AJL22108 Pragmatics of digital discourse

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph.D.
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
Mon 16:00–17:40 J22, except Mon 21. 4. to Sun 27. 4.
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 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 19/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 11 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives (in Czech)
The course will provide students with an introduction into the study of digital discourse, applying the socio-pragmatic perspective. It will focus on how the nature of technological mediation affects the language data. The course will draw on various concepts from sociopragmatics and discourse analysis, such as politeness, face, metapragmatics, humour, participation frameworks etc. and will explore various digital forms, such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Reddit, TikTok, and discourse genres, such as videos, online comments, reviews, etc.
The course will involve students' active engagement in the determination of some of the topics and data to be covered.
Learning outcomes (in Czech)
After attending the course, students will be able to:
- see how technological affordances shape the context in which people communicate and the discourse they produce
- apply socio-pragmatic concepts to the analysis of digital data
- understand the communicative acts in public and social media as forms of interactional performances that serve for the users' identity construction and self-presentation
- see how linguistic and semiotic creativity features in modern digital contexts and to what purposes
- perceive how the online space can be used for engaging in joint collective action
- appreciate the current, state-of-the-art research on emerging media forms
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • The course consists of several theoretical input sessions where we will discuss the compulsory course readings and focus on specific issues, including a number of case studies. Students will be asked to present current research in digital discouse analysis across different digital formats and research methodologies, which will assist them in carrying out their personal research projects. The topics to be covered will include (a preliminary, non-chronological list):
  • 1. Delimiting the field: computer-mediated communication, digital discourse, internet-mediated communication, Web 2.0
  • 2. Key issues in pragmatics - context, relevance, stance, politeness
  • 3. Presenting the self - real vs. virtual identities
  • 4. Virtual conversations online - interactional pragmatics
  • 5. Multilingualism in the digital sphere
  • 6. Language creativity, humour and memes
  • 7. Multimodal communication - emojis and other visual forms
  • 8. Discourse of digital activism, digital romance
  • 9. Discourse of digital deception - scams & frauds
  • 10. Social networking sites and social media communication
  • 11. Customer reviews on the Internet
  • 12. Media ecology of online news - participatory journalism and online commenting
Literature
    required literature
  • YUS, Francisco. Cyberpragmatics : internet-mediated communication in context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011, xiv, 353. ISBN 9789027284662. info
  • Barton, David and Carmen Lee (2013) Language Online: Investigating Digital Texts and Practices.
  • VÁSQUEZ, Camilla. Language, creativity and humour online. First published. London: Routledge, 2019, xi, 190. ISBN 9781138066830. info
  • Discourse and digital practices : doing discourse analysis in the digital age. Edited by Rodney H. Jones - Alice Chik - Christoph A. Hafner. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015, x, 250. ISBN 9781138022324. info
    recommended literature
  • VÁSQUEZ, Camilla and Jan CHOVANEC. Experiencing Digital Discourses: Engagement, Multimodality, Activism (in print). Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. ISBN 978-3-031-77459-1. URL info
  • Research methods for digital discourse analysis. Edited by Camilla Vásquez. First published. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022, viii, 330. ISBN 9781350166837. info
  • VÁSQUEZ, Camilla. The discourse of online consumer reviews. First published. London: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014, 210 stran. ISBN 9781441196286. info
    not specified
  • SCOTT, Kate. Pragmatics online. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022, ix, 168. ISBN 9781138368415. info
  • JONES, Rodney H. Understanding digital literacies : a practical introduction. Edited by Christoph A. Hafner. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 2012, ix, 214. ISBN 9780415673167. info
Teaching methods
Seminar - classroom discussion, analysis of data in class, individual and group presentations.
Assessment methods (in Czech)
In order to pass the course, students will have to:
- deliver a presentation of a current research study
- submit a final project on data of their choice
- submit a reflection on compulsory readings
- complete a final written test
The final exam consists of the result of the final written test, with the remaining tasks being the obligatory prerequisites.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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