Profile module Discourse Studies
The Profile Module Discourse Studies is one of the options within Specialization Module 1 which serves to develop a student’s own profile from among current specialization areas in linguistics. Students are required to choose one of these six profiles (see right column), which is later included on the final transcript. The choice of profile also determines the area the thesis is written in, meaning that the thesis supervisor will stem from the area in question.
Specialization Module 1 focuses on scientific competence in its cognitive, functional, and methodological dimensions, providing theoretical knowledge, profile-specific methodic competence, as well as the ability to think and act in a scientifically competent manner in both academic and non-academic contexts.
Please find FAQs regarding the Profile Module Discourse Studies below.
What is the field of study about?
Discourse Studies in Cologne is about the discourse analysis of linguistic phenomena. Social and anthropological aspects of discourse are directly linked to actual linguistic expressions realized in different spoken and written multimodal contexts.
Theoretical frameworks from pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, and semiotics are applied to different languages, including ancient Indo-European languages, and to various discourse types ranging from poetry to contemporary social media formats and spontaneous conversation. We encourage cross-linguistic comparisons, diachronically and synchronically.
What does the Cologne research area Discourse Studies do?
For an overview of courses, projects, and initiatives carried out at Discourse Studies, please check the homepage here.
What are the prerequisites?
If you want to specialize in Discourse Studies with us you should have a basic knowledge about grammatical structures, language use, and empirical methods. The most important prerequisite is your interest in linguistic units above the sentence level, and/or your interest in multimodal discourse.
If you are unsure whether you are missing important basic courses, please get in touch with the contact person (see below).
What is the field of study not about?
This profile module does not concern language acquisition and language documentation.
The core interest is in the organization of large linguistic units from a pragmatic and cognitive perspective rather than in hierarchical relations concerning the components of individual sentences, or in word formation.
Which modules is the field of study principally involved in?
AM 1-5, SM 1N, SM 1P, SM2A, EM 1, EM 2
Who can I contact?
