Experimental Pragmatics in Europe (EURO-XPRAG)

Summary

Research in pragmatics has seen accelerated growth over the last ten years because the field has engaged semanticists and has encouraged collaboration with experimentalists who have generated data by specifically testing between theories.  Taken together, the two linguistic domains are in a better position to resolve theoretical disputes, to advance beyond armchair theory-making and to make their theories more accessible to the cognitive science community at large.  Conversely, those who take an experimental approach to the investigation of pragmatic phenomena have benefited from having multiple theories at their disposal as provided by semantics and pragmatics.  The upshot has been the emergence of an interdisciplinary field known as Experimental Pragmatics.  Although this field has advanced considerably due to multiple individual efforts, these evolving collaborations are in need of a permanent platform. 

The primary facilitator of this network has been a series of very successful workshops and conferences on Experimental Pragmatics across Europe that began 9 years ago and that intensified over the course of the last 6. The Euro-XPrag Network aims to continue to support this kind of research and maintain its leadership role worldwide.  The programme represents 14 member countries and includes researchers who are recognized independently for their work in Semantics, Pragmatics and Psychology.

Duration

Four years from 16 June 2009 to 15 June 2013.

External website

More information is available on the external  EURO-XPRAG website.