Language Science and Language Art
Linguistic artfulness spans everything from inventing new words and extending the meanings of existing ones, through language games and product branding, to the sophisticated verse and narrative forms of epic poetry. This course takes a broad approach to language art by considering the biological traits that make it possible in the first place. These most obviously include the faculty of language, but also the human capacity for sociality and the ability to send and perceive bodily (affective/emotive) signals. Equipped with this understanding we will examine the nature of language art phenomena that include the meters and sound patterns of poetry, the way grammar helps shape narrative, performances of language art, figurative language, phonaesthesia and sound symbolism, and the question whether language art can at all be translated. The empirical focus throughout will be on English, although examples of language art in other languages will be made accessible for discussion and comparison where relevant.
Aims:
- Students can approach the study of language art as a science, supported by logical argumentation and empirical evidence;
- Students can approach the study of language art as a manifestation of biologically grounded linguistic, social and signaling capacities.
- Students can apply basic concepts and terminology to analyze the content, structure, sound patterns and performance of language art.
KNOWLEDGE
Students that have participated fully in Language Science and Language Art will attain knowledge of the principles underlying the following phenomena and how they can be applied to understand and appreciate language art in English.
- prosody, rhythm and poetic metre;
- parallelism and sound patterns (e.g. caesura, rhyme, half-rhyme, alliteration);
- grammatical devices used to communicate narrative form;
- performance styles;
- pragmatics of semantic anomaly, figurative language and sound symbolism;
- the nature of language art and its biological grounding in human capacities.
SKILLS
Students that have participated fully in Language Science and Language Art will develop the following practical skills:
- treat language art and science topics in English, orally and in writing, in a way that is functional and assured and utilizes relevant academic terms and modes of expression;
- identify meters, sound patterns, grammatical devices, and relations of meaning
- format texts using the conventions of the field;
- find, critically evaluate and refer to refereed sources using the conventions of the field.
GENERAL COMPETENCIES
The activities and instruction methods aim to develop the student¿s ability to:
- maintain, reflect on and update their knowledge of language science and language art;
- understand the relevance of language science and language art for professional life and society.
Obligatory participation 85 %, approved / not approved
Portfolio - consisting of 5 written texts:
- form and communication
- semiotics
- poetics
- narrative and performance
- choice of semiotics or poetics
The portfolio counts 100 % of the total grade, assessed A-F
Compulsory participation must be approved to receive the final grade.
All support materials
Generating an answer using ChatGPT or similar artificial intelligence and submitting it wholly or partially as one's own answer is considered cheating
