122050 PS PS Linguistics (2021W)

'Meaning controls memory and perception.Meaning is the goal of communication. Meaning underlies social activities and culture.To a great degree, what distinguishes human cultures are the meanings they give to natural phenomena, artifacts, and human relations.' (Glenberg & Robertson 2000: pnd).Taking the area of semantics 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 semantics, develop skills in the linguistic analysis of meaning on different levels, and learn to approach questions in semantics in a systematic and objective way.After a basic introduction to the area of semantics, we will explore the topic from different angles, such as word meaning, meaning relations, discourse meaning and pragmatics and look at methods of data collection and analysis semantics as welll as at available online resources (corpora).Some of the questions we will investigate in the course of the term are:- What are meaning relations?- What are categories of semantic analysis?- What is the importance of context?In addition to exploring these questions and learning about research in semantics, 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 collect 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.