Pragmatics

Language is ‘the best show’ that humans ‘put on’ (Whorf 1949). But who runs the show? And what are the rules, the scripts and the conventions for staging our little ‘plays’? 

Understanding  language in use, i.e. what we concretely ‘do’ or avoid doing with words and utterances as we ‘enter the presence of others’  and engage in communicative interaction

Attendance & engagement (30 %) + learning diary with guided entries and follow-up activities (70 %).

Students with general research interests in the field of linguistics,  discourse analysis (in history or literature) should  find this seminar useful. Special attention is given to making the sessions lively, and thought-provoking

Becoming  empowered  speaker-listeners on the socio-interactional stage. Bringing to awareness  the unconscious mechanisms that govern  social interaction. Understanding who we are, how be behave in the company of others, and how our own conversational style is perceived.

Visiting students (ERASMUS +, U-California) are especially welcome since their experience, in a different culture and speech community, brings a substantial contribution to cross-cultural and cross-linguistic investigation.

All the research papers, book excerpts, filmed lectures and interviews, etc. needed for this course will be made available to students through e-campus.