Topics in Linguistics

2017/2018

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

4

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент филологии

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

2-й курс, 4 модуль

Преподаватели

Байда Кира Александровна

Перехвальская Елена Всеволодовна

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course (Issues in Linguistics: Cognitive Linguistics) serves as an introduction to cognitive science and cognitive linguistics, a branch of linguistics that aims at an integrated study of language and mind. Cognitive approaches to language are inspired by models in cognitive psychology, such as models of memory, perception, attention and categorization. Knowledge of language is viewed as emerging from language use, and grounded in general human cognitive abilities that are not domain-specific. All levels of linguistic representation are conceived of as conceptual structure, governed by the same processes as other human cognitive abilities. The course explores major themes in cognitive linguistics, offering comparisons with formal approaches. Special attention will be paid to the domain of conceptualization of space, which will be used consistently to illustrate major principles of cognitive approaches.

Learning Objectives

• The course offers a survey of a variety of ideas and methods known under the umbrella name of ‘cognitive linguistics’, that have developed in the last two decades as an alternative to formal models of language.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The students are supposed to receive a substantial knowledge, based on reading and discussion of primary scholarly works, of general methodological foundations of modern cognitive linguistics.
• The students should acquire a certain facility in dealing with seminal ideas of this theoretical trend, such as frame semantics, construction grammar, the theory of the cognitive metaphor, and studies of semantics prototypes.

Course Contents

• Origins of cognitive linguistics
  Cognitive linguistics and other cognitive sciences; formal, functional and cognitive linguistics
• Grammar and cognition
  Talmy, cognitive representations
• Usage-based model of grammar
  Language as a human behavior; language acquisition; language as a complex adaptive system
• Frame semantics
  Frame. Fillmore, case grammar
• Construction grammar
  Fillmore et al., construction as an element of the grammar. Fillmore, Langacker, Construction grammar vs. Cognitive grammar
• Conceptual metaphor
  Lacoff&Johnson, metaphor as a cognitive mechanism. Fauconnier, conceptual blending
• Prototype theory
  Rosch, Berlin&Kay, prototype, basic level categories. Prototype formation in psychology and psychiatry, cultural anthropology.
• Typology and cognitive linguistics
  Corbett, universals, future of cognitive linguistics. Project works presentation.

Assessment Elements

• Homework
• Midterm
  Classroom writing. You should not use sources of information
• Exam
  Answer the following three questions; I expect your answers be approximately of 2 pp. length for each question on the average, although they can be somewhat longer or shorter if you need it; what is relevant is the content and coherence of your analyses. Don’t try to cover all the points potentially involved in the issues; concentrate on some focal points, and try to present them thoroughly and systematically. Feel free to use any support reading materials and consult with data sources.

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.5 * Exam + 0.1 * Homework + 0.4 * Midterm

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Dąbrowska, E., & Divjak, D. (2015). Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=nlebk&AN=1000461
• Tomasello, M. (2014). A Natural History of Human Thinking. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=660118

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Bybee, J. L. (2007). Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=191562
• Croft, W. (2001). Radical Construction Grammar : Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=273566