Pure Language, Good Behaviour. Linguistic Purism and Aesthetics of Manners in Early Modern Conversation Literature (A03)

• Subject Area: Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 405662736

Project A03 focuses on linguistic purism in Italy, France and Germany. In the second funding phase, it will examine the connection between ‘pure language’ and ‘good taste’ in the context of an ‘aesthetics of manners.’ Regulation of language (autological dimension) and regulation of behaviour (heterological dimension), it argues, form a close relationship that can be observed in conversation literature by means of the decorum (bienséance) as figure of aesthetic reflection. The project is based on a multilingual corpus that includes, among others, courtly literature, conversational treatises and humanistic dialogues (Colloquia).

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1391: Different Aesthetics
• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Sarah Dessì Schmid; Professor Dr. Jörg Robert