Admission requirements
Understanding of central concepts in pragmatics (truth-conditional meaning, implicatures, speech acts), as may have been acquired through the MA course Pragmatics or through self-guided study. Additional reading can be made available on request before the start of the course.
Description
This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field of Experimental Pragmatics. Experimental Pragmatics uses the methodologies of cognitive psychology to address questions in pragmatic theory. As a test-bed for competing accounts of meaning in context, Experimental Pragmatics has two main advantages: first, it provides us with objective data about utterance interpretation as opposed to those arrived at after reflective intuition; and second, it uses techniques that enable the study of pragmatic processing below the level accessible to introspection, such as, for instance, the time-course of implicature derivation. However, Experimental Pragmatics is also subject to some challenges regarding its ability to accurately reflect the pragmatic abilities of naïve speakers in interaction. We survey a wide range of studies touching on literal meaning and metaphor interpretation, scalar implicatures, politeness and lying phenomena, and using offline, time reaction, eye-tracking, MRI and ERP methodologies to gain a better understanding of the contributions and limitations of experimental pragmatic studies to date.
Course objectives
Students will:
Learn about different experimental methodologies used in pragmatics research
Develop an understanding of the advantages and limitations of using experimental methodologies to address theoretical questions in linguistics
Acquire the ability to assess the appropriateness of an experimental method to address specific questions
Design a short experimental pragmatics study and motivate their choice of methodology
Timetable
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Course Load
140 hours (5 EC)
Lectures: 6 x 2 hours = 12 hours
Study of compulsory literature: 48 hours
Assignment(s): 6 hours
Class presentation: 20 hours
Final project: 54 hours
Assessment method
Paper
Abstract, oral presentation.
Please note that the information you provide here is legally binding. You cannot change the assessment method after 1 August 2019. The information in the e-prospectus is leading.
Assessment
Short weekly assignments: 30%
Oral presentation: 20%
Final project: 40%
Participation: 10%
Total 100%
Weighing
As shown above.
Resit
RESIT IS ONLY POSSIBLE FOR THE FINAL PAPER. IF THE GRADE FOR THE ORAL PRESENTATION IS TOO LOW AND AVERAGING BETWEEN THis AND THE FINAL PAPER RESIT GRADE RESULTS IN FAIL (LESS THAN 5.5), THE ORAL PRESENTATION GRADE WILL BE DISCOUNTED (I.E., THE FINAL PAPER WILL COUNT FOR 60% AND THAT WILL BE ADDED TO THE 40% GAINED FORM THE WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS AND PARTICIPATION).
inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
Weekly readings
Uploading and grading weekly assignments
All course communication
Reading list
Textbook:
Noveck, Ira (2018) Experimental Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press (e-book available at the University Library website). (selected chapters)
Selected journal articles made available on Blackboard
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on this website
Contact
Remarks
Students interested in taking this course are strongly encouraged to attend the 1st semester MA course Pragmatics. They are also welcome to contact the lecturer for more information about the course and a short bibliography of suggested titles they can read in preparation for taking this course.