【参加募集】2026年6月20-21日開催, The 3rd East Asian Pragmatics Conference

[parkjiy...@gmail.com]

メーリングリストの  皆様、

蔚山大学（韓国）の朴智娟と申します。

このたび、アジア言語（日本語・韓国語・中国語など）における談話標識（Discourse Markers）をテーマとした国際会議を、2026年6月20日～21日に亜洲大学（韓国・京畿道）にて開催いたします。

つきましては、下記のテーマに関するパネル発表の要旨を、12月31日まで募集いたします。

Panel Call for Papers

The 3rd East Asian Pragmatics Conference

Title: Navigating the Flow: Discourse Markers in East Asian Lingua-Cultures

Dates: June 20-21, 2026

Location: Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea

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Panel Theme and Rationale

Discourse markers (DMs)—those seemingly small but pragmatically powerful words and phrases like well, so, you know, or I mean in English—are fundamental to structuring discourse, managing interaction, and constructing social meaning. While extensively studied in Western languages, their form, function, and cultural grounding in East Asian lingua-cultures present a rich and complex terrain that demands further exploration.

This panel aims to move beyond a simple "form-function" checklist and delve into the intricate relationship between discourse markers and the specific socio-pragmatic norms of East Asian societies. We are particularly interested in how DMs reflect and reinforce cultural concepts such as omoiyari (思いやり, anticipatory empathy) in Japanese, kibun (기분) and nunchi (눈치) in Korean, and the management of guanxi (关系) and miànzi (面子, face) in Chinese contexts.

We seek to bring together linguists, pragmaticians, conversation analysts, and sociolinguists to investigate how these linguistic particles navigate the flow of conversation, signal epistemic stance, maintain interpersonal harmony, and index cultural identities across different genres and modalities.

Key Topics of Interest

We welcome submissions on any aspect of discourse markers in East Asian languages, including but not limited to:

• Cross-linguistic and Cross-cultural Comparisons: Contrastive studies of functionally similar DMs in, for example, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese. How does the use of a final particle in Cantonese (e.g., 啊 aa3, 啦 laa1) compare to a sentence-final particle in Japanese (e.g., ね ne, よ yo) or a connective or an interjection in Korean (e.g., 그런데 geureonde, 어 eo)?
• DMs and Cultural Pragmatics: The role of DMs in enacting and maintaining cultural norms, such as indirectness, politeness, deference, and in-group/out-group dynamics.
• DMs in Spoken vs. Written Discourse: The variation in the use and frequency of DMs across different registers, from casual conversation and storytelling to academic lectures, news broadcasts, and computer-mediated communication (social media, texting, online forums).
• DMs and Stance-Taking: How DMs are used to express speaker subjectivity, epistemic certainty/uncertainty, evidentiality, and affective stance.
• Acquisition and Development: The acquisition of DMs by L1 and L2 learners of East Asian languages. What are the challenges, and what does this reveal about their pragmatic complexity?
• DMs in Language Contact and Change: The borrowing and adaptation of DMs in contexts of language contact, both within East Asia and in diaspora communities.
• Methodological Innovations: Papers employing novel methodologies, including corpus linguistics, experimental pragmatics, and multimodal conversation analysis, to uncover new insights into DM usage.
• Under-Represented Varieties: Studies on DMs in other Sinitic languages (e.g., Hokkien, Hakka), Ryukyuan languages, or other regional varieties of the major East Asian languages.

 Submission Guidelines

We invite abstracts for 20-minute presentations (followed by 10 minutes of discussion).

• Abstract Length: 1,000 words (excluding references)
• Content: Abstracts should clearly state the research question, methodology, data, and (preliminary) findings.
• Format: word file. Please include the paper title, abstract, and 3-5 keywords.
• Submission Email: eapc2026s...@gmail.com

In your submission email or on a separate cover page, please include:

• Author name(s)
• Affiliation(s)
• Contact email
• Presentation title

Important Dates

• Abstract Submission Deadline: December 31, 2025
• Notification of Acceptance: February 28, 2026
• Full Paper Submission Deadline: March 30, 2026

• Contact Information

For any inquiries, please contact the panel organizers

Dr. Yansheng Mao (wilt...@163.com), Harbin Engineering University

Dr. Hyun Sook Lee (morning...@yahoo.com), Jangan University

 

We look forward to your submissions and to a vibrant discussion on the nuances of discourse across East Asian lingua-cultures!