Second-year of study M.A. monographic lectures (2MA MONO) for summer term 2024–2025 (Full-time programmes)

What is this list?

This is a list of monographic lectures we intend to launch in the summer term (February–June) in our full-time M.A. programme in English philology (Filologia angielska) whose second year of study is the academic year 2024–2025. This list is intended for:

  1. Students at the Faculty of English who are about to enter the second term of the second year of their full-time M.A. programme: this is your reference point before your enrolment into monographic lectures;
  2. Candidates for our full-time programmes: this list gives you a snapshot of what monographic lectures were on offer for the study cycle that started in 2023.

How to navigate the list?

The list is sorted by name of the teacher. The format is as follows: the title of the monographic lecture, the name of the teacher, and the description of the monographic lecture.

Soul Music and the Civil Rights Movement

dr. Stan L. Breckenridge

As geographical and social boundaries were being reassessed, so were people, class, economic, and political limits. America’s white youth began to explore the black community through its music in the 1940s, and issues of class and civil liberties were being felt in unprecedented ways. America’s heightened awareness of racism during the 1950s, fueled inquiries and legislative actions regarding the morality of social and physical segregation strictly on the basis of color. By the 1960s, socio-political actions were the inspiration for what became known as “soul music.” This course examines the synergy between soul music and the Civil Rights Movement.

Multilingual speech: Selected aspects of language acquisition

prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk

The theme of the course is directed towards the students interested in the “mystery” of language acquisition, with special focus on sounds and sound sequences (but not excluding other components of language). The aim is to overview the major approaches to the study of language acquisition of both first language (L1) and further languages (second language acquisition SLA, third language acquisition TLA) within the general perspective of cross-linguistic influence.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences

Interest in multilingualism and in how languages are acquired. Basic knowledge of linguistics, especially in the area of phonetics and phonology. Advanced English.

Reading list

  • Chang, Charles B. "The phonetics of second language learning and bilingualism." The Routledge handbook of phonetics. Routledge, 2019. 427-447.
  • De Houwer, Annick. Bilingual development in childhood. Cambridge University Press, 2021.
  • Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Katarzyna and Magdalena Wrembel. 2022. Natural Growth Theory of Acquisition (NGTA): Evidence from (mor)phonotactics. In: Sardegna, Veronica and Anna Jarosz (eds.), Theoretical and Practical Perspectives on English Pronunciation Teaching and Research. Springer, 281-298.
  • Hansen Edwards, J. G., & Zampini, M. L. eds. 2008. Phonology and second language acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
  • Vihman, Marilyn M. 1996. Phonological Development: The First Two Years. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Wrembel, Magdalena. 2015. In search of a new perspective: Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of third language phonology. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
  • Wrembel, M. 2023. Exploring the acquisition of L3 phonology: Challenges, new Insights, and future directions. In: Jennifer Cabrelli, Adel Chaouch-Orozco, Jorge González Alonso, Sergio M. Pereira Soares, Eloi Puig-Mayenco and Jason Rothman (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Third Language Acquisition and Processing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 115-141.

Bilingualism, language and cognition

prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Ewert

Bilingualism language and cognition are the overarching themes for this course. We will start by defining bilingualism and other related terms. Then we will focus on bilingual development and examine empirical research demonstrating how different circumstances of L2 acquisition (home, school, society) affect bilingual outcomes. This will be followed by a discussion of issues related to bilingualism in education.

The second part of the course, focusing on language and cognition, will begin with an overview of early research on bilingual advantages in child development. The topics to follow in this part will include a detailed examination of bilingual lexical processing, language control (e.g., language switching) and executive (attention) control. The discussion here will include the role of factors affecting bilingual processing, such as communication patterns in the society, as well as neuroprotective effects of bilingualism.

Finally, we will focus on language and thought, i.e., conceptual organization and processing, in bilinguals and monolinguals. We will begin with a discussion of how languages differ with respect to how they categorize the reality and then we will discuss empirical research conducted within three broad theoretical perspectives: linguistic relativity, thinking for speaking and embodied cognition.

Course evaluation will be based on an end-of-the-semester quiz.

Language and communication across age-groups and generations

prof. UAM dr hab. Agnieszka Kiełkiewicz-Janowiak

This lecture introduces students to issues of lifespan sociolinguistics and focuses on communication across the lifespan. First, we will look at age-related patterns in language use as testified by sociolinguistic variationist studies. Language marks the identity of the speaker, among others their position in (life)time. Next, the focus will be on communication across age groups. It takes place in interaction where inter-group attitudes and stereotypes give rise to much tension. The well-known intergenerational conflict but also the lesser-known intergenerational solidarity are both notions of great use to account for the communication dynamics. The different types of communication across age groups will be illustrated by intergenerational talk at work, grandparent – grandchild communication, or representations of age identities in the media. The topic of the lecture will be problematised via discussing ageism – in society and in language. We will consider how false beliefs about the age-other may bring unfair and destructive social and psychological consequences. We will also address the question of whether this could be counteracted through linguistic means. Our underlying assumption is that the quality of communication with others affects the well-being of people at any age/life stage.

Selected bibliography

  • Eckert, Penelope. 1997. “Age as a sociolinguistic variable”, in: Florian Coulmas (ed.) The handbook of sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. 151-167.
  • Gullette, Margaret M. 2004). Aged by culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Gullette, M. M. 2018. “Against “aging”: How to talk about growing older”, Theory, Culture & Society, 35(7-8), 251-270.
  • Kiełkiewicz-Janowiak, Agnieszka. 2023. “Euphemising ageing in popular and academic publications on the life course: an exploratory study”, Roczniki Humanistyczne LXXI/6: 125-150.
  • Ylänne, Virpi – Angie Williams. 2009. “Positioning age: focus group discussions about older people in TV advertising”, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2009/Issue 200: 171–187.

Introduction to Gothic

prof. UAM dr hab. Ronald Kim

The Goths played a leading role during the “Age of Migrations” in the late Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages, when they established kingdoms from Crimea and the Balkans to Italy, France, and Spain. Gothic is the oldest well-attested Germanic language, known mainly from a fragmentary Bible translation traditionally ascribed to the Visigothic bishop Wulfila in the 4th century. This Bible Gothic served as a church language for several centuries among the Goths and closely related eastern Germanic peoples. All of these groups were eventually assimilated into the neighboring populations, but their memory remained, and the name “Gothic” was later applied to all sorts of artistic movements, from architecture to novels to music.

This course introduces the Goths and their language, using the excellent resources available in English. The goal is to acquire an understanding of the structure of Bible Gothic and read selected passages from the New Testament. We will also examine the similarities and differences between Gothic and the other Germanic languages and discuss problems of linguistic interpretation and translation as well as contacts with Greek, Latin, Slavic, etc. Finally, we will look at the other surviving records of Gothic from places as far apart as France and Crimea, and contemplate the afterlife of the Goths in European culture to the present day.

Bibliography

  • Bennett, William H. 1980. An Introduction to the Gothic Language. New York: Modern Language Association of America.
  • Green, D. H. 1998. Language and History in the Early Germanic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Heather, Peter. 1996. The Goths. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Lambdin, Thomas O. 2006. An Introduction to the Gothic Language. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
  • Robinson, Orrin B. 1993. Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages. London/New York: Routledge.