8th International Symposium on Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics (EPICS VIII)

EPICS VIII seeks to provide a forum for practitioners of pragmatics and other related disciplines to present on their latest research from social, cognitive or intercultural perspectives, as well as to suggest new avenues for research and share experiences. EPICS VIII also wishes to create awareness among graduate students of the interest in pragmatics within the broad field of linguistics.

1. Conference Presentations Types
Organizers welcome original papers, written in English, on any of the subjects that come within the list of conference topics below or on any other related topic. Presentations can be made in any of the following types:

A) Individual oral presentations: These must be 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

B) Themed panels: These must contain a number of thematically-related papers, each of which must be 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Proposals for panels should also include a chair.

C) Posters
Participants presenting a poster must obey the following norms:

• Posters should be no larger than 118,9 x 84,1 cm (A0).


• They may be printed in colour or in black and white.


• Poster presenters must bring a printed copy of their poster with them to the conference. Note that there will not be printing facilities at the conference venue. Presenters will also be responsible for displaying the poster and turning it down at the time and in the place designated by the conference organisers.

2. Topics

EPICS VIII focuses on the influence of culture, context and/or cognition on both production and comprehension of discourse. Accordingly, topics for presentations may include, but are not exclusively limited to, the following:

• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors affecting production and comprehension of language/discourse in face-to-face or mediated (by telephone, computer, etc.) communication in a variety of genres (included social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and settings (classroom, parliaments, service encounters, etc.)


• Culture, context and pragmatic processes in comprehension


• Culture, context and morphology, lexicon, syntax and/or prosody


• Culture, context and figures of speech (irony, metaphor, hyperbole, etc.)


• Culture, context and types of discourse (professional, academic, political, religious, humorous, etc.)


• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors determining the expression and processing of emotions in communication


• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors affecting the projection and understanding of identity


• Believing, culture and epistemic vigilance


• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors intervening in (im)politeness and relational work in a diverse settings and communication modes


• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors in language aggression and conflict


• Online vs. offline communication and discourse


• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors in face-to-face or mediated service encounters


• (Socio)Cultural and cognitive factors in evaluations of service encounters and customer satisfaction


• Cultural and cognitive factors affecting translation and interpreting


• Experimental testing