Ateneo - UPO

The course will introduce the cognitive revolution that reaches linguistics from cognitive sciences; also the opposition between chomskian theories and those more properly cogntive. The principal phases of the cognitive process will be illustrated: perception, categorization, representation. The most important cognitive linguistic theories will be presented showing how they share the notion that conceptualization is at the basis of linguistic expression. The cognitive theory of metaphor will be described. The most important projects in the field will be described (FrameNet, MetaNet, CMR) as well as the resources necessary. In particular the cognitive models of space will be shown and their implication for the spatial language, including linguistic typology. In particular motion verbs and motion expressions will be treated. In addition, a brief sketch of the studies in NVC will be presented. Finally the possibility that neurolinguistics may offer an alternative to cognitive linguistics wil be discussed.

1) Croft W e Cruse D. A. (2010), Linguistica cognitiva, Roma, Carocci. Edizione italiana a cura di Silvia Luraghi. 2) Monica Mosca (2010), Eventi di moto in italiano tra sintassi e semantica. Uno studio cognitivo empirico, Pisa, Edizioni Plus. only few chapters: I, II, VII.

Students will acquire knowledge of the foundations of cognitive semantics, typological aspects of languages and principal processes of grammaticalisation. They will be able to identify the theories and the processes studied and to give examples. They will recognise the structures analysed during the course and to derive implications. They will be able to carry simple field research. They will explain organically the phenomena studied during the course and to identify logical connections. They will be able to read general texts and scientific articles (also in English).

Foundations of linguistics, with particular attentionfor the cognitive paradigm both chmoskian and not. No knowledge of classical language is required, but the ability to discriminate the variety of linguistic forms is necessary.

lectures, on-line educational materials, workshops in the course of the year, experiences in field research

The final test consists into an interview of about 30'. The interview starts with the discussion on a subject chosen by the student (about 10'). If the student has written a personal research thesis the interview will continue with a discussion on the thesis, otherwise it will include two more question on subjects chosen by the teacher. The examination will be passed if the student will have reached ht emote of at least 18/30. To the final evaluation contribute 1) the ability to speak fluently of the required subjects (20%), 2) the mastering of the fundamentals of the discipline (50%) and 3) the ability to express motivated personal opinions on the different subjects of the discipline (30%).

unit 1 (2 hrs): Cognitive linguistics, one name many souls; relations with Cognitive Science unit 2 (1 hrs): Chomsky and the theories of language and of human mind unit 3 (1 hrs): the reaction against chomskian formalism unit 4 (2 hrs): the basis of cognition: perception and "embodiment" unit 5 (2 hrs): categorization; Rosch's prototypes. unit 6 (2 hrs): The representation: mental spaces, image schemas, frames unit 7 (1 hrs): FrameNet project unit 8 (1 hrs): Form and content; a quasi-saussurian approach unit 9 (2 hrs): cognitive grammars unit 10 (2 hrs): cognitive theory of metaphor; figurative language unit 11 (2 hrs): the most important projects on metaphor:MML, MetaNet, CMR unit 12 (1 hrs): universalism vs. relativism unit 13 (2 hrs): the basic metaphor, space ( and time) unit 14 (2 hrs): space language Unit 15 (2 hrs): verbal and non-verbal language. Unit 16 (2 hrs): Cognitive vs. neural approach Unit 17 (2 hrs): Theoretical vs. corpus-based approach Unit 18 (1 hrs): field research on spatial language; collection of spontaneous and elicited language samples. Unit 17 (2 hrs): elaboration of the collected materials and discussion. Free discussions will be held during the course after Units 5, 7, 11, 14.

Students will acquire knowledge of the foundations of cognitive semantics, typological aspects of languages and principal processes of grammaticalisation. They will be able to identify the theories and the processes studied and to give examples. They will recognise the structures analysed during the course and to derive implications. They will be able to carry simple field research. They will explain organically the phenomena studied during the course and to identify logical connections. They will be able to read general texts and scientific articles (also in English).