Language, Cognition and Culture
Cod: 53008
Department: DH
ECTS: 15
Scientific area: Portuguese Linguistics
Total working hours: 390
Total contact time: 60

This seminar is within the scope of the theories that analyze the relationship between Language, Cognition and Culture, looking at the foundations for the study of Portuguese Language in the cognitive paradigm and considering language-in-use.

Cognitive Linguistics, Embodiement, language variation

Students are expected to acquire the following general, metacognitive and specific knowledge inputs and competences:

(i) analyzing problems in the area, planning and organizing linguistic and cognitive activities both individually and in groups;

(ii) developing and carrying individual academic projects (diagnosis, selection, treatment, analysis and application of new and highly specific information);

(iii) promoting linguistic research in the area;

(iv) reflecting on Portuguese linguistic data, and linguistic corpora; analyzing Portuguese data language structure;

(v) showing good command of written Portuguese (elaborate academic style);

(vi) proving capacity of preparing a final dissertation within a given theoretical and methodological frame, and based on a small original linguistic corpus.

I - Language and Cognition:

(i) the cognitive paradigm in the study of language(s) - Cognitive Linguistics and Cultural Linguistics - theoretical foundations;

(ii) Theories of relationship between Language and Cognition (the importance of nature and nurture);

(iii) the myth of language as an instinct;

II - Language, Cognition and Culture:

(i) How to study Portuguese in the cognitive paradigm?

(ii) language variation and languages in contact;

(iii) Physiological and cultural embodiment;

III - Preparation of an individual project to be presented as a final paper of the seminar (depending on individual interests of each student):

(i) definition of an individual subject to be studied in the given theoretical and methodological framework;

(ii) preparation of a small original linguistic corpus to be analyzed in the seminar;

(iii) preparation of the final paper.

Main

Batoréo, Hanna J. (2004). Linguística Portuguesa: Abordagem Cognitiva (CD-Rom). Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.

Batoréo, Hanna J. (2015). Linguística Cultural e o Estudo do Léxico da Língua Portuguesa (PE e PB). In Simões, Darcília, Osório, Paulo, e Molica, Cecília (Orgs.). Contribuição à Linguística no Brasil: um projecto de vida. Miscelânea em Homenagem a Cláudia Roncarati (pp. 98-143). Rio de Janeiro: Dialogarts.

Batoréo, Hanna J. (Org.) (2022). Linguagem. Cognição. Cultura: teorias, aplicações e diálogos com foco na língua portuguesa (português europeu e português do Brasil), Lisboa: Universidade Aberta, Coleção Ciência e Cultura, n.º 17.

Sharifian, F. (Ed.) (2015). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Culture. (pp. 473-493). Oxford: Routledge.

Silva, Augusto Soares da (2006). O Mundo dos Sentidos em Português: Polissemia, Semântica e Cognição. Coimbra: Almedina.

 Other

Evans, Vyvyan (2014). The Language Myth: Why Language is not an Instinct? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sharifian, F., e Palmer, G. B. (Eds.) (2007). Applied cultural linguistics: Implications for second language learning and intercultural communication.  Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Sinha, Ch., e López, K. J. de (2004). Language, Culture and the Embodiement of Spatial Cognition. Cognitive Linguistics, 11, 17-41

E-learning.

Assessment includes the accomplishment of assignments and regular and relevant participation in the various forums throughout the semester.

Following The Pedagogical Model of UAb, teaching methodology adopted is e-learning on an electronic platform, and continuous assessment in e-learning is privileged in evaluation. Students are expected to present two digital written documents, and a final paper based on the previous partial assignments, evaluated with 60 percent (partial tasks) and 40 percent (the final assignment). As the general area of research is Portuguese Linguistics, in the final paper students are requested to base their analysis on an original linguistic corpus of Portuguese language-in-use data, gathered by themselves, describing and discussing the linguistic material according to the theoretical and methodological foundations studied earlier (focusing: conceptualization processes, cognitive mechanisms, meaning networks, etc.). Cohesion and coherence of theory and practice in the research field and its development during the semester is focused upon and privileged in the evaluation.