CFP: “Happy Talk”

Seen on the Classics list (sorry for the short notice on this one)

Happy Talk: Diversity of Speech in Greco-Roman Comedy and Satire

Sponsored by the Society for the Oral Reading of Greek and Latin Literature
Organized by Andrew S. Becker and Jerise Fogel

This panel will examine linguistic diversification in Greek and Roman comedy
& satire (broadly meant, to including any comic or satiric texts), including
dialect, socio-politically differentiated speech, ethnic language,
obscenity, tragicomic or parodic diction, musical and metrical variations,
gendered speech, syntactical variation, or generic play. The study of
language and linguistic turns in Greek and Roman comedy has been flourishing
in the past decade (e.g., the work of Colvin and Willi). Scholarly work on
orality and written discourse has also been a fertile seedbed, including but
not limited to the use of conventions from mime, tragedy, and Homeric
diction (e.g., Slings on comic imitation of vernacular speech and poetic
modes). Perhaps the most fertile source of the energy in the study of the
representation of language in Greek and Roman comedy & satire has been the
growing interest among classicists in the broader cultural contexts within
which the Greeks and Romans worked, played, wrote, and responded to dramatic
performances & satire. We hope to solicit new contributions to these (and
others) areas of research from scholars and performers interested in
exploring linguistic aspects, with a particular emphasis on the spoken joke,
word choice, expression of dialect in the Greek or Latin language, and the
use of speech to differentiate characters with respect to, e.g., class,
gender, ethnicity, status, or age. Presenters are asked to support,
illustrate, and enliven their papers by performing orally their chosen
ancient text or texts.

Abstracts should be sent as attachments to both Andrew S. Becker (Virginia
Tech, andrew.becker AT vt.edu) and Chris Ann Matteo (Stone Bridge High School,
camatteo AT mac.com) by March 15, 2011.

Abstracts must be no more than one page and contain no indication of
authorship. In accordance with APA regulations, all abstracts for papers
will be read anonymously by three outside readers. Please follow the
instructions for the format of individual abstracts that will appear in the
APA Program Guide.