General linguistics : semantics and pragmatics

Teacher(s)

Degand Elisabeth;

Language

French

Prerequisites

Introduction to linguistics

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Main themes

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.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of the course, the students should: - have developed knowledge of the explanatory principles and foundations in semantics and pragmatics, - 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 and pragmatics.

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”.

Content

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.

Teaching methods

The course contains ex catheadra lectures but it also requires the students active participation in resolving online exercices to be realised:  « Langue et Parole » (parcours « sémantique »)
training exercises will also be given in class.

Evaluation methods

Oral exam (33% exercices, 67% theoretical questions)

Other information

Complete syllabus available at DUC (printing and editing facility) - ask for LFIAL1560 syllabus

Online resources

Slides, exercises and bibliography on Moodle

Bibliography

Disponible sur Moodle

Faculty or entity

FIAL