Ilse Depraetere
Axes de recherche
Research
My scientific interest is mainly in (non-formal) semantics and pragmatics. Most of my research relates to the verb phrase (tense, aspect, modals) in English, with a particular concern for the semantics-pragmatics divide.
A volume of papers Semantics and pragmatics. Drawing a line, which I co-edited with Raf Salkie, was published in 2017 (Springer). The (ANR-FNS funded) REM (Rethinking English Modal constructions) project (2017-2021) critically assessed different quantitative methods that can lay bare the speaker's choice of modals and positions itself with respect to qualitative questions as to what is pragmatic/semantic about modal meaning. The end of project co-authored book, Modals of modals. From pragmatics and corpus linguistics to machine learning (Mouton de Gruyter), appeared in April 2023. I am currently working, with Benoît Leclercq (Paris 8), on the topic of saturation and free pragmatic enrichment.
I also take a keen interest in the teaching of English grammar. I published a grammar of English with Chad Langford (2012, Continuum); the second edition appeared in 2020 (Advanced English grammar. A linguistic approach, Bloomsbury).
In recent years, I have developed two new strands of research in the field of applied pragmatics. I have co-authored (with Sofie Decock and Nicolas Ruytenbeek) papers that analyse linguistic (in)directness and the perception of linguistic politeness in online complaints.
Another recent research focus is a ‘3i Cross-Border Collaboration’ project examining how communication between healthcare practitioners and child patients could be advanced (Lille-UZGent-Kent-UZLeuven). I'm organizing, with Bert Cappelle, a workshop 'healthcare practitioner-child communication: a perspective from linguistics, philosophy and translation theory', at the University of Lille on April, 5th (2024), with presentations by the Lille-Kent-Gent-Leuven team, and by Bénédicte Lombart, Camilla Rindstedt, Lucy Bray and Demi Krystallidou.
Summing up, my research interests are
- pragmatic theory
- facework theory
- mood and modality in English
- aspect and tense in English
- applied pragmatics: online complaints, healthcare practitioner-child communication
- English grammar
Recent and Ongoing projects
I was the co-principal investigator of the ANR-FNS (2016-2021) funded project 'Rethinking English Modal Constructions. From feature-based paradigms to usage-based probabilistic representations'. (REM)
Project participants: Bert Cappelle, Pascal Denis (INRIA/Cristal/Magnet), Matthieu Dehouck (Cristal/Magnet), Cyril Grandin, Natalia Grabar, Benoît Leclercq, Mégane Lesuisse, Bo Li.
Swiss partners: Martin Hilpert (PI), Susanne Flach.
Together with Sofie Decock (UGent) and Nicolas Ruytenbeek (UGent), I have analysed (im)politeness in computer-mediated complaints. We presented the results of our corpus analysis at IPRA 2019 and at Sympol12 and in four papers that appeared in Journal of Pragmatics (2018, 2020) and Journal of Politeness Research (2023a, 2023b).
I received two 3i-cross border seed grants from I-SITE ULNE, with colleagues from the University of Kent, UZGent and UZLeuven, to establish a network of collaborators on the topic of communication with children in clinical contexts. The PANIC2 / IMPACT (Interaction in the medical world: a pragmatic analysis of child-centered talk) team has presented the results of a case study at AMPRA 5 (2022), at AILA (2023) and at a workshop that we organised at IPrA (2023). We are currently working on a scoping review and we are about to launch a questionnaire that gauges into parents' perception of the communicative styles of healthcare practitioners interacting with their child, a project supported by a seed grant from the University of Kent. Siham Ezzahid started her PhD under the joint supervision of Vikki Janke and myself in September 2023, funded by a cotutelle Kent-Lille grant.