spring 2020 HIF-1014 Metaphors in Language and Culture: How Metaphor Shapes Our Speech and Actions - 10 ECTS
Application deadline
Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 December for courses offered in the spring semester.
Exchange students and Fulbright students: 15 April for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 October for courses offered in the spring semester.
Course content
Metaphors are all around us. They are an essential tool for understanding abstract concepts and they shape every language and every culture. Metaphors matter because they influence our decisions. For example, if your metaphorical model is DATING IS HUNTING, you will understand your role as either predator or prey, whereas if your model is DATING IS A GAME, you are more likely to engage with potential partners as equals in a playful relationship. If you need to convince someone of your opinion, you will do this differently depending on whether your model is AN ARGUMENT IS A BATTLE (in which case your objective is to defeat your opponent with the most unassailable evidence) or AN ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING (in which case your focus will be on structuring your talking points so that they form a balanced, coherent whole). This course will present metaphor theory through the material of current challenges in today’s society across domains of education, health care, the economy, human rights, science, and culture. Metaphor theory makes it possible to precisely analyse and compare metaphors across languages and cultures. Students will be stakeholders in determining the focus of the course and will learn corpus techniques for collecting data on the use of metaphors in their native languages and their languages of study. Metaphor will also be addressed in film, literature, art, music, social media, and advertising. Comparisons will be made across other associative mechanisms in human cognition, such as metonymy and blending.Objectives of the course
The students have the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge
The student has:
- Mastery of metaphor theory
- Mastery of terms used in analysis of metaphors
- Appreciation of the role of metaphor in language and culture
- Overview of corpus resources for their language of study
Skills
The student is able to / can:
- Recognize metaphors in language and culture, including visual culture.
- Analyze metaphors in terms of source domain and target domain and elements that are/are not mapped from one domain to the other.
- Distinguish metaphor from metonymy and blending.
- Distinguish between conventional and novel metaphor.
- Identify conceptual metaphors.
- Compare and contrast metaphors across languages and cultures.
- Use corpus resources to collect data for analysis of metaphor in their language of study.
Teaching methods
Class will meet for 4 hours/week for 13 weeks, plus one meeting for students’ final presentations.
During class meetings:
- students will present their responses to weekly challenges (homework)
- students will be guided through new material (lecture & discussion)
- students will participate in shaping the following week’s challenge
Quality assurance: All courses will be evaluated once during the period of the study program. The board of the program decides which courses will be evaluated by students and teacher each year.
Assessment
The following coursework requirements must be completed and approved in order to take the final exam:
- students will deliver written responses to a minimum number of weekly challenges
- students will take a short in-class exam to ensure mastery of terms and skills
- students will make final presentations of their independent projects which focus on metaphor in their language of study
The exam will consist of:
A 10-page paper presenting the student’s research on a topic selected in consultation with instructors. The research paper will focus on metaphor in the student’s language of study.
The exam will be assessed on an A-F grade scale. Grades are A-E for passed and F for failed. A re-sit examination is offered in the beginning of the following semester in cases of grade F. A postponed examination is offered in the beginning of the following semester if the student is unable to take the final exam due to illness or other exceptional circumstances. Registration deadline for re-sit/postponed examination is January 15 for courses offered in the autumn semester and August 15 for courses offered in the spring semester. In the event of a re-sit/postponed examination, the student is allowed to submit a revised version of his/her paper within a given deadline.
Recommended reading/syllabus
Pensumliste for HIF-1014 Metaphors in Language and Culture: How Metaphor Shapes Our Speech and Actions- About the course
- Campus: Tromsø |
- ECTS: 10
- Course code: HIF-1014
- Responsible unit
- Department of Language and Culture