Contenu pour l'année 2023-24:
The Power of Words:
Investigating Discourse and Society

Monika Pukli & Stéphane Kostantzer

Course description:

Part 1/ Mme Pukli
This course aims to familiarize students with the fundamental links between language and power dynamics in society. It will involve a critical examination of socio-political environments, analyzing how language plays a role in upholding or changing these contexts. Students will investigate how particular language choices contribute to either preserving or modifying power structures. By engaging in reflection and analysis, students will develop a deeper comprehension of the ways in which language influences and molds society.

Part 2/ M Kostanter
The ambition of this course is to try to understand how linguistic options (semantic, syntactic) can be used to affect and re-shape social interactions, rather than just reflect them. Several theories will be studied to analyse the vast array of strategies that are at the speaker’s disposal, starting with rhetoric. As we proceed, we shall also see that speakers in fact already have to interact with a form of power that is inherent in language.

Assessment:
Oral exam
30 minutes, in the course of the semester
Oral exam
30 minutes, at the end of the semester

Recommended reading:
Mme Pukli
Bucholtz, Mary, & Hall, Kira (2004). “Language and Identity.” In A. Duranti (Ed.), A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology (pp. 369-394). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Mooney, Annabelle, Stilwell Peccei, Jean, LaBelle, Suzanne, Engøy Henriksen, Berit, Eppler, Eva, Irwin, Anthea, Pichler, Pia, Preece, Siân & Soden, Satori (2011). Language, Society and Power: An Int roduction (Third edition). London, New York: Routledge
M Kostantzer
Bakhtine, Mikhaïl (1920-1974). Esthétique de la création verbale. Paris : Gallimard, 1984.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen Levinson. "Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena." In E.N. Goody (ed.), Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP (1978): 56-311.
Brown, Penelope and Stephen Levinson. Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.
Ducrot, Oswald. Dire et ne pas dire. Principes de sémantique linguistique. Collection Savoir : Sciences. Hermann éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 3ème éd : Paris, 1993.
Ducrot, Oswald. Le Dire et le dit. Paris : Les éditions de minuit, 1984.
Giles, Howard, et al. "Accommodation theory: communication, context and consequence." In H. Giles, N. Coupland and J. Coupland (eds), Contexts of Accommodation: Development in Applied Sociolinguistics. Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’homme (1991): 1-68.
Goffman, Erving. Les Rites d’interaction. Paris : Editions de Minuit, 1974.
Grice, Herbert Paul. Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1989.
Kerbrat-Orecchioni, Catherine. Le Discours en interaction. Paris : Armand Colin, 2005.
Kerbrat-Orecchioni Catherine, L’Implicite, Paris : Armand Colin, 1986.
Lecercle, Jean-Jacques, The Violence of Language. Routledge : New York, 1990.
Viktorovitch Clément. Le Pouvoir rhétorique. Apprendre à convaincre et à décrypter les discours. Paris : Editions du Seuil, 2021.
 

HUDDLESTON, Rodney and PULLUM, Geoffrey, The Cambridge Grammar of the English language, Cambridge University Press, 2002, chapter 16, « Information packaging ».
QUIRK, Randolph, A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman, 1972, chapter 14, “Focus, Theme and Emphasis”, p. 935-972.
SMITH Carlota, Modes of Discourse. The Local Structure of Texts, Cambridge, 2003 (particularly chapters 7, 8, 9, p. 155-240)
Cotte, P. “Le nom, l’indéfini et le défini », Actes du colloque de l’ALAES, janvier 2001
Fontaine, L. “The Noun, Grammar and Context”, in Alex Xuanwei Peng and Jonathan Webster (eds.) The Making of Meaning: Grammar, Society and Consciousness. London: Bloomsbury.
Haspelmath, M. Word Classes and Parts of Speech, Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier Science Ltd, 2001.
Huddleston R. & Pullum G.K. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Chapter 5 Nouns and Nouns Phrases, 2002.
Langacker, R.W. "Nouns and Verbs", Language 60.
Wierzbicka, A. “What’s in a Noun?”, Studies in Language 10:2, 1986.
Wierzbicka, A. « Why Can You Have a Drink When You Can't *Have an Eat?”, Language 58, 1982.