IMC 2018: Sessions

Since the mid-20th century, literary linguistics has established itself as a flourishing and productive academic field. Work in the field has provided insight into literature - its production, reception, and interpretation - while also inspiring modifications to existing linguistic theories, prompting changes to account for language that occurs in literature but may not occur in everyday communication situations. Recently, literary linguistics has begun to emerge as a viable tool for analyzing medieval texts, inspiring monographs (e.g., Antonina Harbus, Cognitive Approaches to Old English Poetry, 2012) and symposia, including 'Approaching the Historical: A Symposium of Early Modern and Medieval Stylistics', held in June 2017 at the University of Nottingham. Following on from this symposium and the ideas developed there, this session considers Old English texts from a literary linguistic perspective, covering topics as diverse as parenthesis, irony, and the preservation and definition of Old English 'style' in later periods. The session will shed light on the language and literature of the Anglo-Saxons, as well as the diachronic development of language and literature in the English language more broadly.