Pragmatics I

Human communication presumes an ability to read the speaker's mind in the sense that the purely linguistic content of an utterance offers only certain clues to infer what the speaker intends to communicate. The scientific field of pragmatics covers the relationship between linguistically coded content (that is, semantic content) and the conceptually richer content of utterances in context.

The objective is to offer the students a metalanguage that enables them to reason explicitly around the interplay of the various cognitive processes involved in communication, with a focus on utterance interpretation in context.

Lectures and group instructions.
More on assessment: Obligatory exercises must be approved before the student may sit the written exam. The size of the exercises must be between 2-4 typed A4-pages each (line spacing 1.5). In special cases, upon student petition, a take-home exam may be allowed.