General provisions

The course is offered as an independent course. It is also one of the courses within the D level of Linguistics.

Entry requirements

Fulfilment of the requirements for a Bachelor's degree with Linguistics or another language subject as the main field of study.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course students are expected to 

 

* have deepened their knowledge of major theoretical approaches to lexical semantics such as structuralist, formal semantic and in particular cognitive linguistic theories

* have a good understanding of basic concepts such as categorisation, frames, prototypes, metaphor, metonymy and blending

* be familiar with lexical typology

* be familiar with the major lexical databases on computer such as WordNet and FrameNet

* be able to actively carry out work on corpus-based contrastive lexical analysis 

* be able to participate actively and independently in seminar discussions by presenting small research topics in the field of lexical semantics

Content

The course consists of a survey of lexical semantics centring on cognitive linguistic approaches. Basic theoretical concepts are examined such as categorisation, frames/domains/semantic fields, prototypes, polysemy, metaphor, metonymy and blending. Crosslinguistic aspects of lexical semantics are focused. A survey is given of lexical typology and an important part of the course are written assignments in the form of corpus-based contrastive lexical analysis. A brief survey is also given of multilingual semantic databases such as wordnets and framenets.

Instruction

Lectures and group sessions.

Assessment

Students are examined by means of oral presentations and written assignments, including a home essay. Grades are fail, pass, or pass with distinction.

Students who fail a regular examination will be offered a make-up examination within a reasonable period of time after the regular examination.

Students who fail an examination twice have the right to apply to the director of studies of the department for permission to change examiners or examination forms.

Other regulations

Literature:

* William Croft and D. Alan Cruse. 2004. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1-8 (pages 1-221)

* Stig Johansson 2007. Seeing through Multilingual Corpora. On the Use of Corpora in Contrastive Studies. Amsterdam: Benjamins. (Selected chapters. Around 100 pages.)

* Viberg, Å. 1984. The verbs of perception: a typological study. Linguistics 21-1. 1984. pp. 123-162.

* 2006. Towards a lexical profile of the Swedish verb lexicon. In: Viberg, Å. Guest editor. The Typological Profile of Swedish. Thematic issue of Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung. Vol. 59:1, 103-129.

* 2008. Swedish verbs of perception from a typological and contrastive perspective. (48 pages). In: María de los Ángeles Gómez González, Lachlan

* Mackenzie and Elsa González Álvarez (Editors) Languages and Cultures in Contrast: New Directions in Contrastive Linguistics. [Pragmatics and Beyond New Series].Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 123-172.

* Some more articles or book chapters will be included as well as web-based resources related to Global WordNet and FrameNet.