General linguistics [ LFIAL1560 ]

Introduction to linguistics

The course gives an overview of the different theoretical and methodological approaches to semantics and pragmatics. Traditional approaches in lexical and sentence semantics are confronted with the more recent advances in discourse and cognitive semantics, thus opening the way to pragmatic theories.

At the end of the course, the students should:

- have developed knowledge of the explanatory principles and foundations in semantics,
- have developed the ability to transfer theoretical linguistic knowledge of semantics to everyday language situations,
- have acquired a good understanding of the different approaches in semantics.

Written exam (70% theoretical questions, 30% exercices)

The course contains ex catheadra lectures but it also requires the students active participation in resolving exercices to be realised with the DVD « Langue et Parole » (parcours « sémantique »)

After a brief overview of semantics in linguistics, the course considers the role of semantics on the different levels of abstraction in the linguistic system: lexical semantics (word meaning: componential analysis vs. prototype theory), situation semantics (sentence meaning: reference, entailment, propositional logic), and discourse semantics (implicature, cohesion and coherence). Also, a general overview is given of cognitive semantics (conceptual metaphor theory, image schema's, mental spaces) and a number of pragmatic theories (speech act theory, relevance theory). All theoretical concepts are illustrated with concrete everyday language examples.

Available on i-campus

Complete syllabus available