Aims

The aims are that the students:
- develop a knowledge of German linguistics, especially a knowledge of the specific problems of linguistic pragmatics,
- develop a knowledge in theoretical and applied linguistics,
- acquire the competence in linguistic argumentation,
- become able to present competently one of the topics of this course.

Main themes

Study of the use and meaning of utterances in communication and conversation. The role of pragmatic knowledge and (word and sentence) semantic knowledge in understanding language.

Content and teaching methods

We will study speech act theory, especially the theories of Austin, Searle and Grice. The topics are: the classification of speech acts, the difference between perfomative and constative utterances, indirect speech acts. Then we discuss the theory of conversational implicatures (P. Grice), i.e. the cooperation principle and the conversational maxims and Grices' further developed model of conversation in Sperber and Wilson's book "Relevance." Finally, we look at the role of word and sentence semantics, in contrast to pragmatics, for a theory of meaning in language. All topics will pay special attention to spoken German.

The course is a lecture that requires the student's active participation in discussions, in dealing with exercises, and in reading scientific texts. Furthermore, every student has to give a short presentation on one of the discussed topics at the end of the course.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Pré-requis Good knowledge of German (baccalauréat).

Evaluation Presentation of one of the topics of the course and a written exam.

Support 1. Syllabus, 2. scientific articles/chapters in books, 3. a written guideline for " how to present a linguistic work ", 4. to aid the students with the workout of their presentations (content, structuring, …) during office hours.

Programmes in which this activity is taught

Other credits in programs