls: Disc Analysis, Pragmatics/United Kingdom Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny <dilinguistlist.org> LINGUIST is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new feature: Easy Abstracts! Easy Abs is a free abstract submission and review facility designed to help conference organizers and reviewers accept and process abstracts online. Just go to: http://www.linguistlist.org/confcustom, and begin your conference customization process today! With Easy Abstracts, submission and review will be as easy as 1-2-3! Directory         1.    Liesbeth Degand, Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers Message 1: Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers Date: 28-Sep-2010 From: Liesbeth Degand <liesbeth.deganduclouvain.be> Subject: Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers E-mail this message to a friend Full Title: Disentangling Modal Particles and Discourse Markers Date: 03-Jul-2011 - 08-Jul-2011 Location: Manchester, United Kingdom Contact Person: Liesbeth Degand Meeting Email: liesbeth.deganduclouvain.be Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics Call Deadline: 06-Oct-2010 Meeting Description: The panel on 'Modal particles and discourse markers: two sides of a same coin?' will be organized during the 12th International Pragmatics conference in Manchester (July, 3rd - 8th, 2011). Convenors: Bert Cornillie (Leuven), Liesbeth Degand (Louvain-la-Neuve) and Paola Pietrandrea (Rome) Discussant: Elizabeth Traugott (Stanford) The aim of the panel is to define the class of modal particles and to set up a classification of its members. Therefore, we will investigate the intersection between modal particles and discourse markers (i.e. including relational markers on a local level and structure markers on a macro level) and discuss whether or not it is possible to draw a line between these two types of linguistic expressions. Are modal particles a subtype of discourse markers, or should both be seen as subcategories of the more encompassing pragmatic markers (Fraser 1996), or discourse particles (Fischer 2006)? If the latter is the case, what is it that distinguishes discourse markers from modal particles? Clearly, both linguistic expressions are multifunctional and 'function in cognitive, expressive, social, and textual domains' (Schiffrin 2001: 54). But modal particles have often been described in a more restricted sense, i.e. as specifying 'the relationship between speaker and hearer' (Hansen 1998: 42) or 'to signal one's understanding of what the situation is all about with respect to the argumentative relations built up in the current situation.' (Fischer 2007: 47). On the other hand, discourse markers too 'are related to the speech situation [and] (...) express attitudes and emotions' (Bazzanella 2006: 449). 'The study of discourse markers is therefore a part of the study of modal and metatextual comment' (Lewis 2006, 43). Distinctions between modal particles and discourse markers thus become hard to maintain. As noted by Traugott (2007: 141), 'One approach is to distinguish sharply between discourse markers and modal particles on both formal and discourse functional grounds (?). Another is to make no difference between the terms, apparently on discourse pragmatic grounds, while recognizing that 'formally' clause-internal position is the modal particle position.' The panel aims at disentangling the functions of modal particles and discourse markers, both in synchrony and diachrony, in speech and writing, and cross-linguistically. We envisage a one day workshop with 5 to 8 paper slots of 30 minutes and a discussion slot lead by Elizabeth Traugott (Stanford). Call For Papers We welcome submissions to our panel on 'Modal particles and Discourse markers: two sides of the same coin?' at the next IPrA conference in Manchester. If you are interested, please send a one-page abstract to liesbeth.deganduclouvain.be. Abstracts for internal reviewing will be due Oct. 6th. Presentations are invited on the following topics/questions: -Can MPs be seen as a subclass of DMs? -Are modal particles language-specific, and if so, what are their functional and formal equivalents in 'modal particle free' languages? -If they are completely different, what makes them different? -Where does the modal content of MPs come from, and how is it expressed in DMs? -Is there a division of labor between MPs and DMs? -Is there any interaction between MPs and DMs? -Is it possible to maintain a cross-linguistic distinction between modal particles and discourse markers, both on a formal and on a function level? -Do MPs and DMs show similar or diverging paths of diachronic evolution? Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 28-Sep-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.