230162 Variational Pragmatics (S) (SoSe 2019)

Variational pragmatics is a linguistic discipline that investigates pragmatic variation in geographical and social space. It has been described as the intersection of pragmatics with [modern] dialectology (Schneider 2014: 361), and thus adds a pragmatic dimension to the study of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar in dialectology. It could be seen as a branch of contrastive linguistics, although it does not deal with contrasts between different languages (e.g. English vs. German) but with variation within one language, e.g. English as it is spoken in different localities. In this, it is primarily concerned with language variation in pluricentric languages. In this class, you will first be introduced to the field of variational pragmatics. We will look at pragmatic differences between different national varieties of English, such as Irish English, English English and American English, but we will also include the World Englishes paradigm. We will be looking at selected studies using a variational pragmatic approach, and will be working with empirical data from an ongoing research project at Bielefeld University on the pragmatics of Namibian English. We will discuss the advantages and limitations of different methods of data collection and analysis, but you will also spend a significant amount of time in the field. You will design and conduct your own small-scale research project on a variational pragmatic issue and present the results of your investigation at the end of the semester.

Bibliography

Schneider, Klaus P. 2014. “Comparability and Sameness in Variational Pragmatics”. In Silvia Mergenthal and Reingard Nischik, eds. Anglistentag 2013 Konstanz. Proceedings. Trier: WVT, 361-372.