Discourse studies at IfL explores pragmatic, cognitive, and semiotic aspects of large linguistic units. “Discourse” is taken as the domain of language use (in Du Bois’ terms) and as a process rather than a product (in Widdowson’s terms). Research and teaching interests encompass the interface between syntax and pragmatics; discourse structure above the sentence level; the conceptual mapping, blending, and compression behind figurative language; the relation between texts and socio-cultural contexts in contemporary as well as in historical texts (communication strategies, text production and text performance); and the theoretical underpinnings of multi- and cross-modal features in oral genres. Past and current synchronic and diachronic approaches apply contemporary frameworks to linguistic phenomena in ancient Greek corpora; further corpora are being progressively added. The starting team looks forward to increasing collaborations with the other sections of IfL, as well as with other Institutes, within and beyond the University of Cologne.

New! Check out the new MA profile module “Discourse Studies” here!

https://ccls.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/studium/1-fach-ma-linguistik-1/diskurslinguistik 

• We cordially invite everyone to attend the data-session with Prof. Dr. Jörg Zinken (IDS Mannheim): Decoding language - Multimodality in reality and fiction on the 7th of May!

• Are you interested in the transcription of conversations? Here we have a brief tutorial by a PhD student of our Department of Linguistics about the 2022-launched software DOTE!

ATTENTION:

+++Restricted library service: The current safety regulations must be considered! All information on the use of the library+++

• Nikolaus P. Himmelmann awarded Labex EFL International Chair 2024

  Congratulations to Professor Nikolaus P. Himmelmann on the award of a Labex EFL International Chair. Within the framework of the chair, professor Himmelmann will give a series of four seminars on the theme of Taking spoken language seriously in Paris in March of 2024. The International Labex EFL Chair of the Laboratoire d’excellence “Fondements Empiriques de la Linguistique” honors academics of high international distinction in their field. The next seminar ("One grammar or two?") will be held on April 24. The lecture can also be attended online. All lectures are also available to stream for longer periods. Click here for more information.

• Lunch & Linguistics in summer term 2024

  On April 16, 2024, the CCLS Lunch & Linguistics lecture series will start, where young researchers (from advanced Master and PhD students to post-docs) can present and discuss their research projects and network with researchers from different fields of linguistics. You are very welcome to participate! Click here for further information.

• CCLS Lecture Series in summer term 2024

  The lecture series of the Cologne Center of Language Sciences (CCLS) starts on April 15, 2024. This semester there will again be many interesting lectures on different research fields of linguistics. Here you can find the program of the CCLS Lecture Series in the summer term 2024 as well as further information.

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• Research team from Cologne University deciphers curious enigmatic writing from antiquity

  Much of what is known today about the Kushana empire and its inhabitants comes from Chinese, Greek or Roman sources. Until now, no one has been able to read some of the written records of this Central Asian culture, as the writing system in which they were written had not been deciphered. The Cologne linguists Svenja Bonmann, Jakob Halfmann and Natalie Korobzow have now achieved a breakthrough: the mystery of the unknown Kushana script has been solved.  
  The Cologne University Magazine also reports on this. 

• Maria Bardají i Farré as guest of Radio Republik Indonesia Tolitoli

  At an interactive dialogue titled "TANTANGAN DAN UPAYA PELESTARIAN BAHASA DAERAH" (Challenges and efforts for the preservation of regional languages), Maria Bardají i Farré spoke about the Western Austronesian language Totoli on July 26, 2023.  

• The German Research Foundation (DFG) has granted Professor Nikolaus P. Himmelmann, General Linguistics, a Reinhart Koselleck Project

  Entitled "Taking Spoken Language Seriously / Gesprochene Sprache ernst nehmen," the project will address the question of the relevance of spoken language properties for grammatical analysis over a period of five years. The funding amount is one million euros. Reinhart Kosseleck projects are awarded exclusively to researchers whose curriculum vitae is distinguished by outstanding scientific achievements. Funding is provided for particularly innovative and, in a positive sense, risk-taking research.
  Congratulations!

• The Acquisition Sketch Project

  The Acquisition Sketch Project is an initiative aimed at expanding knowledge about the acquisition of little-studied languages. Combining findings from child language acquisition and language documentation, the project provides a detailed description of how to collect data and write an "acquisition sketch" of a language based on just 5 hours of naturalistic data.