1st semester
6
credits
Form
of assessment: 100% coursework
3 contact hours/week (Wednesday, 2-4pm; Friday 10.30-11.30am) consultations
to be arranged
Prerequisites:
Grade C or above in LCOM1001
The core course following LCOM1001 examines theoretical discussions of language and communication, with special reference to underlying assumptions about language, and the respective philosophies of language they are based on, their merits and shortcomings, as well as possible points of contact between them. These assumptions will also be critically discussed on the basis of exemplary linguistic studies presented in class. We shall hence consider the various traditions contributing to language theory and communication theory, such as the 'semiotic', the 'ethnographic', the 'phenomenological', the 'behaviouristic', and the 'sociocultural' traditions. Particular emphasis will be placed on how sociolinguistic theory deals with language and communication.
There will be two hours of lecture, and one hour of tutorial, with possibility for students to ask questions pertinent to the lecture.
Students will study a selection of influential Western theories of language and communication, as proposed by semioticians, linguists, sociologists and communication scholars. The emphasis will be on a critical reflection of what (often unstated) assumptions underly these theories (i.e. their philosophy of language and of scientific inquiry), and how the theories came into being at all.
The primary requirements are an in-class test (40%) and a research term paper (60%).
