Pushing the boundaries of life. Synchronic and diachronic observations on pre- and post-mortem body preservation

Background and aims There already is a significant literature highlighting the relevance of the connection between language and ageing, and language and death (see Bibliography). This panel intends to join and expand on these topics by 1) concentrating on extreme practices and by 2) accepting the challenge of looking at life and death as a continuum, as some of those involved in life prolonging practices do. The specific papers thus intend to explore the language used to communicate the ethical aspects surrounding those practices that insist on prolonging and preserving life as much as possible. The focus may be on achieving natural longevity, in terms of retaining both good health and a younger physical aspect. It could also be on extending the mere duration of life to its limits with unusual and yet-unproven methods. When such limits are eventually reached, it may even regard the indefinite preservation of a life-like appearance of the corpse, pushing the boundaries of life further than death. Methods The methods employed belong to the tradition of applied linguistics and will include corpus-based discourse analysis, conceptual history, lexicology and terminology. Analyses will be carried out on both synchronic and diachronic texts. Expected results and relevance The research behind this panel is expected to contribute insights into the discourse of novel practices reflecting the desires, fears and expectations of people in Western societies, from the late modern period to the present and, perhaps, into the future. The ethical debatability of the topics under investigation makes the research relevant from various perspectives and across disciplines: from philosophy to medicine, from sociology to anthropology – all of which are expressed and communicated through language and which, as such, can benefit from linguistic analysis.