Universität Wien

122220 SE Linguistics Seminar / BA Paper (2023S)

Identifying links between language and cooperation

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 15 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

This class will start on March 15 (no class on March 8). We will decide in the first session if student presentations will take place as part of a student mini-conference on June 17, or during the regular class sessions.

  • Wednesday 08.03. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 15.03. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 22.03. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 29.03. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 19.04. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 26.04. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 03.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 10.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 17.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 24.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 31.05. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 07.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 14.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Saturday 17.06. 09:00 - 16:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Wednesday 21.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Wednesday 28.06. 14:15 - 15:45 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In many kinds of interactions, it is important to assess the cooperativeness of the people around oneself. In this class, we will explore if and how people use linguistic markers in others’ speech as indicators of their cooperativeness. In particular, we will investigate if people who are linguistically similar or align their language use will be considered as more cooperative and trustworthy. We will also explore other factors that might act as mediators in this relationship. For example, since people tend to cooperate more with people from their own social group, we will investigate how linguistic similarity or linguistic alignment can serve as an indicator of group membership.

Besides theoretical investigations, students will engage in an empirical research project, in which they will analyze the speech characteristics of people involved in cooperative/competitive encounters (such as in the British TV game show Golden Balls). In this project, they will compile their own mini-corpus, and extract and analyze relevant linguistic features from that corpus. Depending on the outcome of preliminary analyses, they will analyze their data qualitatively or quantitatively.

After a couple of sessions on the theoretical background, students will work on the corpus creation and develop their own hypotheses for their empirical research projects. Groups of students will investigate thematically linked research questions and will cooperate on their individual projects. In the middle of the semester, students will learn how to annotate data in the mini-corpus, how to analyze their data qualitatively/quantitatively, and how to write papers with an empirical focus. The results of the individual research projects will be presented at the end of the semester in oral presentations.

Per default, the course will be held on-site, but depending on the COVID-19 situation, individual classes may be held online.

Assessment and permitted materials

Class attendance and active participation, readings & small assignments, individual project proposal, group presentation, individual BA paper

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements:
-) regular class attendance (max. 2 absences)
-) regular participation in class and completion of regular readings and small assignments
-) submitting a project proposal (on set date)
-) giving an oral group presentation (on set date)
-) conducting a small research project and submitting a BA paper (on set date)
-) refraining from plagiarism in all tasks

Course evaluation is based on:
Participation and small assignments (15%)
Project proposal (15%)
Presentation (20%)
BA paper (50%)
Pass grade: 60%

Grades:
1: 90-100%
2: 80-89.9%
3: 70-79.9%
4: 60-69.9%
5: < 60%

Examination topics

all contents covered in the relevant literature and in class will be used to complete the above described tasks

Reading list

Balliet, D., Wu, J., & de Dreu, C. K. W. 2014. “Ingroup favoritism in cooperation: a meta-analysis.” Psychological Bulletin, 140(6), 1556–1581. https://doi.org/10.1037/a003773

Lev-Ari, S., & Peperkamp, S. 2017. “Language for $200: Success in the environment influences grammatical alignment.” Journal of Language Evolution, 2(2), 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzw012

Matzinger, T., Placinski, M., Gutowski, A., Lewandowski, M., Zywickynski, P., Wacewicz, S. Unpublished manuscript. “Linguistic preference outcompetes alignment as a predictor for assessing others’ cooperativeness.”

Pickering, M. J., & Garrod, S. 2004. “Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(2), 169–190. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x04000056

Turmunkh, U., van den Assem, M. J., van Dolder, D. 2019. “Malleable lies: Communication and cooperation in a high stakes TV game show.” Management Science, 65(10), 4795–4812. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3159

Additional literature will be provided in class.

Association in the course directory

Studium: BA 612
Code/Modul: BA06.2
Lehrinhalt: 12-2222

Last modified: Fr 10.03.2023 19:28