Section "Language, Culture, and Society"

This section primarily addresses doctoral students who are concerned with the interrelation of (the systems, uses, and ideologies of) language and social/cultural contexts from an applied linguistic perspective or the perspective of a language-oriented (not necessarily linguistic) discipline. Drawing on interactional and constructive accounts (among others), this relation is basically regarded as dynamic within the section. In other words, neither ‘language’ nor ‘culture’ or ‘society’ are understood as fixed and clearly delimitable entities that can be determined a priori, but rather as interactionally/discursively constructed or contextualized phenomena. Within the section, however, we do not presuppose specific notions of language, culture, or society. Rather than that, we are interested in discussions on how language/culture/society and their relation might be construed; or more precisely put: how language can be construed within the concrete contexts of its use and reflection, including the consequences of systematic formations, usage practices and language ideologies for communicative actors (users and learners of languages).

Potential disciplinary allocations consist of (but are not limited to) interactional, ethnographic, and critical forms of sociolinguistics, discourse-theoretical approaches, pragmatic and social semiotic accounts, language teaching and learning, research on the linguistic and social consequences of mobility (e.g., in the context of migration and diaspora), as well as research on communication in institutions and organizations, in politics, the media, the educational sector and in other societal fields and domains. The scope encompasses different modalities as well as multimodal communication. The doctoral theses that emerge in the context of this section might have a more empirical or a more theoretical or methodological focus (or locate themselves on the intersection of these dimensions). Methodically, the section embraces diversity as well. We are looking forward to methodical plurality and triangulation and generally to inspiring methodological discussion among the peers of the section.