First-year of study M.A. subject seminars for winter term 2024–2025

What is this list?

This is a list of subject seminars (Polish: konwersatoria przedmiotowe podstawowe) we intend to launch in the winter term (October–February) in our full-time M.A. programme in English philology (Filologia angielska) whose first 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 first year of their full-time M.A. programme: this is your reference point before your enrolment into theme seminars;
2. Candidates for our full-time programmes: this list gives you a snapshot of what theme proseminars were on offer for the study cycle that started in 2024.

How to navigate the list?

The list is sorted first by the discipline (literary/cultural studies precede linguistics) and then by the name of the teacher. The format of the entries is as follows: the title of the subject seminar, the name of the teacher, and the description of the subject seminar.

Literary/cultural studies

#literary(non-)fictionmatters – sociopolitical aspects of storytelling

prof. UAM dr hab. Ryszard Bartnik

According to André Brink, literature has either a historical or textual character. The latter is perceived to have a more academic nature; that is to say, its authors are engrossed in composing narratives where different literary conventions, traditions and ‘general truths’ are to be (de)constructed. However, within this format, a specific panorama of the outside world seems to be left out, unlike its historical equivalent, which makes reality play a pivotal role in stories. Hence, the aim of this seminar is to focus on a plethora of present-day narratives which, as Glenn Patterson phrased it, imply ‘writing out of existence’, and thus concentrate on thematizing up-to-date socio-political issues. Among the authors whose works we shall investigate are J. Barnes, J. M. Coetzee, B. Evaristo, M. Hamid, A. Huxley, R. Kapuściński, I. McEwan, G. Orwell, G. Patterson, A. Smith.

Film in English-speaking countries

dr Kornelia Boczkowska

This course surveys the history of mainstream cinema in English speaking countries, from early and silent film, Classical Hollywood, kitchen sink realism/drama and American, British and Australian New Wave to New Hollywood, Movie Brats, British social realism and contemporary and Indigenous Canadian film. It also develops the vocabulary, tools and critical thinking skills necessary for examining the evolution of the film medium as an art form and its formal elements, including the narrative, genre, mise-en-scène, camerawork, editing, montage and sound, providing a broader context and strategies for the study of cinema in English speaking countries. Along the way, we will discuss a selection of critically acclaimed narrative films, raising questions of identity, ethnicity, gender, social class, crime, violence, relationships and power. Through interactive lectures complemented by textbook material, screenings, case studies and discussions, we will deepen our understanding of how different technological advancements as well as aesthetic, economic, socio-political and cultural phenomena, such as the emergence of sound film, the rise and collapse of the studio system or the development of the auteur theory, have shaped world cinema and the craft of filmmaking.

Renaissance and Political Theatre

dr hab. Katarzyna Burzyńska

Feminist – Queer – Shakespeare – these terms do not seem to go together yet Renaissance theatre gives us plenty of opportunities to seek non-normative identities in an otherwise politically stifling cultural context. William Shakespeare wrote his plays in the reign of two charismatic monarchs Elizabeth I, a woman, and James I, a gay man. Despite this, Elizabethan and Jacobean era was, by modern standards, a very politically conservative reality. Yet, in this patriarchal world, early modern playwrights like Lyly, Shakespeare, Marlowe, or Webster created powerful images of forceful agency, political defiance, and gender variance that challenged accepted norms and social expectations. In the modern age we are facing unprecedented political crises; climate emergency, queerphobia, the rise of alt right and white supremacy – to mention just a few. Can one make sense of the modern world by looking at the political and literary landscape of the past? This seminar is an invitation to do just that. It explores canonical literary texts of Shakespeare and his contemporaries through the lens of politically engaged theory and activist-oriented work for social justice. It draws on (eco)feminism, queer theory, early modern trans studies and critical race theory to investigate the historical formations of gender, race and able-bodidness.

Content warning: explicit images of sexual nature, violence, animal cruelty, mental issues.

Migrant and diasporic narratives in Anglophone literatures

prof. UAM dr hab. Dagmara Drewniak

As Avtar Brah, a famous scholar and critic, claims: “diasporic journeys are essentially about settling down, about putting roots ‘elsewhere.’ (…) The question is not simply about who travels but when, how, and under what circumstances? What socio-economic, political, and cultural conditions make the trajectories of these journeys? What regimes of power inscribe the formation of a specific diaspora? (2005: 182; emphasis original). Inspired by this perspective and questions posed above, this seminar will be devoted to the study and discussion of selected migrant and diasporic narratives in English-language literatures. Firstly, we will look into the notions of migrant literature and the concept of diaspora from a more theoretical perspective and secondly, we will address the issues on the basis of a selection of short stories, poems and novels (or excerpts from them) written by authors coming from migrant and diasporic backgrounds. In order to offer an insightful, comprehensive and possibly broad panorama of this type of writing the choice of texts to discuss in class will come from American, Canadian, British and Australian literatures.

The overall aim of the course is to familiarize students with the historical, cultural and literary manifestations of migrant and diasporic writings in their many shades, types and genres. Credits will be given on the basis of students’ active participation in class discussions, attendance, presentations and final test’s results.

Orientalism in Literature and Culture

prof. dr hab. Liliana Sikorska

Orientalism is a scholarly discipline dedicated to the study of the histories, literatures, languages and religions of the Orient. Created in the 18^th century, Orientalist studies aimed at examining the East and facilitating the understanding in the West of the Eastern societies. From the Middle Ages onwards, the Orient has always captivated the Occident. The dreaded Saracens (Islamic warriors) populated medieval chivalric romances (Sir Isumbras) and oriental tales (Geoffrey Chaucer’s the “Man of Law’s Tale”), only to be reborn in the eighteenth-century Turk plays. In the nineteenth century, British travelers to the Orient (Richard Burton and Charles Doughty) reiterated the ideologies of the British colonial administration, resulting in the stereotyped and frequently demeaning depictions of the Eastern cultures. In an effort to fully comprehend the term as well as related ideas of imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism, this seminar will be dedicated to the investigating of the fascination with the unknown through different types of texts: romances, travel narratives, as well as contemporary novels and essays in which the clashes between the East and the West, Christianity and Islam, are described. We will also look at the fiction of the Turkish Nobel Prize Winner, Orhan Pamuk, and the non-fiction of the Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif, testifying to the attraction of the East towards the West.

Landmarks in North American History

dr Tomasz Skirecki

The course is designed for students who wish to deepen their understanding of North American history through a multidisciplinary approach that combines historical analysis with cultural studies. Throughout the course, students will explore key historical processes, events, people, and places that have shaped the United States and Canada. Focusing on the rich tapestry of North American history and geography, the course will examine Native American cultures, the impact of colonization, the development of national identities, the struggle for independence, and the evolution of democracy and civil rights. Individual classes will highlight the similarities and differences in these processes between Canada and the United States. Through the study of key events and influential figures, students will gain an understanding of the forces that have driven political, social, and cultural change in both countries. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the course will incorporate numerous references to North American history in literature, film, and popular culture, analyzing how these media reflect public perceptions of historical events.

Introduction to the study of popular culture

prof. UAM dr hab. Paweł Stachura

This course is only partially about pop culture, because I assume that pop studies are part of cultural anthropology (the study of culture in general). The course is based on fifteen pieces of reading matter (scholarly articles) from multiple disciplines: ethnology, sociology, folklore studies, literary criticism, even archeology. But there are some pop studies, music, video games, films. There are also a few articles focused on methodology, data collection, interaction with informants, object definition, and interpretation. The articles will be discussed in class and the reading will be augmented by project work, case studies, individual presentations, and discussion.

Linguistics

Perceptual foreign accent

prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Balas

This seminar is going to offer a selection of topics related to perceptual foreign accent. We are going to try and discover how it happens that the way we perceive sounds in a non-native language vastly depends on what categories our native language equips us with. We will also be interested in universal and orthographical factors that might shape non-native speech perception.

In the beginning we are going to test our categorical perception to see how it allows for efficiency in the first language, while being challenging in a non-native language. Next, we are going to experience and explore McGurk effect. Then we are going to compare the input learners receive in a naturalistic and classroom setting. We are also going to discuss what sounds or processes major theories of non-native speech assume to be more difficult to learn. Further we will examine if all learners follow the same paths of acquisition and whether we can predict their ultimate attainment? Lastly, we will consider how orthography influences non-native speech learning.

Your final assignment will be to propose a speech perception experiment.

Pragmatics: how emotions modulate language comprehension

prof. UAM dr hab. Katarzyna Bromberek-Dyzman

Pragmatics explores how (i) people communicate the contents of their minds: their thoughts and feelings, and how they (ii) understand what others mean by what they say (verbal code), how they say it (nonverbal code), and when they do not say anything (silence can tell a lot too).

We study what mechanisms gear the meaning making processes, which includes investigating what is the contents of ‘meaning’ that people share; how does affect – emotions and feelings contribute to meaning making; are the meaning making mechanisms moderated by whether the speaker and the hearer know each other, and whether they like each other; are the meaning making mechanisms and processes the same in the native and foreign language systems.

This course offers to lay bare these mechanisms for you. It will take you for a journey of exploration that starts with the neurobiology of meaning making (networks in the brain that underpin communication-comprehension dynamics). We will study how the senses and sensory-motor system, as well as the affect-related networks in the brain inform the language-specific meaning making processes. We will explore how the meaning comprehension is impacted by the embodiment (physiological experiencing of the meaning in the body), and its varying degrees in the native and foreign language. Join the course if you are keen to learn more!

Introduction to Natural Linguistics

prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk

The course will acquaint the students with the principles of Natural Phonology (NatPhon), the theory originated by David Stampe and Patricia Jane Donegan in the 1960’s and 70’s, and further developed and elaborated into Natural Linguistics (NatLing) by Wolfgang U. Dressler and followers. Natural Phonology/Linguistics belongs to the unorthodox approaches to phonology and acquisition. Its focus is on the speaker and language use as well as on the extralinguistic conditions that shape the usage and acquisition of language. It aims at providing a big picture view on language, informed by disciplines outside of linguistics.

NatLing linguists are interested more in the circumstances of language acquisition and use than in the formal description of language system. They are interested in explaining how language works in the brain/mind to let us think and communicate as well as in how specific languages cope with those tasks. The explanations resort to general principles governing human behaviour rather than to abstract notions.

The forthcoming Cambridge Handbook of Natural Linguistics will help us see the development of the theory up to the present time.

Bibliography: background and overview

• Donegan, Patricia & David Stampe. 1979. The study of Natural Phonology. In Dinnsen, D.A. (ed.). Current Approaches to Phonological Theory. Bloomington: IUP. 126-173.
• Dressler, Wolfgang.U. 1985. Explaining Natural Phonology. Phonology Yearbook 1. 29-50.
• Dressler, Wolfgang.U. 1996. Principles of naturalness in phonology and across components. In Hurch & Rhodes (eds.) Natural Phonology: The State of the Art. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 41-52.
• Dressler, W.U. 1999. On a semiotic theory of preferences in language. The Pierce Seminar Papers. vol. 4. New York: Bergham Books. 389-415.
• Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Katarzyna. 2002. Beats-and-Binding Phonology. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
• Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Katarzyna. 2002. Challenges for Natural Linguistics in the twenty first century: a personal view. In University of Hawai`i Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol 23 (2001-2002).15-39. Honolulu: University of Hawai`i at Mānoa. and in Dziubalska-Kołaczyk & Weckwerth (eds.).
• Stampe, David. 1969. The acquisition of phonetic representation. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club (1979).
• Stampe, David. 1979. A Dissertation on Natural Phonology. Bloomington: IULC.

Forthcoming

• Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Katarzyna, Patricia Donegan, Wolfgang U. Dressler. (eds.). forth. The Cambridge Handbook of Natural Linguistics. Cambridge: CUP.

15 hours, Graded Credit: Class participation and a written test with a minimum score of 60%.

Bilingualism, second language acquisition and language teaching

Prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Ewert

This course will showcase selected research areas, as well as a number of ongoing or completed research projects, in order to identify relevant research questions for prospective MA projects. The following topics will be covered:

1. Introduction: We will start by defining the broad research field: bilingualism, second language acquisition and selected issues in language teaching. While focusing on defining the basic terms, we will also look at a variety of factors affecting bilingual and second language development.
2. Incidental acquisition of a second language: The rise of electronic media and the internet has changed the way we relate to and use second and subsequent languages. We will briefly look at the role of the new media in incidental language acquisition.
3. Lexical processing and cognitive effects: Processing two languages is definitely different from monolingual processing. Here we will look at psycholinguistic research on bilingual lexical processing and the effects of bilingualism on cognition.
4. Linguistic categorization and linguistic relativity: Different languages categorize the reality differently and, therefore, speakers of different languages develop different concepts, i.e. different mental categories. We will look here into the differences between bilingual and monolingual concepts.
5. First and second language embodiment: Mounting evidence demonstrates that language is grounded in neural substrates responsible for sensory-motor experiences and internal states. The relevant research question is whether and to what degree second languages, acquired later in life, are embodied.
6. Bilingual education: A selection of topics related to the education of migrant children will be discussed, including acquisition of literacy (cf. MABEL project) as well as teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about multilingualism and their impact on classroom practices.
7. There will also be a brief focus on current topics in the learning and teaching of English as a foreign language, including: a. the application of digital technology in language education and b. ways of developing learners' intercultural competence (presented by Prof. Aleksandra Wach).

Class assignments will include watching assigned videos (TEAM project) and reading assigned literature.

The final grade will be based on participation in class discussions and a written test.

Multimodal communication

prof. UAM dr hab. Małgorzata Fabiszak

In introductory linguistics courses we learn that it is a discipline of knowledge focusing on the study of language. And yet, many of the concepts and tools developed for the study of language can be extended to the study of other semiotic systems, such as images, sculptures, architecture. In this course we will look at such extension of a number of linguistic concepts originating in systemic – functional linguistics, cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis. The topics covered during the course will include:

1. Application of the three metafunctions of language: ideational (=informative), interpersonal and textual to multimodal communicative acts.
2. Image schemata, conceptual metaphor and metonymy as processes underlying meaning construction in different modes.
3. The role of institutional, socio-cultural and historical context in meaning making across different semiotic systems.

The students will be expected to actively participate in the classroom activities and write short reports (100-150 words) on in-class tasks.

Selected references

• Fabiszak, Małgorzata, and Ewa Olszewska. 2018. "Axiological ambivalence of conceptual imagery in visual communication: Commemoration architecture and 3D art." Language, Mind, Culture and Society 2: 104-131.
• Kress, Gunther, and Theo Van Leeuwen. 2020. Reading images: The grammar of visual design. Routledge.
• Machin, David, and Gill Abousnnouga. 2013. The language of war monuments. A&C Black.

Linguistic diversity and language endangerment: why linguists should care

prof. UAM dr hab. Piotr Gąsiorowski

This course is devoted to linguistic diversity as value that deserves to be promoted and protected because of its anthropological significance. Languages are complex adaptive systems that serve the communicative, emotional and cognitive needs of their users. Speech communities benefit from adapting linguistically to their natural, social and cultural environments. Languages are vehicles of local tradition and identity. Heritage languages (including national varieties, regional dialects and sociolects) are carriers of local traditions, identity and historical consciousness. Multilingualism and language contact enrich the expressive capacity of individuals and are a valuable source of linguistic innovation.

Unfortunately, the push for standardisation and widely practised nationalist language policies pose a serious threat to the “ecological health” of languages. Conservation measures are often carried out ineffectively and do not prevent the attrition or extinction of dialects and minority languages. We shall examine some examples of endangered languages and efforts to save them. Linguists should feel obliged to promote in the public consciousness the realisation that diversity and human linguistic rights must be protected as serving the well-being of societies and individuals.

Final credit will be awarded on the basis of class activity and the results of a written test.

Intersections of minority and queer sociolinguistics

prof. UAM dr hab. Michael Hornsby

While it is often widely accepted that globalisation can be a factor in the dissolution and extinction of minority languages, this complex process does not result in language loss solely, as these languages are often taken up and used by new types of speakers, for new purposes and in new spaces. Minority language speakers often inhabit peripheral spaces, and within these peripheral spaces, the recognition of different aspects of ‘speakerhood’ is becoming apparent. From an intersectional stance, queer linguistic perspectives on minority communities exist either at the intersection or on the periphery of queer experiences.

This seminar aims, then, to explore what it means to be a speaker of a minority language, particularly from a queer perspective. It will explore how the link between LGBTQIA+ identities and languages such as Irish, Welsh, Breton and Catalan is reflected in linguistic forms (e.g. gender-fair language) or in acts of recognition (e.g. how historical discourses of Irish national identity and language policy excluded queer people is now being addressed). The seminar will equip students with the background knowledge and the analytical tools to construct a case study based on a linguistic minority of their choosing from a queer intersectional perspective, particularly (though not exclusively) in the Anglosphere. Possible topics include: how are English-language terms for queerness translated into minority languages? Does English act as a lingua franca for LGBTQIA+ people, and at what levels? To what extent do queer minority language speakers have to separate their linguistic and identities? These, and other questions, can be explored through a critical sociolinguistic lens, which enables the researcher to tease out questions of legitimacy and power in a minority language setting.

Key texts

• The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities, ed. G. Hogan-Brun and B. O'Rourke (2019).
• Cambridge Elements in Language, Gender and Sexuality. Queering Language Revitalisation. In press. J. Walsh, M. Hornsby, J. Morris, S. Parker, E. Daussà. Cambridge University Press.

Language for society: Inclusive and empowering communication

prof. UAM dr hab. Agnieszka Kiełkiewicz-Janowiak

Language both reflects and shapes social reality. People can hurt others not only by speaking hatefully but also by using language insensitively. In today's highly diverse societies, the way we use language can contribute to social exclusion and even cause discrimination. Effective communication is grounded in respect for the interlocutor, which raises the question of how language can be used to recognize and appreciate others. One key aspect of fostering inclusivity through language is the respectful and sensitive naming of others. In doing this speakers should listen attentively for cues and exercise empathy. This is both ethical and empowering for all.

In this course the following topics will be addressed:

• Understanding stereotyping and discrimination through language
• Language use to appreciate ethnic diversity
• Inclusive communication in the diverse workplace
• Gender equity: Feminitives in the academic world
• Gender-neutral diction: non-binary gender marking in English and Polish
• Political correctness (mis)understood

Students will be asked to bring in their examples and critically interpret them to show how they identify problems and propose solutions. Individual and team presentations will be discussed in class.

Cognitive Linguistics — Modelling language, thought and culture

prof. UAM dr hab. Karolina Krawczak-Glynn

Language is not just grammar, it is how our minds understand and structure the world we experience. It provides a conceptual framework for the individual in their society and culture. Cognitive linguistics is a leading theory of usage-based research in language science. It sees language as a socio-cognitive phenomenon that emerges through use and lived experience. In this view, concepts are responsible for grammar and language structure. These include concepts such as gender, national identity, politeness and evaluation, just as it does love, hate, justice and time. A grammar of concepts, based entirely on how people behave linguistically, is the aim of Cognitive Linguistics.

In this course, we examine (i) the interplay between language, mind, and culture; (ii) the process of categorization and meaning construction; and (iii) the role of figurative language and thought in communication. We approach these theoretical considerations from an empirical perspective by looking at what practical methods can be used to model socio-conceptual behavior. We will focus upon corpus-driven methodology and the quantitative modelling of language use.

This course will be relevant to students interested in a career in language science, computer science, psychology, sociology or cultural studies.

Grades will be given on the basis of class participation and a short written report of a practical study.

You bastards, you killed inflection! A history of English morphology

prof. UAM dr hab. Marcin Krygier

This course will cover the turbulent history of English morphology from its glory days before the Norman Conquest to its virtual demise over the last few centuries. We will start by tackling the most difficult question, namely, what are inflection and derivation, and can they really be viewed separately. Then we will have a look at how Germanic languages, and Old English in particular, utilised these two (one?) process/es for various morphosyntactic purposes. The remainder of the course will show how the French and syntax got rid of inflections post-1066, how Latin and Greek took over derivation, and what little of both is still desperately hanging on. There will be some theory, but not excessively so; we well duly acknowledge the role of speakers regardless of thetheoretical model you choose to follow. We will focus on language change and how much we know – and do not know – about these processes with the aim of suggesting possible avenues of research you might decide to follow.

Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics

dr Marcin Naranowicz

This introductory course provides a concise overview of key concepts in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, offering students a foundational glimpse into how language is processed in the mind and brain. The course covers such topics as the mental lexicon and semantic memory, allowing students to explore how words are stored, organised, and retrieved. Students will also explore the world of bilingualism, investigating how bilingual speakers navigate and manage two language systems. Another key component of the course is the exploration of priming paradigms, which will introduce students to experimental techniques used to uncover the cognitive processes behind language production and comprehension. These paradigms will provide insight into how our brains respond to linguistic stimuli and how different linguistic systems interact. The course also emphasises the importance of research methods and design, equipping students with basic tools to evaluate psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic studies. Finally, the course includes a short visit to research laboratories at the Faculty of English, AMU, where students will get a brief, practical introduction to research tools like eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG). This visit is designed to give students a glimpse into the real-world applications of psycholinguistic research, offering them a starting point for further exploration in the fields.

Sociolinguistic aspects of historical orthography

prof. UAM dr hab. Hanna Rutkowska

Over the last decade, historical orthography has enjoyed a steadily growing interest among researchers globally, which in 2023 found its embodiment in the first ever international handbook devoted to this subdiscipline of linguistics, The Cambridge handbook of historical orthography. The development of historical orthography has been, to a large extent, parallel to the evolution of historical sociolinguistics, as the relevant research focussed mainly on various sociolinguistic aspects of writing systems, including, most conspicuously, the standardization of spelling and its correlation with social, cultural and technological changes. The proposed course aims at making participants familiar with a sample of the diversity of interests in historical orthography, motivated by the variety of interrelations between orthography and other linguistic and extralinguistic concepts and phenomena, including such topics as, for example, orthography as social practice; orthography as a tool for expressing ethnic, dialectal and individual identity; orthography and language contact; ‘post-colonial’ orthographies; orthography and authorship; orthography and gender; spelling reform; symbolism in orthography; orthography in digitally mediated communication. The course will present the interplay between theory and practice, providing a critical assessment of the state of the art in historical orthography, and reflecting current research in the field.

Selected bibliography

• Condorelli, Marco and Hanna Rutkowska (eds.), 2023. The Cambridge handbook of historical orthography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Hernández-Campoy, Juan Manuel and Juan Camilo Conde-Silvestre (eds.), 2012. The handbook of historical sociolinguistics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Sebba, Mark. 2007. Spelling and society: The culture and politics of orthography around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Squires, Lauren (ed.), 2016. English in computer-mediated communication: Variation, representation, and change. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
• Tagg, Caroline and Mel Evans (eds.), 2020. Message and medium: English practices across old and new media. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

Human needs and values in interpersonal communication

prof. UAM dr hab. Elżbieta Wąsik

The seminar is addressed to students whose object of interest constitutes texts as a means of verbal signification, immersed in the social roles of the communicating individuals and their culture. It aims to draw its participants’ attention to the fact that language is an abstract system of signs that conventionally refer to extralinguistic reality, but, in interpersonal communication, the signs of language become evaluative devices, especially as they express the beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and expectations of the goal-oriented communicators. To define the motives of human communicative behavior, it will be relevant to distinguish between natural needs and culturally determined personal and social values, being standards to appraise things and events, states of affairs, oneself, and other people. What will be emphasized during our classes is that differences in individual valuations and value systems expressed through various discursive practices are mostly related to differences in philosophical and religious systems underlying cultural diversity. After becoming acquainted with the subject matter of axiology as the philosophical study of values (for example, goodness, beauty, truth), applied to axiolinguistics focusing on verbal manifestations of values, students will be introduced to the main issues of linguistic valuation and investigative procedures developed for respective inquiries.

Generative Linguistics

prof. UAM dr hab. Bartosz Wiland

Why do all languages have grammar, meaning, lexicon, and phonology (even sign languages, which don’t have acoustic phonetics)? The most obvious answer is that all individual languages share the same architecture and basic building blocks, which is the driving idea behind modern generative linguistics.

The aim of the course is to familiarize the students with the basics of generative linguistics, the major analytical approach to language in the last 60+ years. The basic tenets of generative linguistics is that all natural languages share the same grammar-forming operations (in other words, all natural languages operate according to the same grammar code) and share the same building blocks of language: meaningful grammatical features such as ‘tense’, ‘singular’, ‘plural’, etc.

We are going to have a look at some of these features, understand how come they can combine into larger, more complex expressions (e.g. the word ‘went’ combines the concept ‘go’ and the past tense in one form) and see what we can learn from this about the general architecture of human language.

Lastly – but perhaps most interestingly – we will also see why and how individual languages differ and how they don’t.

Teaching methods

lectures, audio-visual presentations, in-class discussions

Credit requirements

1. attendance and active participation (70%)
2. a short end-of-semester test (30%)

To be or not to be multilingual? Language acquisition in multilingualism

prof. UAM dr hab. Magdalena Wrembel

Multilingualism is a norm rather than exception in the contemporary world and there is a growing recognition that it is a default state of human linguistic competence. As present-day Europe becomes increasingly multilingual, with more and more people using languages other than their native one(s) in different contexts and for different purposes, it is important to gain an in-depth understanding of this process from historical, linguistic and cognitive perspectives.

The seminar aims to increase general awareness about multilingualism and to promote knowledge concerning linguistic diversity in Europe. We will discuss issues related to various forms and key features of multilingualism, the phenomena of code-switching, translanguaging and cross-linguistic influence as well as theoretical models of multiple language learning and practical implications for multilingual education. We wish to make state-of-the-art research findings accessible to course participants and to encourage the exploration of psycho- and neurolinguistic aspects of multiple language acquisition as well as advantages and challenges related to being multilingual. The seminar will focus on current approaches to research on multilingualism and will involve a critical evaluation of research papers, focusing on research instruments and methodology applied in third language acquisition studies.

Communication about health and illness

dr Magdalena Zabielska

Health and illness are particularly sensitive topics and their discussion impacts our well-being and is crucial in our everyday lives. The course is meant to familiarise students not only with various facets of communication about health and sickness, but also with the tools needed to (critically) investigate its aspects. First, basic concepts from the area of discourse and genre analysis will be presented in order to develop students’ skills of identifying particular ways and forms of discussing health- and illness-related topics. Additionally, appropriate terminology for their description will be taught. Next, selected forms and settings will be referred to in order to demonstrate particular discourses and genres in practice, i.e. their effect on our understanding of mental and physical health issues.

Gender studies in historical linguistics

dr Paulina Zagórska

Areas of interest: gender studies, (historical) linguistics, (historical) sociolinguistics, history of English, critical discourse analysis

This strongly proseminar offers a broad perspective on various gender-related issues in the history of English.

The course is divided into three modules:

1. Grammatical gender – a theoretical introduction familiarizing students with basic notions regarding grammatical gender in English and other selected languages, its history in English, and a review of related linguistic processes.
2. Gender stereotypes in language – stereotypes connected to gender in English and other languages.
3. Critical Discourse Analysis –deconstructing notions of femininity and masculinity, their linguistic expressions, and manifestations on the example of Victorian newspapers, magazines, critical texts, erotic and conduct literature.

The aim of the course is to provide you with a solid foundation for future gender-oriented research, especially (but not exclusively) into historical linguistics, as well as to develop your critical thinking, communication, and analytical skills.

Trigger warning: due to the nature of the analyzed materials, the second module will contain graphic language, and the final module will address topics such as sex, rape, incest, misogyny, and sexual violence.

Assessment

We will figure it out together.

For further information, feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Selected literature

• Corbin, Alain (ed.). 2020. Historia męskości. T. 2: XIX wiek. Tryumf męskości.
• Johnson, Allan G. 1997. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy.
• Jule, Allyson. 2017. A Beginner’s Guide to Language and Gender.
• Kochman-Haładyj, Bożena, and Grzegorz A. Kleparski. 2011. On pejoration of women terms in the history of English.