Cognitive Linguistics Course Home (Spring 2009)

Table of Contents:

• Office Hours
• Class Time
• Required Text
• Course Description
• Requirements
• Attendance and Evaluation
• Final Grades
• Course Schedule for Spring 2009

Office Hours: 12:30 - 1:45PM, Tuesdays and Thursdays

Class Time: 11:00 - 11:50AM, MWF

Required Texts :

1. Cognitive English Grammar, written by Gunter Radden and Rene Dirven, John Benjamins Publishing Comany, 2007.
2. Cognitive Linguistics, written by William Croft and D. Alan Cruse, Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Course Description:

This course represents a general introduction to theoretical linguistics known as cognitive linguistics. It consists of three main parts. The first part provides an overview of some of the main aims, assumptions and commitments of the cognitive linguistics enterprise, and provides an indicative sketch of some of the descriptive analyses and theoretical positions that are representative of cognitive linguistics. Based on these philosophical backgrounds, the next two parts focus on the two best-developed research frameworks in cognitive linguistics: cognitive semantics (meaning), and cognitive approach to grammar (structure).

Requirements:

You will have a total of 6 assignments and one project which replaces the final exam. There is no midterm for this class. All the assignments are reviews of articles that are recently written by major cognitive linguists. The final project is a book review. The list of the papers you will summarize is as follows. The list for the book review will be decided based on your intrest sometime in March.

1. Fillmore, Charles (1982), Frame Semantics, Linguistics in the Morning Calm, Seoul: Hanshin Publishing Co., 111-137.
2. Lakoff, George (1987), Cognitive models and prototype theory. In U. Neisser (Ed.), Cocepts and Conceptual Development: Ecological and Intellectual Factors in Categorization, 63-100.
3. Geeraerts, Dirk (1988), Where does prototypicality come from? In B. Rudzak-Ostyn (Ed.), Topics in Cognitive Linguistics, John Benjamins, 207-229.
4. Goldberg, Adele (2003), Constructions: A new theoretical approach to language, Trends in Cognitive Science 7(5), 219-224.
5. Tyler, Andrea and Vyvyan Evans (2001), Reconsidering prepositional polysemy network: The case of over, Language 77(4), 724-765.
6. Grady, Joseph (1999), A typology of motivation for conceptual metaphor: Correlation vs. resemblance. In R. W. Gibbs & G. Steen (Eds.), Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics, John Benjamins, 79-100.

Attendance and Evaluation:

It is important for you to present in classes. Every homework assignment should be turned in on the due date in class. Evaluation will be based on the following weight. If your attendance is perfect, you will have 3 bonus points. However, keep in mind that 1 point will be deducted per each class you miss. Remember that I DO NOT accept late assignment. E-mail submission will NOT be accepted.

Final Grades:

• 93 - 100: A
• 90 - 92: A-
• 87 - 89: B+
• 83 - 86: B
• 80 - 82: B-
• 77 - 79: C+
• 73 - 76: C
• 70 - 72: C-
• 67 - 69: D+
• 63 - 66: D
• 60 - 62: D-
• 59 or less: F

Course Schedule for Spring 2009: