Language Structure and its usage patterns. Linguistic description: synchrony and diachrony. Cognition and language. Stabilization, variation and linguistic change processes. Lexicon and grammar. Theoretical and methodological perspectives of linguistic studies. Language education.

COURSES:

LANGUAGE IN USE

The language/society relationship. Stability and linguistic heterogeneity. Factors affecting phonological, morphosyntactic and discursive-pragmatic variation. Variation in the individual and the community. Functionalist view of language. The speech and grammar interface in the functional perspective. Relationships between functional grammar and cognitivism.

LANGUAGE AND COGNITION

Cognition and grammar. Cognitive processes of language production and reception. Language acquisition. Language and other cognitive domains. Theoretical and methodological issues on language and cognition research.

STUDIES IN GRAMMAR

Description and linguistic analysis. Variation and linguistic change. Grammaticalization and stabilization processes along the trajectory of languages. The complexity of the function vs. form correlation. Grammatical studies and teaching/learning.

SEMANTIC-PRAGMATIC ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE

Syllabus: Meaning and language use. Pragmatic functions and speech organization. Categories, concepts and meanings. Metaphor and metonymy. Deixis and referentiation. Cognitive perspectives of semantics and pragmatics

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