122055 PS PS Linguistics (2021S)

“At the heart of language use is human action, people doing things with words” (Clark 1995: 371). The linguistic field of pragmatics and discourse analysis investigates how language is used in social context and “how more is […] being communicated than is said” (Yule 2017: 142). Taking this area of linguistic research as an example, this course provides students with more detailed insights into one area of linguistics and prepares them for their first small-scale research project.
Students will acquire a basic knowledge of the interaction of language and context, develop skills in the linguistic analysis of authentic texts/discourses, challenge and question their preconceived assumptions about language use, and learn to approach language-related questions in a systematic way.
Some of the key questions we will address in the course of the term are:
- What do people mean by their utterances in a particular context?
- How does the context influence what is said?
- What are the relations between what we state explicitly and what remains unsaid?
- How do addressees infer meaning?
- What role do expectations and shared assumptions play in these processes?
- What constitutes pragmatic competence and what role does it play in English language teaching?
Furthermore, we will discuss the process of empirical research and look at different types of data, methods of data collection and analysis.

In addition to exploring these questions and learning about practical linguistic research based on authentic data, participants will also learn how to find relevant literature on a specific research topic/question, critically analyse and reflect on existing research in the field and gain first experience in planning, conducting and writing up a small-scale linguistic research project.

This course combines lecturer input, sample analyses of relevant material, assignments, group work, discussions, and student presentations.