Réunion éditoriale sur le manuel “Handbook on Language and Emotion”/ Editorial meeting on the “Handbook of Language and Emotion”

Séjour d’étude organisé par Gesine Lenore Schiewer du 27 Mai au 1er juin 2019.

Participants

Gesine Lenore Schiewer (Université of Bayreuth, Allemagne), Jeanette Altarriba (University of Albany, New York, USA), Bee Chin Ng (Nanyang Technological University, Singapour), Veronika Künkel (Université of Bayreuth, Allemagne).

Résumé

Le séjour des professeurs Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, Bee Chin Ng et leur assistante Veronika Künkel à la Fondation des Treilles avait pour thème principal le langage et les émotions. Au cours de leur séjour d’une semaine, elles se sont concentrées sur le manuel Langue et Émotion, qui a pour but de fournir une vue d’ensemble des approches et applications centrales dans le domaine du langage et de l’émotion. Après sa publication, cet ouvrage de plus de 100 chapitres sera une source de discours internationaux et démontrera que la recherche linguistique doit être considérée comme une discipline centrale de la recherche sur les émotions. Aux Treilles, des chercheurs d’Allemagne, d’Amérique et de Singapour ont eu l’occasion de se rencontrer, de discuter des manuscrits de collaborateurs internationaux et d’en assurer la qualité et la cohérence – une condition essentielle pour un manuel de cette taille et pour les lecteurs du monde entier.

Summary

Language and Emotion – this was the overarching subject during the residential study of Professors Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, Bee Chin Ng, and their assistant Veronika Künkel  at the Fondation des Treilles. During their one-week-stay, they completely focused on the Handbook on Language and Emotion that is to offer an overview covering central approaches and applications at the interface of language and emotion. Once published, the volume with over 100 chapters will constitute a resource for international discourses and demonstrate that language research has to be considered as a core discipline of emotion research. In the Fondation des Treilles, the editors from Germany, the U.S., and Singapore had the exceptional opportunity to come together, to discuss the manuscripts directly and to ensure quality and consistency – an issue that is pivotal for a handbook of this size and with authors spanning from all over the world.

Report

1. Background information

The residential study of Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Jeanette Altarriba, Bee Chin Ng, and Veronika Künkel in May/June 2019 at the Fondation des Treilles served as a workshop for the Handbook on Language and Emotion. It was of highest importance in order to lead the project towards the final steps of editorial work. In addition, it can be considered as a follow up to the Seminar on Language and Emotion in May 2018, which was kindly supported by the foundation as well.

The Handbook is co-edited by Gesine Schiewer (Universität Bayreuth, Germany), Jeanette Altarriba (University at Albany, SUNY, USA) and Bee Chin Ng (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) and will gather a comprehensive, and neutral overview over all central theories, approaches, and applications at the interface of language and emotion research. Until now, there has been no authoritative publication combining issues of historical and contemporary linguistics with emotion research, taking also its wide range of interdisciplinary approaches and fields of application into account. The book project involves contributions from 100 to 120 key authors working on the interdisciplinary topic of Language and Emotion. The contributors are from various parts of the world and the completed volume is under contract to be published by De Gruyter Mouton.

The above-mentioned first Seminar on Language and Emotion hosted at the Fondation des Treilles, was a crucial meeting point in the publishing process of the Handbook on Language and Emotion. It enabled the editors to assemble a group of 19 scholars to focus and work on the already submitted 59 chapters for the volume. The work of the seminar supported the reviewing fundamentally and served as a model in the review process for the manuscripts received after May 2018. Beyond that, the seminar can be considered as an example, which demonstrates the tremendous benefit in working together with researchers from different parts of the globe, various disciplines and diverse traditions.

2. Purposes and goals of the editorial meeting 2019

The residential study one year later in spring 2019 enabled the editors not only to sum up the work achieved since then, but to prepare and initiate the next important steps towards finalizing the handbook project. While the first seminar in les Treilles revealed that interdisciplinary and international work also implies intercultural work one important goal of the editorial meeting in 2019 was to find practical and acceptable ways to cope with the ensuing chances and challenges.

Using one language – namely English – seems to be an effective and comfortable way to foster exchange through disciplines and regions. Yet, it is important to be aware of and to retain the existing different traditions of thinking and working that are tied to the participants from around the globe. Hence, one of the editors’ major aims for the handbook is to guarantee high academic standards without suspending the intended and actually given plurality of academic traditions and ideas.

In view of the above, a further meeting of the editors was considered the best way to achieve these objectives. The residential study in Treilles provided the editors with the ideal setting to come together and to discuss the manuscripts in question. Especially the possibility to gather and exchange focused comments directly was of highest importance as the editors are far dispersed and usually only able to meet via SKYPE – always restricted by the different time zones in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. and their other institutional obligations. Their stay in les Treilles enabled them to concentrate on the project over an extended period of time that was critical to the advancement and the sustained momentum of the editorial process. In the work sessions and discussions during their stay in les Treilles they were able to work together to ensure quality and consistency – an issue which is paramount in a Handbook with over 100 chapters and with authors spanning from all over the world.

3. Results and next steps

In direct and intense exchange, the editors not merely forwarded further 35 first chapter reviews to the authors, but also developed guidelines to support a careful examining and reviewing of the already revised manuscripts. Furthermore, they were able to consult with the publisher and to send parts of these second-round reviews to the authors.

Thanks to the residential study, the editorial team is now well prepared to finish the second-round reviews. Together with their contributors they are paving the way for the copy-editing process now, which lies in the publisher’s hands. The presumed publication of the Handbook will be in late 2020 or at the beginning of 2021.