• Maillat Didier

• Maillat Didier

With the advent of internet and internet-based communication, languages have been exposed to new communication media. English quickly acquired the status of the internet lingua franca. In this proseminar, we will first look into the effect that internet media have had on English on lexical, morphological, syntactic, and semantic levels. We will also analyse the properties of computer-mediated communication and see to what extent it has reshaped the English language to suit its needs and purposes.

We will then look into the impact that online affordances have had on the way we communicate with each other, looking at phenomena like trolling, memes, likes and retweets, among others. Thus, we will examine to what extent online interactions have modified the way we communicate with each other.

Our primary material will be the English language used in emails, chats, facebook posts, tweets, online games, blogs, websites, etc. From a methodological point of view, students will take an active part in finding the data we will be working on and sessions will be divided up between theory and data analysis.

- development of empirical methods for the study of English
- theoretical and methodological tools used to analyse the English language
- knowledge of the central concepts in the field
- methodological and practical approach to collecting data
- understanding of the scientific approach to the study of the English language

A bibliography and a list of assigned readings will be made available in the first week of the semester.