The conference

About Clavier:

CLAVIER (Corpus and LAnguage Variation In English Research) is an interuniversity research centre founded in 2008 at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and is currently based there. Among the original members were the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Bergamo, Firenze, Milano, Modena and Reggio Emilia, Roma “La Sapienza”, Siena and Trieste. The Universities of Bari, Calabria, Pisa, and Roma Tre have since joined CLAVIER. The members of CLAVIER share a methodological framework combines two complementary strands of linguistic investigation – corpus analysis and discourse analysis – to research on language variation in English, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. Thus, one of the main aims of CLAVIER is to contribute to an integration of quantitative and qualitative methods in research on language variation in terms of diachronic, geographic and socio-cultural dimensions through the methodological tools offered by corpora. Particular attention is also given to the analysis of different genres and methodological registers.

About the Conference:

Never before has the relationship between human beings and the natural world been placed under such a strain and such a scrutiny as it is today. Climate change, natural resource depletion, plastic pollution and the emergence of novel diseases are only some of the challenges directly or indirectly related to our Age of the Anthropocene. The very concept of environmental sustainability – quite possibly one of the defining concepts of 21st century policy thinking – revolves around our relationship with nature, and it is on the way we understand this relationship that our approaches to addressing environmental issues depend.

Discourses of nature and the environment are various and manifold, and make for a complex scenario riddled with tensions. Many of these tensions originate from the different ways in which environmental problems are “framed,” i.e. how specific aspects of such problems are selected and given salience in discourse. Identifying and analysing the frames deployed in environmental discourses is therefore crucial not only to understand our relationship with the environment, but also to find ways to foster the cultural and behavioural changes which can ensure the future of the planet.

Framing nature: discourses past and present of nature and the environment aims to provide an arena for the discussion of these issues and topics with a focus on the role of language and discourse in promoting a sustainability perspective.