Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Deutsch in multilingualen Kontexten

AG 11 bei der DGfS Jahrestagung 2024: Evaluating register(s)

Find us on the Sociolinguistic Events Calendar: https://baal.org.uk/slxevents/.

Workshop organizers:

• Oliver Bunk, Humboldt University at Berlin
• Esther Jahns, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
• Annika Labrenz, Humboldt University at Berlin
• Antje Sauermann, Humboldt University at Berlin

Program (PDF)

Call for Papers

In sociolinguistics, the pervasive phenomenon of speakers being subjected to judgments based on their linguistic choices has sparked extensive investigation into language attitudes and ideologies, uncovering the valuation of certain speech patterns while marginalizing others. Previous research has brought to light three major points: 1) standard language is often valorized while non-standard language is devalued (cf. Dragojevic et al. 2021), 2) the evaluation of language use(rs) and varieties can reflect power relations and social injustice (cf. Spitzmüller 2022), and 3) multilingual speakers and their language use are often devaluated based on informal speech practices that are contrasted with a formal, standard-like norm of monolinguals (Wiese et al. 2022). This perspective on multilingualism is particularly dominant in monolingually biased societal macro contexts of the Global North, calling for an integration of perspectives from the Global South. Furthermore, the evaluation of registers has received less attention from both research on language attitude and language ideology. We consider registers broadly as the socially recurring linguistic response of speakers in a particular communicative situation (cf. Lüdeling & Alexiadou et al. 2019; Wiese 2021), covering varieties such as youth language, academic language, family language, or chat communication via social media.

This workshop aims to a) clarify the interplay between language attitudes, ideologies and register use, b) bring together perspectives from the Global South and North c) integrate different methods (e.g., interviews, surveys, corpus analysis, experiments) and d) integrate different theoretical approaches (e.g., variationist sociolinguistics, critical sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology). Naomi Truan, an expert in the area of language ideologies, will join as a discussant to synthesize the various perspectives and accounts presented in the workshop.

Questions that will be addressed include, but are not limited to:

• How do language ideologies and attitudes influence register use and the perception of its use?
• How does access to certain registers reflect power inequalities?
• What effects do language ideologies have on speakers (e.g., language insecurity)?
• How do different methods complement each other?
• What is the role of multilingualism for the evaluation of registers?
• What is the role of language prestige for the evaluation of registers?

We encourage submissions addressing these topics taking various theoretical and empirical perspectives and methodological approaches. Research areas include, but are not limited to:

• Sociolinguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Multilingualism research
• Contact linguistics
• Discourse linguistics.

Invited discussants and speakers:

• Naomi Truan (Leiden University)
• Rafael Lomeu Gomes (University of Oslo)

Abstract submission guidelines:

Abstracts should be anonymously submitted in PDF format and not exceed 500 words to idslrueg@hu-berlin.de using the subject line: DGfS 2024, AG11 submission.

Abstracts should also include three to five keywords.

Workshop format:

The workshop will take place in person, given the general workshop guidelines provide by the German Linguistics Society (DGfS).

The German Linguistics Society (DGfS) does not allow workshop participants to present two or more papers in different workshops as the first author.

Time for talks: 20 min presentation, 10 min discussion

Important deadlines:

Deadline for abstract submission: July 30, 2023, 23:59 CET  August 25, 2023, 23:95 CET

Notification of acceptance:  August 31, 2023 

References:

Dragojevic, Marco, Fasoli, Fabio, Cramer, Jennifer, and Rakić, Tamara. 2021. Toward a Century of Language Attitudes Research: Looking Back and Moving Forward. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 40(1), 60–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20966714

Lüdeling, Anke, Alexiadou, Artemis, et al. (2019, unpublished). Register. Language-Users’ Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation. Finanzierungsantrag CRC Register, submitted to Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft.

Spitzmüller, Jürgen. 2022. Soziolinguistik. Eine Einführung. Stuttgart: Metzler.

Wiese, Heike, Alexiadou, Artemis, Scarvaglieri, Claudio, and Schroeder, Christoph. (2022). Multilinguals as Others in society & academia. Challenges of belonging under a monolingual habitus. Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies, 302 (ed. Ben Rampton et al.). King’s College London.

Wiese, Heike. (2021). Communicative situations as a basis for linguistic systems: Integrating linguistic multi-competence with grammatical structure. Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 287 (ed. Ben Rampton et al.). King’s College London.