Cultural models: Theory and methodology - Einzelansicht

The research fields of Cultural Linguistics and Cognitive Sociolinguistics both examine how people from different social groups understand the world in very diverse ways. By looking at language use, researchers abstract from there to assumed mental representations in speakers' minds.

The central analytical tool in this endeavour are so-called ”cultural conceptualisations”, which is an umbrella term for several cognitive-linguistic phenomena such as metaphors or schemas.

Another analytical tool often employed in cultural-linguistic studies is the ”cultural model”. Although past and current research mostly agrees that a cultural model is the central logic that underlies people's understanding of a particular thematic domain, the term is varyingly used and not clearly defined.

In this course, we're first going to make our way through the jungle of existing definitions of the term ”cultural model”. By reading texts and trying to visually capture the proposed definitions, we'll step-by-step develop our own understanding of what a cultural model actually is.

In the second part of the course, we'll put our newly acquired theoretical knowledge into use and come up with methodological ideas for how cultural models could be best investigated empirically.

The course thus seeks to merge theory and methodology and does so with the help of interactive didactic methods.

Important information:

Our first meeting on October 15 takes place online. Please login to the session via the following details:

• https://uni-potsdam.zoom-x.de/j/63582586826
• Meeting-ID: 635 8258 6826
• Kenncode: 98039075

Will be provided via Moodle

Presentation of an article, collection and discussion of data, active participation