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| Semester | fall semester 2018 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Andreas Langlotz (andreas.langlotz@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Human language is wonderfully creative. In everyday social interactions people often play with linguistic structures and pragmatic conventions to produce striking communicative effects. Among other creative strategies humour is a particularly powerful tool to alleviate stress and tension, to negotiate face, to establish social cohesion through bonding, to express solidarity, and to downplay power differences. Cognitive Linguistics regards the creative power of language, including humour, as rooted in general cognitive mechanisms such as our ability to switch between mental spaces and blend them through complex mapping procedures. In this lecture, we will apply these analytical concepts to interactional data and thus attempt to integrate the cognitive-linguistic heuristics with sociolinguistic and interactional approaches to humour. By developing this socio-cognitive approach to verbal humour, we can detect typical patterns of linguistic creativity in social interaction, gain insight into their social functionality, and model the underlying cognitive mechanisms. |
| Learning objectives | Students will - obtain an overview of different (linguistic) approaches to humour. - understand typical patterns of humour in interactional data. - gain an overview of alternative transactional and social functions of verbal humour. - understand the cognitive-linguistic mechanisms that underlie humour. |
| Bibliography | will be made available on ADAM |
| Comments | Open to MA students and advanced BA students |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, optional |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul English Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Forschungspraxis und Vertiefung (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Latin Philology) Modul Sprache als Prozess (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul: Advanced English Linguistics (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul: Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul: Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Nordic Philology) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | Written test in the last week of the lecture |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |