AJ22083 Stylistics: Language and the Media

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2015
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
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each even Tuesday 15:50–17:25 G32
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
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
    required literature
  • Durant, Alan and Marina Lambrou. Language and Media: A Resource Book for Students (Routledge English Language Introductions), 2009. ISBN 978-0521670395.
    not specified
  • 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
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information about innovation of course.
This course has been innovated under the project "Faculty of Arts as Centre of Excellence in Education: Complex Innovation of Study Programmes and Fields at FF MU with Regard to the Requirements of the Knowledge Economy“ – Reg. No. CZ.1.07/2.2.00/28.0228, which is cofinanced by the European Social Fond and the national budget of the Czech Republic.

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Teacher's information
http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/category.php?id=5
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2002, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2016, Spring 2019, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2015, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2015/AJ22083