Dutch linguistics: Discourse and cognition [ LGERM2737 ]

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Overview of different theories of coherence and cohesion, with a focus on relational coherence as a cognitive phenomenon. Introduction to psycho-experimental methods of investigation in the field of discourse processing.

After succesfully completing this course, students
* have an overview of the field of discourse studies and discourse processing, as well as of the leading questions in the field
* can formulate specific research questions and operationalizations of research that contributes to the field
* are able to relate research on language use and discourse representation to issues of optimal communication
* have some hands-on experience with the design and analysis of a psycho-experimental discourse processing study
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Essay on a topic connected with the course. Presentation of the results during a « class workshop » (25%), essay in article form (75%). Group exams (2 students) will be encouraged.

Research seminar, with group discussions of theory and experimental methods.

First, we investigate the way in which various languages express coherence. Detailed corpus studies - of languages like English, Dutch, German, French, Russian and Chinese - provide interesting information on cross-linguistic similarities and differences. Second, the cognitive part studies the way language users process and represent these discourse structures during on-line processing and comprehension experiments; this part includes basic training in the design and analysis of processing experiments.

Portfolio available on i-campus

A course in linguistic statistics is recommended (LCLIG2240 or LFIAL2260).