FF:AJ22083 Stylistics: Language and Media - Course Information

AJ22083 Stylistics: Language and the Media

Extent and Intensity

0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

prof. Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek

Timetable

Mon 15:00–16:35 G31

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 10 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

The course aims to investigate the linguistic aspects of media communication with a particular focus on analysis of printed news texts. The topics will include the specific constraints of mass media communication; the role of news values in the process of selection of news items and their mediation by means of language; the structure of news articles; cohesion and coherence in news texts and their role as regards the choice of lexical items and syntactic structures; the recommendations issued by media corporations (e.g. the BBC) to its journalists and correspondents about the 'proper style' of their stories, etc. The core textbook is Fowler's Language in the News, which will be supplemented by topical studies in the discourse analysis of media (news) texts, e.g. the function of headlines from the point of view of the relevance theory; gender bias and stereotypes in news reporting; reporting on ethnic minorities, etc. At the end of the course, students will have a clear overview of the major linguistic approaches to the study of media discourse and will be able to independently apply them.

Syllabus

• The course will cover the following issues (not necessarily in this order). A week-by-week syllabus will be discussed at the first meeting. Mass media communication - models, constraints. The make-up of a story: structural and linguistic (lexis and syntax). News values and their linguistic manifestation. Stereotypes. News as stories, news schemata. The discursive gap - conversational style in newspaper reporting. Lexical choices, semantic fields, overlexicalization. Lexical chains, role of quantification. Women's maganizes, synthetic personalization.

Literature

• FOWLER, Roger. Language in the news : discourse and ideology in the press. London: Routledge, 1991, x, 254. ISBN 0415014182. info
• BELL, Allan. The language of news media. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991, xv, 277 s. ISBN 0-631-16435-9. info
• DIJK, Teun Adrianus van. News as discourse. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, 1988, viii, 200. ISBN 0805808280. info
• REISIGL, Martin and Ruth WODAK. Discourse and discrimination : rhetorics of racism and antisemitism. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2001, xiv, 298 s. ISBN 0-415-23149-3. info
• CRYSTAL, David and Derek DAVY. Investigating English style. 1st pub. London: Longman, 1969, xii, 264. ISBN 0582522129. info

Teaching methods

Seminars. Class discussions. Students' presentations on selected studies. Analysis of current material from the media.

Assessment methods

Active participation at seminars - reading must be done in advance. Mid-term test and/or written test at the end in which students prove their knowledge of assigned reading + an analytical essay on a topic of one's choice.

Language of instruction

English

Further Comments

The course is taught once in two years.

Teacher's information

http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/category.php?id=5

• Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2010, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2010/AJ22083