Communicatively Pragmatic Aspect of Media Discourse

1. Course Title

COMMUNICATIVELY PRAGMATIC ASPECT OF MEDIA DISCOURSE

2. Course Director

Iryna Mygovych, PhD – lecturer at English Philology Department, Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University (Building 1, Room 1-126)

e-mail: migovich_irina@yahoo.com

3. Place the Course Within the Curriculum

Area of Study: Linguistics

Form of Study: full-study

Year of Study: 3d year Students

Speciality: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (English)

Level of Study: advanced

Duration of Study: 1 semester

4. Students’ Assumed Knowledge Basis for the Course Participation

The course assumes that students are familiar with the basic principles of the theory of language communication, cultural studies, sociolinguistics, pragmatic aspect of language functioning.

5. Main Issues the Course Covers

Communicatively Pragmatic Aspect of Media Discourse is an advanced course in linguistics. Its main aim is to link the study of language to the notions of media, communication, sociology, politics, with a view to help students to better understand the nature of language as the basic means of mediated communication.

Thus, the course is designed to investigate the various ways in which language is used in the process of mediated communication among the representatives of different sociocultural communities; the interdependence of a human being and language as a complex mental and sociocultural concept; the state of convergence in media and communication research - the relevance of the study of language to other disciplines mentioned, and the way in which other disciplines can shed light on what is known about language.

Topics covered include: the nature of interpersonal mediated language communication; spoken and written forms of mediated communication; the effect of social factors on mediated communication; the relationship of language to culture and thought.

In such a way the course gives students the background knowledge necessary to evaluate and to form views on the main issues such as: 1) the profound impact of media on the ways people communicate, 2) the impact of different ways and means of communication on the process of emerging of new media technologies.

6. Course Aims, Objectives, Outcomes

Academic Aims: to address and answer the following questions:

1. What is language? / Communication? / Media?

2. How strong is the convergence of media and communication?

3. What can media tell us about the inner mechanisms of society?

4. What is the impact of media on the ways people communicate?

5. What is the impact of communication on the process of emerging of new media technologies?

6. What is the connection between mediated communication and power?

7. What is the connection between mediated communication and violence?

Main Objectives:

1. to study language as the basic means of mediated communication;

2. to investigate the various ways in which language is used in the process of mediated communication among the representatives of different sociocultural communities;

3. to investigate the interdependence of a human being and language as a complex mental and sociocultural concept;

4. to analyse the state of convergence in media and communication research - the relevance of the study of language to other disciplines mentioned, and the way in which other disciplines can shed light on what is known about language;

5. to give students the background knowledge necessary to evaluate and to form views on the main issues such as: 1) the profound impact of media on the ways people communicate, 2) the impact of different ways and means of communication on the process of emerging of new media technologies.

Learning Outcomes:

1. students should be able to understand the most important properties of mediated communication;

2. students should be able to critically and principally evaluate different theories of media discourse functioning;

3. students should be able to understand the peculiarities of mediated communicative thinking;

4. students should be able to evaluate in a principled and informed way the evidence invoked in favor of the convergence in media and communicative research;

5. students should be able to understand the way in which studies of language are relevant for the study of the mechanisms of mediated communication and the way in which the study of language relates to other domains, such as sociology of language, psycholinguistics, media communicative theories.

7. Course Structure

№

Modules

Amount of Hours

(1 academic hour = 80 min)

Total

Lectures

Practical Classes

Self-study

MODULE I.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE: LINGUISTICS, COMMUNICATION AND PRAGMATICS

1.1.

Language as a Means of Communication:

I. Language and Extralinguistic World:

The Notions of a Linguistic Sign, Concept and Denotatum; Relations Between The above Sets of Elements; Difference Between the Denotative and Connotative Meanings of a Linguistic Sign; Mental Concept of a Linguistic Sign

II. Language System: Paradigms and Syntagmas:

The Notion of Language as a System Existing In Formal and Semantic Planes; Linguistic Signs on Morphological, Lexical or Syntactic Levels; Paradigm; Syntactic and Semantic Valence

III. Language System and Communication

12

2

2

1.2.

Communication As the Basis of Media Discourse. The Essence of Language Communication:

Notion of Communicative Linguistics; Subject of Communicative Linguistics; Methods of Communicative Linguistics; Nature of Communication; Main Functions of Communication; Typology of Communication

6

2

2

1.3.

Language as the Medium of Communication:

Speech and Writing (Spoken versus Written Language)

4

2

4

1.4.

Communication and Social Interaction; Social Meaning in Media Discourse

2

-

2

MODULE II.

MEDIA DISCOURSE AND SOCIETY: PRAGMATIC ASPECT

2.1.

Pragmatic Aspect of Mediated Communication:

Defining Pragmatics; Cooperation and Implicature; Hedges; Speech Acts and Events; Conditions for the Performance of Speech Acts; Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

4

2/4

2

2.2.

Speaker’s Pragmatic Space:

Speaker as the Bearer of Communicative Force; Speaker’s Communicative Intentions; Deixis; Markers of Social Diexis

4

2

3

2.3.

The Theory of Speech Acts – Different Approaches:

Speech Act by G. Austin; by G. Serl; by D. Wunderlich; by G. Pocheptsov; by G. Leech; by V. Bogdanov

4

2

3

2.4.

On the Way to Pragmasemantics: The Cooperative Principle:

The Notions of Implication and Presupposition; The Cooperative Principle and its Maxims; The Notion of Implicature

4

2

3

2.5.

From Speech Act to Conversational and Media Discourse:

The Theory of Conversation; Conversation and Media Discourse: Basic Principles of Interaction

4

2

3

MODULE III.

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION: THE STATE OF CONVERGENCE

3.1.

Main Types of Media

3

-

3

3.2.

Internet and Forms of Human Association

3

-

3

3.3.

The Press and the Public Interest

3

-

3

3.4.

Media Audiences

3

-

2

Total Amount of Hours

56

16

8. Teaching Methodology

• Lectures with visual support

• cooperative learning involving active students' participation during classes

• presentations

• debate

• question sessions

• student-teacher interaction

• module control work.

9. Assessment (%).

• Module controls 30% (1 MC = 15 points)

• tutorial participation 30%

• research work 40%

10. Course Language

English