Convenors:Dominika Beneš Kováčová (University of Ostrava, Czech Republic)dominika.kovacova@osu.czMassimiliano Demata (University of Catania, Italy) massimiliano.demata@unict.itJiří Lukl (University of Ostrava, Czech Republic) jiri.lukl@osu.cz With the challenges and crises of recent years, digital disinformation texts (in popular – though not always precise – usage also referred to as ‘fake news’) have become increasingly popular and seem to have gained ground among various groups of internet users. Defined as “false information [that] is knowingly shared to cause harm” (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017), disinformation is essentially the result of one’s text production – shaped by the author’s intentions that manifest themselves in the text’s intentionality (cf. Haugh & Jaszczolt, 2012) – and its spread is contingent on the readers’perception and further interaction with it. While previous (primarily quantitative) studies of disinformation texts have mainly focused on disinformation detection by identifying recurrent grammatical patterns and stylistic features (e.g., Grieve & Woodfield, 2023), this seminar seeks to bring together contributions that expand this research and underline the relevance and potential of qualitative analyses of disinformation discourse currently on the rise (e.g., Maci et al., 2024). Acknowledging the methodological and ethical challenges this kind of research faces, the seminar takes into account the diversity of the topics disinformation texts are devoted to (e.g., immigration, conflicts, climate change, conspiracy theories) as well as the variety of their discursive structures and formats (e.g., anti-establishment websites, social media posts, online broadcasts). Given the impact disinformation texts are likely to exert both online and outside the digital environment, the seminar also aims to emphasize that adding a critical dimension to the analysis may be necessary in certain contexts. Considering the above, we invite contributions exploring disinformation texts from a qualitative linguistic perspective that address (but are not restricted to) the following areas: – recurrent linguistic and multimodal strategies– adopted argumentative strategies– linguistic differences between mainstream news and disinformation texts (e.g., information-structural, lexical and other features)– uptake and audience reactions to disinformation texts– cross-linguistic differences between disinformation texts References:Grieve, J., & Woodfield, H. (2023). The Language of Fake News. Cambridge University Press.Haugh, M., & Jaszczolt, K. M. (2012). Speaker Intentions and Intentionality. In K. Allan and K. M. Jaszczolt (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Pragmatics (pp. 87-122). Cambridge University Press.Maci, S. M., Demata, M., McGlashan, M., & Seargeant, P. (Eds.). (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Discourse and Disinformation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003224495Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information Disorder: Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy Making. Council of Europe. https://edoc.coe.int/en/media/7495-information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-research-and-policy-making.html Deadline for the submission of proposals for seminar papers (300 words excl.bibliographical references) to seminar convenors: 31 January 2026For further information, see the conference website: www.esse2026.com
