BeLing HS 07 - Institut für Sprachwissenschaft - Universität Bern

Level:
BA/MA: MA students in their first year
Liz: Students in their main studies
Credit Points: BA/MA: 6/Liz.: 7
Open to students as Wahlbereich? Yes
No
Content: Socio-cognitive linguistics refers to an approach to the study of language which takes all human
language to be socially embedded and stored as a facet of cognition (knowledge) in our minds. It rejects the
Chomskyan notion of an autonomous linguistic component of the mind and wishes to see an individual's linguistic
knowledge as that area of knowledge which has to do with language. This automatically means that all other
semiotic systems in the mind interact with language, and including social systems. The individual is seen as a
social being entirely dependent on others for the development of her/his language abilities. Since we are all born
into a 'languaged' world there is no way of avoiding language acquisition (barring serious physical disabilities, of
course), so that we are confronted with a human phenomenon that has a social history within a cultured world.
Language is acquired in every instance of interaction, i.e. through discourse and discursive practices, in which we
are involved. It is thus social and emergent. The accent in socio-cognitive linguistics is on the ongoing social
interaction (or social practice) and the ways in which individuals piece together the "history" of "their" culture,
"their" social group and "their" language. It is, in other words, a very different way of looking at language which
involves cultural notions of performativity, myth and historicisation as well as social notions like power. We shall
be focusing on Cognitive Linguistics by Cruse and Croft (Cambridge University Press) but I shall put together a
compendious reading pack of other materials to be read.
Texts: Alan Cruse and William Croft. 2005. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Furthermore, a reading pack will be put together over the summer break.
Aims: To familiarise students with a radical new way of looking at human language.
Credit: Regular attendance and active participation. For MA students evaluation of a written paper of
approximately 6,000 words.
Evaluation (Leistungskontrolle):
Test/Exam
Oral Presentation
Evaluation at end of entire Module only
Date of Evaluation:
Throughout semester
During semester break
Other:
Written Assignment(s)
Other Class Work
Other:
Last week of semester
To be advised
MA Course Module:
M8
LIZ:
Seminar
Title:
Research Colloquium
Instructor(s):
R. J. Watts
Time(s): Tuesday 10-12
First Session(s): 25.9.07
Level:
BA/MA: MA students in their final year
Liz: Students in their final year, PhD students
Credit Points: BA/MA: 6/Liz.: 7
Open to students as Wahlbereich? Yes
No
Content: This module on the MA programme is intended for MA students who are planning on writing their
Masters theses, but I would also like to see those students attend who are planning, or may already have begun
writing their Liz. theses. The idea behind the course (which will be dealt with as a seminar) is to give students an
opportunity to report regularly on the research they have undertaken and to discuss the issues in that research at
the peer group level. Students are also encouraged to offer what they have written for peer review, since it is only
in this way that theses can be improved, wrong research paths can be avoided and the quality of the final theses
enhanced. I will also introduce important recent work (in the form of articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed
journals) in the areas being researched and will expect all students to study those texts carefully and to offer their
critical opinions on what they have read. The byeword here is "interaction", which means a willingness to
participate actively, critically and usefully in creating a sense of research community.
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