MSc Computational and Corpus Linguistics / Course details

The course covers central topics in Cognitive Linguistics (CL), a cover term for a group of approaches to the study of language which constitute an alternative to formal and structural approaches. CL assumes that language is not a separate and autonomous cognitive faculty, but part of general cognition; that linguistic meaning is dynamic and grounded in cultural and physical experience, and thus features an inescapable degree of subjectivity; and that grammar is meaningful and structured by users’ conceptualizations, as opposed to being essentially arbitrary. Centrally, the framework is usage-based, meaning that it makes no principled distinction between competence and performance, but assumes that knowledge of language emerges from language use.

Subtopics covered include: Categorization, Frames and domains, Construal, Metaphor and Metonymy, Polysemy, Iconicity, Constructions, and Grammaticalization. NB! While its basis in usage means that parts of Cognitive Linguistics have taken a strong quantitative turn in recent decades, the focus of this module is on the kinds of qualitative analysis that underpin quantitative work.

One or more of the following are recommended, but not required: 

LELA70041 Introduction to Grammatical Theory

LELA62021 Semantics and Pragmatics

The aim of the module is to introduce students to a set of approaches which assume that language is shaped by the conceptualization of human experience and by the need to communicate such conceptualizations to others. We will study central aspects of the cognitivist approach to language and look at how the aims, assumptions, and commitments of this school of thought differ from competing approaches, and at the type of arguments that are brought to bear in the debate.

Upon successful completion of this module, students will:

• Be familiar with central concepts in Cognitive Linguistics and be able to apply them to data from a language of their choice.
• Understand how and why cognitive approaches to language differ from formal and structural approaches.
• Be able to critically assess claims in the linguistic literature and the arguments supporting them.
• Have a deeper understanding of the intellectual history of the field of linguistics.

• Abstract thinking skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Ability to independently read and assess new research in the field of Cognitive Linguistics
• Ability to compare and assess different theoretical and methodological approaches to the same linguistic problem
• Reasoning and argumentation skill

• Qualitative data analysis and interpretation skills
• Oral Presentation Skills

• Communication skills
• Problem solving skills
• Argumentation skills
• Independent study skills
• Time-management skills

Set text:

Evans, Vyvyan & Melanie Green. 2006. Cognitive Linguistics: an Introduction. London: Routledge.

Additional recommended texts:

Croft, William & D. Alan Cruse. 2004. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Geeraerts, Dirk & Hubert Cuyckens, eds. 2010. The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hilpert, Martin. 2014. Construction Grammar and its application to English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Hoffmann, Thomas & Graeme Trousdale, eds. 2013. The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Langacker, Ronald W. 1991. Concept, Image, and Symbol. The Cognitive Basis of Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Taylor, John R. 20043. Linguistic Categorization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ungerer, Friedrich & Hans-Jörg Schmid. 20062. An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics. London: Routledge.