2023

On 25th May Prof. Sonia Massai (King’s College, London) will deliver the first “Alessandro Serpieri Lecture”, entitled: The Operation of Individual Judgement: In Praise of Critical Editing The event will take place at 11 a.m. at the University of Verona (Polo Santa Marta – STC). The Lectures intend to render homage to the memory of Prof. Alessandro Serpieri, eminent Shakespeare scholar and inspirer and co-founder of the Skenè publications since 2014. The Lectures will be held annually at the Skenè Centre as part of the Skenè activities promoted by the General Editors of the new Skenè. Shakespeare series, Silvia Bigliazzi, Fernando Cioni, Rocco Coronato, and Keir Elam. By this initiative, the Editors wish to express their gratitude to the late Alessandro Serpieri for his generous teaching and friendship also by annually programming meetings and discussions dedicated to some of the topics he especially cherished. Please write to skene@ateneo.univr.it to confirm your in-person attendance by 20 May, or  to be sent the Zoom link if you wish to attend online. Alessandro Serpieri Lecture – The Operation of Individual Judgement: In Praise of Critical Editing – Skenè (univr.it)

Spring Seminars on Romanticism 2023 – Università degli Studi di Bari, 18-19 maggio 2023   Gli “Spring Seminars on Romanticism 2023” sono organizzati dal Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo, sede di Bari, con il patrocinio e dell’Associazione Italiana di Anglistica e del Centro Interdipartimentale Ricerche sulla Pace “Giuseppe Nardulli” (UniBa). Le giornate rinnovano una ventennale tradizione di incontro e scambio tra numerosi membri della comunità scientifica internazionale dedita allo studio del Romanticismo britannico.    “Wars and Peace” è il titolo, di tragica attualità, dell’edizione 2023, che esplora l’argomento da diverse prospettive e presenta importanti attraversamenti disciplinari, coinvolgendo gli studi letterari, linguistici e storico-culturali. Una “Special Session” in memoria dell’illustre romanticista Frederick Burwick, recentemente scomparso, si svolgerà presso la Pinacoteca Metropolitana “Corrado Giaquinto”. La sessione culmina con la performance musicale (prima esecuzione in tempi moderni), di brani per voci soliste e in ensemble tratti dalla versione teatrale del Manfred di Byron (Covent Garden, 29.10.1834) con musica di Henry Bishop su libretto di Alfred Bunn.  

Call For Papers   Im/politeness on the Big Screen  Friday 1st December 2023, University of Naples L’Orientale  Im/politeness is an integral part of the language, aesthetic value and cultural significance of  cinema. The conference seeks to analyse the languages of im/politeness in a variety of  cinematic texts (shorts, featurettes and feature films). Pragmatics, stylistics, multimodal  analysis, characterization, and conversation analysis are particularly relevant for investigating  im/politeness as conversational behaviour in cinematic discourse. With a focus on areas such  as banter, mock-politeness, irony, humour, and related phenomena, the conference will  explore the interconnections between these linguistic and social practices across cinematic  texts.  We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers (in Italian or English) on a broad range of topics  related to im/politeness in cinematic discourse. While we encourage submissions on the  following themes, we also welcome related contributions:  Im/politeness and characterization in cinema;  Innovative approaches to analysing linguistic and multimodal im/politeness;  Banter, pseudo/mock-politeness and similar phenomena (irony, humour, etc.);  Impoliteness and storytelling in cinema;  Further methodological considerations regarding analysis of film dialogues;  Taboo language;  Audio-visual translation and Im/politeness Theory.  Overall, this conference aims to provide a platform for interdisciplinary discussion on  im/politeness strategies in cinema. We welcome contributions from scholars across various  disciplines, including, among others: linguistic pragmatics, stylistics, film and media studies,  and sociolinguistics.  Abstracts (250 words max.) should be sent as email attachments in .doc or .docx format to  abeville@unior.it and emma.pasquali@uniecampus.it by 16/06/2023.  Abstracts should include:  ➔ full name;  ➔ academic position;  ➔ affiliation;  ➔ contact information (email);  ➔ up to 5 keywords;  ➔ up to 5 key references. Notice of acceptance will be sent by 31/07/2023.  A selection of papers will be proposed for publication in a collection of essays.  Organising and Scientific Committee  Aoife Beville (University of Naples L’Orientale)  Emma Pasquali (eCampus University)  Selected bibliography  Androutsopoulos, Jannis. 2012. “Introduction: Language and Society in Cinematic  Discourse”. Multilingua 31 (2–3): 139–54.  Bousfield, Derek. 2007. “‘Never a Truer Word Said in Jest’: A Pragmastylistic Analysis of  Impoliteness as Banter in Henry IV, Part I”. Pp. 209–20 in Contemporary Stylistics,  edited by M. Lambrou and P. Stockwell. London; New York: Continuum.  Brown, Penelope, and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in  Language Usage. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press  Chepinchikj, Neda and Thompson, Celia. 2016. “Analysing cinematic discourse using  conversation analysis”, Discourse, Context & Media, 14:40-53.  Culpeper, Jonathan. 1996. “Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness”. Journal of Pragmatics 25(3):349–67.  Culpeper, Jonathan. 2001. Language and Characterisation: People in Plays and Other  Texts. Harlow England, New York: Longman.  Culpeper, Jonathan. 2011. Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge  University Press.  Dynel, Marta. 2011. “‘I’ll Be There for You!’ On Participation-Based Sitcom Humour”. Pp.  311–34 in The Pragmatics of Humour across Discourse Domains, edited by M.  Dynel. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.  Dynel, Marta. 2016. “Conceptualizing Conversational Humour as (Im)Politeness: The  Case of Film Talk”. Journal of Politeness Research 12 (1): 117–47.  Dynel, Marta. 2017. “(Im)Politeness and Telecinematic Discourse”. In Pragmatics of  Fiction, edited by Miriam A. Locher and Andreas H. Jucker, 455–88. Berlin: De  Gruyter Mouton.  Janney, Richard. 2012. “Pragmatics and Cinematic Discourse”. In Lodz Papers in  Pragmatics 8.   Kádár, Dániel Z., and Michael Haugh. 2013. Understanding Politeness. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.  Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual  Design. Second Edition. London: Routledge.  Leech, Geoffrey. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.  McIntyre, Dan. 2008. “Integrating Multimodal analysis and the stylistics of drama: a  multimodal perspective on Ian McKellen’s Richard III”. In Language and Literature 17(4): 309-334. Nørgaard, Nina. 2010. “Multimodal Stylistics: the Happy Marriage of Stylistics and  Semiotics”. In Semiotics: Theory and Applications, edited by S. C. Hamel, 255-260.  Nova Science Publishers.   — . 2014. “Multimodality and Stylistics”. In The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics, edited  by Michael Burke, 471-485. Oxon: Routledge.  Piazza, Roberta, Monika Bednarek, and Fabio Rossi. 2011. Telecinematic Discourse:  Approaches to the Language of Films and Television Series. Amsterdam: John  Benjamins Publishing Company.  Toolan, Michael. 2014. “Stylistics and Film”. In The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics,  edited by Michael Burke, 455–69. Routledge.

CALL FOR PAPERS Figurative Thought and Language (FTL 7) Cognitive, bodily, and cultural processes in Figurative Thought and Language University of Genova, Dipartimento di Lingue e Culture Moderne 20-22 September 2023 https://sites.google.com/view/ftl7symposium/home-page The 7th International Symposium on Figurative Thought and Language (FTL 7) will be organised by the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Genoa. Following the previous biannual meetings, which have gathered scholars working on the broad spectrum of figuration, the theme of this year’s meeting is Cognitive, bodily, and cultural processes in Figurative Thought and Language. We invite contributions from different theoretical (cognitive linguistics, cognitive science, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology), methodological (experimental protocols, cross-linguistic comparison, synchronic and diachronic analyses, corpus studies, quantitative and qualitative analyses), and applied perspectives dealing with the role of figuration in motivating linguistic phenomena and conceptual processes. Suggested topics include (but are not restricted to): – role of figuration in morphology, syntax, lexis, semantics, pragmatics; – role of figuration in grammar (grammatical constructions, grammatical categories, parts-of-speech); – role of figuration in grammaticalization; – role of figuration in synchronic and diachronic language change and variation; – figurative elaboration of perceptual stimuli; – figuration in different types of discourse (e.g., business, media, literature, law, politics, science, sports, religion, psychotherapy, etc.); – cognitive stylistics; – corpus-based approaches to figuration; – experimental protocols, quantitative and statistical analyses of figurative mechanisms; – cultural variation of figurative mechanisms; – emotional aspects of figurative language; – development of figurative language in first and second language acquisition; – figuration in artificial intelligence; – figuration in gestures and sign languages; – multimodal figuration in images, music, cultural artifacts and practices; – humour, irony, sarcasm; Invited Speakers: Anna Borghi, Sapienza Università di Roma, IT Laura Hidalgo Downing, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, SP Chloe Harrison, Aston University, UK Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibañez, Universidad de La Rioja, SP SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACT has been extended to 30th May 2023. – The abstract, both in a .pdf and a .doc(x) format, should be sent to the following address: ftl7symposium@gmail.com – Abstracts should not exceed 500 words (including examples, and excluding figures and references), and should include 5 keywords and state research questions, approach, method, data and (expected) results. – Abstracts should be written using Times New Roman 12, single spaced, with a minimal use of special fonts, a minimum of figures and tables, and no footnotes. – All abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by two referees, members of the Scientific Committee. – Please, do not mention the author’s name, institution or address in the abstract. – The subject header of your email should include: FTL7 submission – name(s). – Please include the following information in the main body of your email: (1) name of author(s), (2) affiliation, (3) title of the presentation, (4) email address(es). – SUBMITTING MULTIPLE PAPERS. In order to guarantee diversity, nobody is allowed to present or co-present more than two papers (EITHER one as first author and one as co-author OR two as co-author).

CLAVIER 2023 Framing nature: discourses past and present of nature and the environment A sustainability perspective 23-24 November 2023 Università degli Studi di Milano, Department of Languages, literatures, cultures and mediations Piazza Indro Montanelli 1 Sesto San Giovanni, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy Among the problems troubling the 21st century, particularly salient are those concerning the environment. In what is commonly referred to as the Age of the Anthropocene, the relationship between human beings and the natural world is at the heart not only of extensively debated problems such as climate change and the depletion of natural resources, (micro-)plastic pollution and the consequences of nuclear disasters, but also of issues such as the management of the global economy and the likelihood of the emergence of novel diseases, of which Covid-19 is only the latest. The very concept of environmental sustainability – quite possibly one of the defining concepts of 21st century policy thinking – revolves around this relationship, and it is on the way we understand it that our approaches to addressing environmental issues depend. This understanding is shaped by a broad array of beliefs, assumptions and convictions which vary, evolve, stratify and cross-fertilize across times and cultures, all of which come to bear – at least potentially – on contemporary environmental discourse. Indeed, the plethora of issues which fall within such discourse make for a complex scenario riddled with tensions, many of which originate from the different ways in which environmental problems are “framed,” i.e. how specific aspects of such problems are selected and given salience in discourse so as “to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (Entman 1993: 52). The multiple framings that can be identified differ in terms of values, priorities, perspectives and predictions – and therefore, following Entman, the remedies they suggest and the recommendations they put forth to avoid what is increasingly recognised as impending disaster. Identifying and analysing the frames deployed in environmental discourse, as well as their historical, cultural and philosophical roots, is therefore crucial not only to understand underlying assumptions about the relationship between human beings and the environment, but also to explore the way in which the need for behavioural change (or lack thereof) both on a collective and an individual level can be convincingly argued. Moreover, since framing is a decisive step in the construction of arguments which affect the outcome of a debate (van Eemeren and Houtlosser 1999), it is all the more essential to analyse its role in a form of discourse which is inevitably mobilised in the service of action (or inaction). This call for papers invites contributions on the above-mentioned topics. We are seeking research papers, case studies, and theoretical contributions that address the framings and understandings of nature and the environment across time, space, media and discourses. Potential topics for submission may include, but are not limited to:  Framing (of) nature across time and space  Cultural differences in framing environmental problems  The role of media in shaping environmental discourse  Framing climate change  The politics of framing  The framing of sustainability  Framing environmental activism  The ethics of framing with respect to nature and the environment  The role of science and ideology in environmental discourse  The future of environmental discourse We welcome submissions (max 300 words plus five references) from scholars and researchers in the fields of linguistics, translation, and interpreting, discourse analysis, argumentation theory, rhetoric and related disciplines, as well as from other associated fields. Interdisciplinary perspectives are especially welcome. As part of the Clavier event series, the conference will feature a special strand on corpus linguistics approaches. Proposals can be submitted for individual papers (20 minutes + 10 minutes for discussion), posters and panels. Proposals for panels for up to 5 papers (for a 2-hour session) should include a short description of the panel (150 words max) and the titles of the individual papers included in the panel. Panel organizers should pre-select panel contributions. Panels featuring more than five participants may be arranged upon request subject to space and time availability. Panel participants should also submit their proposals individually, following the Submission Guidelines and clearly indicating the title of the panel they will be presenting on. The language of the conference is English. Submission Guidelines: Proposals should be clearly structured, with theoretical contributions highlighting the innovative aspects of the proposed models, and analyses clearly outlining aim, materials, methodological approach and expected results. Please use the APA citation style for your references. All submissions should be made electronically via email to the conference email-address (Clavier2023@unimi.it), along with a cover letter indicating the author’s name, affiliation, contact information and title of contribution. In their (anonymous) submissions, authors should clearly indicate minimum 3 and maximum 5 keywords, and they should specify their preference for paper delivery or poster presentation. The latter may be especially suited to early-career researchers or to presentations of work-in- progress. Confirmed plenary speakers: Jonathan Charteris-Black, UWE Bristol Giuliana Garzone, Univeristà IULM Martin Reisigl, Universität Wien Arran Stibbe, University of Gloucestershire Conference Chair: Paola Catenaccio Organising committee Lucia Berti, Jekaterina Nikitina, Letizia Paglialunga, Massimo Sturiale Scientific Committee Cinzia Bevitori, Università di Bologna Marina Bondi, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia Nicholas Brownlees, Università degli Studi di Firenze Gloria Cappelli, Università degli Studi di Pisa Jonathan Charteris-Black, UWE Bristol Belinda Crawford, Università della Calabria Chiara Degano, Università di Roma 3 Marina Dossena, Università degli Studi di Bergamo Roberta Facchinetti, Università degli Studi di Verona Daniele Franceschi, Università degli Studi di Roma 3 Giuliana Garzone, Università IULM Kim Grego, Università degli Studi di Milano Stefania Maci, Università degli Studi di Bergamo Giovanna Mapelli, Università degli Studi di Milano Denise Milizia, Università degli Studi di Bari Renzo Mocini, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” Bettina Mottura, Università degli Studi di Milano Maria Cristina Paganoni, Università degli Studi di Milano Giuseppe Palumbo, Università degli Studi di Trieste Martin Reisigl, Universität Wien Katherine Elizabeth Russo, Università di Napoli

‘Negative solidarities’. The age of anger and hate speech in the Anglophone globalized public sphere  International Conference, November 9-10, palazzo Du Mesnil, University of Naples L’Orientale  When in 2017 Pankaj Mishra published Age of Anger: A History of the Present, he devised an iconic title for a shared contemporary condition. In articulating a widespread sense of general angst and resentment, Mishra reconsidered notions of traditional political theory to compare the “unprecedented political, economic and social disorder that accompanied the rise of the industrial capitalist economy” to the perplexing present of new holy wars and ideological crusades which have left few democracies untouched. Rejuvenated forms of nihilistic political violence and parochial chauvinism are arguably infecting much vaster geopolitical realities and wider strata of the population, thereby propelling local and global waves of loathing and fear, shaping national and international forms of right-wing extremism and/or religious fundamentalism and terrorism.  Although they travel transnationally, all over the world, forms of ‘negative solidarity’ (Arendt, Men in Dark Times, 1968) manifest themselves in local adaptations. They prosper due to the weakening and severe limits of the impoverished welfare state which is unable to dispel a generalized perception of insecurity and disposability and produces systemic mistrust in personal agency and a correlated thirst for ‘problem-solving’ authoritarianism. Such insecurity and sense of disposability makes some individuals more prone to inventing scapegoats (e.g., intellectuals, elites, minorities such as Muslims, women, Blacks, Jews, and even mainstream politicians) for their real or imagined problems. Even the threat of global climate change tends to generate blind forms of social anxiety, pessimism and anti scientific conspiracy theories instead of inspiring cooperative action. Moreover, neoliberal schemes of ruthless economic competition and free enterprise rhetoric create exasperated expectancies of individual self-distinction and economic realization fostering bitter feelings of resentment, disappointment, and frustration. The universalization of the culture of individualism has led to a frenetic pace of ever-accelerating rugged competition, and a clamorous, vociferous public sphere where social media accentuate social hierarchies thus catalyzing a toxic mix of anomie and sectarianism.  In this scenario, negative affects and solidarities become key terms to capture the fluid dynamics of communication and everyday human behaviour. The vernacular and pervasive circulation of negative affects such as anger, loathing and fear is perhaps most visible in hate speech, fiercely expressed from a protected and sometimes anonymous position in digitally networked communication technologies. Overt or covert hate speech towards specific social groups who are viewed as minorities and/or vulnerable based on their religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation have seeped in everyday online and offline conversation yet hate speech should also be analysed in terms of a wider and new understanding of the politics and culture of anger and hate. In this light, the interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary literary and artistic expression, media and social media communication may illuminate the logics by which new forms of expression emerge, for example, in moments of crisis and conflict in search for solidarity or joint action.  The present call for papers invites proposals focusing on the socio-political and cultural significance of manifestations of negative solidarities in the ‘Age of Anger’ and ‘Hate Speech’ and their representations in literature, film, tv, the performing and visual arts, as well as in news media and social media communication, and historical and political discourse.  We invite proposals on topics including, but not limited to:  – Religion and anger  – Gender and anger – Ethnicity, marginalization and anger  – Communalism Vs Community  – Isolation and competition  – Entrepreneurialism, social greed  – Geo-political fields of tension  – Post-imperial melancholies, global fears  – Hate speech, xenophobia and racism  – Hate speech and disability  – Hate speech and sexism  – Visualizing terror, representing angst  – Storytelling and trauma  – Narration as antidote against poisonous socialization  – Literary/artistic forms of activism  Please, send an abstract (either in English or Italian) of about 300 words, including title and bibliography, and a short bio with affiliation to dvitolo@unior.it and gscottodicarlo@unior.it (in Cc to rciocca@unior.it )  Deadline for abstracts: May 15, 2023  Notification of acceptance: June 5, 2023  Scientific Committee:  Giuseppe Balirano, Rossella Ciocca, Katherine E. Russo, Tiziana Terranova  Organising Committee:  Vincenzo Bavaro, Anna Maria Cimitile, Mara De Chiara, Giuseppe De Riso, Alberto Manco, Stamatia Portanova, Giuseppina Scotto di Carlo, Anna Mongibello, Daniela Vitolo