Two Advanced Courses in Linguistics (2012)

Le labex TransferS a invité Mira Ariel, de l'Université de Tel Aviv, et John W. Du Bois, de l'Université de Californie, Santa Barbara, pour deux séminaires en langue anglaise en 2012 : « New Directions in Pragmatics and Semantics », du 25 au 29 juin 2012, et New Directions in Pragmatics and Semantics du 9 au 13 juillet, à l’École normale supérieure (45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris). La totalité des séances a été filmée en partenariat avec l'ENS - Savoirs en multimedia, et est accessible à partir du programme ci-dessous.

Two Advanced Courses in Linguistics

by

Mira Ariel (Tel Aviv University)                                                    John W. DuBois (University of California, Santa Barbara)

New Directions in Pragmatics and Semantics

(June 25-29)

Grammaticization: Functional Explanation for Grammar

(July 9-13)

Both courses are based on recent research by Mira Ariel and John W. Du Bois. Each course is designed to be self-contained, and can be taken independently of each other, or combined for additional scope of theoretical and empirical coverage.

Contacts: Thierry Poibeau, Michel Charolles

La participation aux séminaires pourra être certifiée par les enseignants pour la validation d'ECTS.

Course 1

New Directions in Pragmatics and Semantics

(June 25-29)

1. Introduction: Semantics vs. pragmatics (Mira Ariel)

2. Types of pragmatic inferences (Mira Ariel)

3. Dialogic syntax: The structure of engagement (John W. DuBois)

4. The stance triangle: Evaluation, positioning, and alignment (John W. DuBois)

5. Semantics and the argument from discourse (Mira Ariel)

This course presents a specific view of the state of the art in pragmatics, semantics, and especially the division of labor between them. The foundations of the course are based on two recent books by Ariel, Pragmatics and Grammar (2008) and Defining Pragmatics (2010). We focus on synchronic aspects of meaning interpretation, drawing extensively on linguistic examples taken from naturally occurring discourse. We begin by setting the stage with an assessment of the current status of classical questions about implicatures, explicatures, ‘what is said’, and the nature of pragmatic inference (lectures 1, 2). We then take up the recently developed theory of dialogic syntax, considered as an aspect of the structure of engagement in interaction; it is contrasted with traditional linear, sentential syntax (lecture 3; cf. DuBois, forthcoming). This leads to a pragmatic view of the linguistic act of taking a stance, encompassing evaluation, positioning, and alignment (lecture 4; DuBois 2007). Finally we examine the rising practice of scholarly argumentation from discourse to semantic claims, proposing to clarify the distinction between appropriate vs. fallacious uses of the method (lecture 5).

References

Ariel, Mira (2008). Pragmatics and grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ariel, Mira (2010). Defining pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Du Bois, John W. (2007). “The stance triangle”. Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction. R. Englebretson. Amsterdam: Benjamins: 139-182.

Du Bois, John W. (forthcoming). “Towards a dialogic syntax” (Special issue on Dialogic resonance, ed. by Rachel Giora and John W. Du Bois). Cognitive Linguistics.

Course 2
Grammaticization: Functional Explanation for Grammar

(July 9-13)

1. Introduction to grammaticization (Mira Ariel) Voir la vidéo

2. Reflexivization and the cycle of grammaticization (Mira Ariel) Voir la vidéo

3. From accessibility to referent tracking: Distributed cognitive files (Mira Ariel

& John W. DuBois)

4. Preferred Argument Structure and competing motivations in functional explanation

(John W. DuBois)

5. The grammaticization of argument structure (Mira Ariel & John W. Du Bois)

This course focuses on another facet of the pragmatics/grammar interface, the process of grammaticization (and semanticization). We argue for grammaticization as a foundational component of a pragmatically-informed theory of functional explanation for language. Grammaticization is seen as a process which is functionally motivated, largely in absolute (extralinguistic) terms, yet complex enough to incorporate some degree of arbitrariness. The theory is applied to specific topics beginning with the grammar of reflexives (lecture 2). The activation and tracking of referents in discourse is examined in light of accessibility theory and the concept of distributed cognition (lecture 3). Finally, the grammaticization of argument structure is analyzed as arising out of discourse patterns of preferred argument structure; this is examined as a paradigm case of the theory of competing motivations (lectures 4 & 5).