4th International Conference of the American Pragmatics Association (AMPRA)

November 1-3, 2018

State University of New York, Albany (USA)

Call for papers

The goal of the conference is to promote both theoretical and applied research in pragmatics, and bring together scholars who are interested in different subfields of pragmatics (philosophical, linguistic, cognitive, social, intercultural, interlanguage, etc.). Four main topics of the conference are as follows:

1. Pragmatics theories: neo-Gricean approaches, relevance theory, theory of mind, meaning, role of context, common ground, semantics-pragmatics interface, explicature, implicature, grammaticalization, speech act theory, presuppositions, im/politeness, etc.

2. Experimental pragmatics: models of language and meaning, experimental techniques, scalar implicatures, reference resolution, interpretation of figurative language, etc.

3. Intercultural, cross-cultural and societal aspects of pragmatics: research involving more than one language and culture or varieties of one language, intercultural pragmatics, interlanguage pragmatics, variational pragmatics, social pragmatics, lingua franca, computer mediated communication (CMC), bilinguals’ and heritage speakers’ language use, intercultural misunderstandings, effect of dual language and multilingual systems on the development and use of pragmatic skills, language of aggression and conflict, etc.

4. Applications: usage and corpus-based approaches, pragmatic competence, teachability and learnability of pragmatic skills, pragmatic variations within one language and across languages, developmental pragmatics, cyber pragmatics, etc.

Keynote Speakers

Betty Birner (Northern Illinois University, USA)

Ira Noveck (Institut des Sciences Cognitives – Marc Jeannerod, Paris, France)

Jason Stanley (Yale University, USA)

Abstract Submission

Abstracts must be 300 words max. in length (not including references), and must include title of paper. 

Submissions are limited to one individual and one joint abstract per person.

Abstracts & proposals for all presentation formats will be submitted through EasyAbstracts (system will open on October 1, 2017). When submitting the abstract or proposal, please specify the format you prefer. (If your paper is accepted we may recommend another format to you.)

Presentation Formats:

Panels: Panel organizers are expected to send their proposal (max. 400 words) with a list of possible participants to the conference committee. Panel sessions will be scheduled for no more than two time-slots (2x90 minutes). 

Roundtables:

Roundtable organizers can invite no more than six scholars to discuss one or more issues in any subfield of pragmatics. Contributions to the roundtable can be in different formats such as short debate-starters, opinion-summaries, questions, etc.

Traditional Presentations:

Papers submitted for this format must be research papers that present the results of a research project.

Accepted papers will get 30 minutes for presentation, including discussion time.

Short Presentations:

Papers submitted for this format must be statement papers, work-in progress papers or opinion papers.

Accepted papers will get 20 minutes for presentation, including discussion time.

Poster Presentations:

A poster presentation functions like an advertisement of an on-going project. It combines text and graphics to present the project in a way that is visually interesting and accessible.

There are two dates for acceptance:

Early Acceptance for those who need to know the result of the review earlier for travel plans and/or grant applications:

Deadline: February 15th, 2018

Notification of Acceptance: March 15, 2018

Late Acceptance:

Deadline: May 15, 2018 (no abstracts will be processed after this date)

Notification of Acceptance: June 15th, 2018

Conference fee

Regular registration: $250 (before September 15th, 2018)

Early bird registration (before June 1st, 2018): $210

Students (with valid I.D.): $100

Conference fee covers attendance to all sessions, lunches and coffee/tea breaks during the conference, welcome reception, conference materials and kit.

AMPRA membership:

Prospective participants are not required to be AMPRA members. However, if the abstract is accepted for presentation and the successful submitter wishes to participate at the conference s/he must be the member of AMPRA. The membership fee is $50 dollars for a year for non-students, and $30 for students. Membership fees can be paid at the AMPRA website: https://americanpragmaticsassociation.org/

If someone does not make a presentation, and just wants to be present at the conference, it is not necessary for him/her to be an AMPRA member.

Conference dinner fee is $50, payable together with the registration fee.

Executive Members of the Organizing Committee:

Monika Kirner-Ludwig (Chair of Organizing Committee, State University of New York, Albany, USA)

Alison Olin (Executive Secretary of Organizing Committee, State University of New York, Albany, USA)

Anne Bezuidenhout (AMPRA Executive Secretary, University of South Carolina, USA)

Istvan Kecskes (AMPRA President, State University of New York, Albany, USA)

Lindy Comstock (Head of AMPRA Graduate Student Committee, UCLA, USA)

Zhiqi Gong (Doctoral Student, State University of New York, Albany, USA)

Email of the chair of OC: mkirner-ludwig@albany.edu For more information about the conference, please contact us at ampra4albany@gmail.com

or visit the AMPRA website https://americanpragmaticsassociation.org or conference website: TBD