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| Semester | fall semester 2008 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Danièle Klapproth Muazzin (daniele.klapproth@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In this seminar we will combine the discourse-analytic perspective of the interactional sociolinguist with the cross-cultural, context-sensitive approach of the ethnographer of speaking to engage with the fascinating study of "verbal performance". "Performance" is understood here, in the tradition of the Ethnography of Speaking, as a heightened and marked mode of communication that is framed in specific ways and enacted for an audience. We will be interested in how performance creates cultural meanings and constructs/enacts social relationships, and we will examine it both in the context of everyday interaction and in such culturally specialized modalities as ritual, public speaking (religious, political, etc.), and verbal art. The case studies that we will engage with will cover a wide range of performative speech activities: from 'signifying and marking' in African American street talk to the performance of tall tales among Texan dog traders; from Bedouine women's subversive use of sung poetry, aimed at undermining patriarchal power structures, to the ritualised language performed by the Kuna shaman to grab a snake. |
| Learning objectives | To investigate verbal performance as a mode of communication, so as to deepen our understanding of its structural, rhetorical and situational features as well as its functions and effects in human interaction. |
| Bibliography | A reader will be made available. |
| Comments | Optional seminar paper |
| Weblink | To be announced. |
| Admission requirements | completed BA programme / for Liz students: completed Basic Studies in the Liz programme |
| Course application | Students need to register by email to Daniele.Klapproth(at)unibas.ch. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul English Sociolinguistics & Cognitive Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Sprache und Kognition (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular and active participation, oral presentation |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Englisches Seminar |