Course Description

Knowledge of linguistics is very useful for the students studying a language who want to understand the language. The topics in this semester include: dynamic semantics (metaphor, metonymy, collocations, idioms, cliche, proverbs) based on the developments of cognitive linguistics; pragmatics (e.g. Grice's principles, politeness); logic and critical thinking; information structure; ambiguity; speech levels; system of composing paragraphs; language and culture; social aspects of language; communication styles; regional and social dialects; paralanguage; world Englishes; Japanglish; comparison between English and Japanese.