Rhetoric Society of Europe (RSE)
University of Warsaw, Department of Modern Languages
in collaboration with
Polish Rhetoric Society & Ret-Net: Languages and Rhetorical Cultures Research Group
22-25 June 2027
Language is both the medium of rhetorical action and one of its central objects – shaped, evaluated, regulated, and ideologically framed through the very practices it enables. Rhetorical theory offers crucial insights into this duality, helping us navigate how language operates across a spectrum of destructive and constructive forms of communication: from polarization, exclusion, and hate speech to dialogue, reconciliation, mutual understanding, and collective efforts toward the common good.
In recent years, metalinguistic and meta-rhetorical issues have moved to the forefront of both scholarly inquiry and public debate. Today, attention is directed not just to what is communicated, but also to how language and persuasion are understood, evaluated, regulated, and contested. Ongoing debates over freedom of expression, inclusive language and eliminating mis/disinformation reveal that conceptions of language and persuasion are never neutral; instead, they reflect deep rhetorical, cultural, political, and ethical commitments.
These concerns have become even more pressing in a communicative landscape increasingly shaped by Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI. Far from being only tools that facilitate expression, these technologies are extensively used to create persuasive messages, transform and evaluate texts, and redefine our understanding of language, communication, and genre. In doing so, they challenge traditional concepts of authorship, rhetorical agency, persuasion, and communicative legitimacy, while raising fundamental questions about meaning-making, responsibility, creativity, and ethical communication.
Against this background, RiS10 aims to bring together scholars from rhetoric, linguistics, discourse analysis, philosophy of language, communication studies, argumentation theory, translation studies, literary studies, AI studies, and related fields. The conference seeks to foster dialogue regarding how rhetorical theory can illuminate linguistic and discursive phenomena, and how closer attention to language can enrich, challenge, and expand rhetorical inquiry. We warmly invite established scholars and early-career researchers alike to join us in this collective exploration of the past, present, and future of rhetoric and language.