6 ECTS credits
180 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 4020165FNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.
This course takes the student on a journey to what Roman Jakobson famously called “the essence of language”. We study how the form of a linguistic sign is related to its meaning. Following Ferdinand de Saussure, many linguistic schools of thought maintain that this relationship is inherently arbitrary. There are, however, linguistic signs whose form is directly related to its meaning. Onomatopoeic words, such as cuckoo, are clear examples of this - the form of the word resembles the sound referred to. In contemporary linguistic research, this phenomenon is studied under the name of “iconicity”. Over the past few decades, iconicity has emerged as a fundamental explanatory notion in phonology, morphology and syntax. Using English as the language of study, students learn to understand the semiotic foundations of the concept of iconicity and how iconicity informs the debate about the relationship between language and cognition. The course critically reflects on the empirical evidence for iconicity in English. The course is designed as an activity-based learning course, using micro-teaching and empirical research as its main learning tools.
The course is taught in English.
See CANVAS for more information about the practical organization of the course.
Upon succesful completion of this course you will be able to:
- explain the notion of iconicity to peers and a lay audience
- provide examples of iconicity in English on a phonological, morphological and syntactic level
- use the proper terminology associated with the debate on iconicity in language (e.g., icon, index, symbol, arbitrary, firstness, secondness, thirdness, similarity)
- critically reflect on the epistemological problems associated with the empirical study of iconicity
- perform an experiment that aims to evaluate the phonological iconicity of English
- analyse the results of this experiment by means of the appropriate statistical analyses
- critically reflect on the results of experiments that aim to evaluate iconicity in language
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
LEC Presentation determines 40% of the final mark.
LEC Paper determines 60% of the final mark.
Within the LEC Presentation category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Within the LEC Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Nonattendance
Nonattendance of the micro teaching assignment results in a zero mark.
Second exam session
For the second exam session students are evaluated based on an updated version of the report
COVID 19 Measures
Micro teaching will be done online (via Big Blue Button on CANVAS), in case on campus teaching is not possible.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Italian-German (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Literary Studies - 1 language (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Linguistics - 1 language (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Literary Studies - 2 languages (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Linguistics - 2 languages (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: profile Intermediality - 1 language (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: profile Intermediality - 2 languages (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: profile Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics - 1 language (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: profile Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics - 2 languages (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: profile Multilingualism and Foreign Language Acquisition - 1 language (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: profile Multilingualism and Foreign Language Acquisition - 2 languages (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Literary Studies 1 Language
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Literary Studies 2 Languages
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Linguistics 1 Language
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Linguistics 2 Languages
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics 1 Language
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics 2 Languages
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Multilingualism and Foreign Language Acquisition 1 Language
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Multilingualism and Foreign Language Acquisition 2 Languages
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Intermediality - 1 language
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Intermediality - 2 languages
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Literary Studies
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Literary Studies
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Linguistics
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Linguistics
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Multilingualism and Foreign Language Acquisition
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Multilingualism and Foreign Language Acquisition
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Intermediality
Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Profile Profile Intermediality
Master of Teaching in Languages: 1 taal (120 ECTS, Etterbeek) (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Teaching in Languages: 2 talen (120 ECTS, Etterbeek) (only offered in Dutch)