DCJA011 Pragmalinguistics

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Renata Povolná, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Renata Povolná, Ph.D.
Department of German Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Supplier department: Department of German Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Prerequisites
The course labelled Pragmalinguistics can be taken by any doctoral student.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is the acquiring of the most important issues from the area of pragmalinguistics, which, unlike syntax and semantics, takes into consideration the users of a particular language and the entire situational context, which determines a given communicative situation, including the behaviour of the discourse participants. Apart from that the students are expected to be able to apply their knowledge from pragmalinguistics and other branches of linguistics studies in their own teaching professions.
Learning outcomes
The students are expected: 1. to be able to analyze authentic written as well as spoken text from the viewpoint of pragmatics, i.e. the users of the language; 2. to understand the differences in the ways of expression depending on contextual and sociocultural factors, e.g. between the ways of expression applied in public and private settings; 3. to be capable of distinguishing various language means on the scales of formality and informality, directness and indirectness, and politeness and impoliteness; 4. to be able to provide examples of concrete features appropriate and typical for various communicative situations and describe them while using linguistic terms from the area of pragmatics; 5. to be able to prepare concrete activities applicable in the teaching profession in which the knowledge and skills acquired in the sessions on pragmalinguistics are used.
Syllabus
  • The course of Pragmalinguistics is a core subject of the linguistic section and presents an indispensable starting point for the understanding of contemporary didactic trends. The course objective is to gain basic knowledge of pragmalinguistics, i.e. a linguistic field which unlike syntax or semantics, takes into consideration the user of the language and the whole situational context which determines a given communicative situation. Doctoral students are taught to be able to apply newly gained theoretical knowledge in their own research when writing their dissertations. Topics to be covered: Relationship between pragmalinguistics and other linguistic disciplines, syntax and semantics in particular. Deixis and deictic expressions and their manifestation in the language system. Spacial, time, personal and social deixis. Reference and inference. Presupposition. Types of presupposition. Conversational and conventional implicatures and their tzpes. Principles of cooperation and conversational maxims. Cooperative Principle. Politeness Principle. Theory of speech acts. Direct and indirect speech acts. Politeness and interaction. Conversation and preference structures. Conversational style and its analysis. Pragmatic accent and cultural schemata. Discourse and culture.
Literature
    required literature
  • Yule, G. Pragmatics (Oxford Introductions to Language Study). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • THOMAS, Jenny. Meaning in interaction : an introduction to pragmatics. Harlow: Longman, 1995, xii, 224. ISBN 0582291518. info
    recommended literature
  • Brown, G., Yule, G. Discourse Analysis (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1983.
  • HIRSCHOVÁ, Milada. Pragmatika v češtině. 1. vyd. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 2006, 243 s. ISBN 8024412837. info
  • MEY, Jacob L. Pragmatics : an introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, xiv, 392. ISBN 0631211322. info
  • PECCEI, Jean Stilwell. Pragmatics. London: Routledge, 1999, ix, 96. ISBN 0415205239. info
  • MCCARTHY, Michael. Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, x, 213. ISBN 0521367468. info
  • LEECH, Geoffrey N. Principles of pragmatics. First published. New York: Longman, 1983, xii, 250. ISBN 0582551102. info
    not specified
  • Besch, W. (ed.) Duzen, Siezen, Titulieren :zur Anrede im Deutschen heute und gestern. Götingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998.
  • Birkenbihl, V. F. Signale des Körpers (Körpersprache verstehen). München: mvg-verlag, 1994.
  • Wagner, K. (ed.) Pragmatik der deutschen Sprache. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001.
  • ERNST, Peter. Pragmalinguistik : Grundlagen, Anwendungen, Probleme. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2002, 210 s. ISBN 9783110170139. info
  • HOLLY, Werner. Einführung in die Pragmalinguistik : germanistische Fernstudienenheit. Berlin: Langenscheidt, 2001, 72 s. ISBN 3468495668. info
Teaching methods
lecture, class discussion, students presentations
Assessment methods
Oral exam is based on the topics from the study of the most important notions from pragmalinguistics and includes a discussion on students´ oral presentations, one related to their future PhD work and one associated with practical application of pragmalinguistics in contact teaching. Both presentations and relevant handouts must be submitted before the exam takes place.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught each semester.
The course is taught: in blocks.
The course is also listed under the following terms autumn 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/autumn2021/DCJA011