Why study Linguistics?
Why study English linguistics at Lille?
Programme
YEAR 1
Three basically methodological seminars are taught in Year 1. One is concentrated on empirical methods in linguistic analysis (with a main focus on corpus linguistics). The second one deals with theoretical approaches to meaning (the semantics/pragmatics interface). The third is more focused on practical research skills, that is, search strategies, how to write a dissertation, and IT skills.
In two additional seminars, specific topics are explored. One deals with tense and aspect, in which students learn to critically assess the primary literature so that they can develop a framework that is descriptively and explanatorily adequate. The second investigates the discursive and prosodic characteristics of appositive relative clauses in English, making use of different types of written and spoken corpus data and specific tools for analysis of spoken data.
There are two seminars shared by M1 and M2. One of these is taught by a visiting professor, a well-established international scholar who teaches a seminar in their relevant domain of expertise in line with the overall aims of the Master’s programme. In this way, the students get to explore a field of study under the guidance of a foreign expert, who brings not only their relevant expertise to the programme, but also possibly slightly alternative teaching techniques and assessment methods. This enables students to develop a flexible mindset and to experience the international context of linguistic research. In 2012-2013, the renowned historical linguist Olga Fischer (University of Amsterdam) will be our visiting professor; she will address the status of grammaticalization in language change. (In 2010-2011 Bas Aarts (University College London) taught a seminar on categorization and gradience in English; in 2011-2012 Stef Slembrouck (University of Gent) taught a seminar on discourse analysis.)
The content of the second joint seminar (taught in the second semester) changes every other year. In even years (2012, 2014, etc.), the students are required to follow a seminar on linguistic theory in the twentieth century: it is meant to provide an overview of some of the principal theoretical frameworks, with their respective merits and deficits. In uneven years (2011, 2013, etc.), the students follow a seminar in which a range of topics relevant to language change and variety are discussed. A more multilingual perspective is taken here, and the domains covered may include language acquisition, language teaching, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, etc. These seminars are taught by a team of researchers, each presenting their field of expertise or one particular theoretical framework.
Note: Students who are interested in language acquisition and pedagogy can choose the option “didactique” (M1 only) which implies that the seminar given by the visiting professor is replaced by one on language acquisition and didactics (see programme schedule below).
YEAR 2
In year 2,the seminar Language and Space explores some of the ways in which language talks about space, drawing on different types of studies, ranging from corpus studies to psycholinguistic studies. This seminar adopts a cognitive-functional perspective. One of the more general theoretical questions addressed is the relationship between language and cognition. In the seminar Mood and modality in English, the English modals are taken as a starting-point to study categorization and gradience, lexical semantics (polysemy and monosemy) and grammaticalization.
In other words, through the different seminars in M1 and M2 students acquire not only a sound methodological basis but also factual knowledge about the history of linguistics and different theoretical models, most of which have a strong empirical commitment. In all the seminars, care is taken to do different kinds of (progressive) exercises and/or to present case studies involving data analysis; the courses include a critical evaluation of various theoretical approaches and analyses put forward in the literature.
Dissertation & lab seminars
Students are required to write an MA dissertation in both year 1 and in year 2; the latter weighs quite heavily in the overall evaluation. A list of topics is made available, but the students can also propose a topic of their own, which they discuss with the course instructors. In addition to the seminars and independent study, the students are also invited to attend the monthly ‘séminaire de linguistique’ held by the research lab STL (Savoirs, Textes, Langage, UMR 8163). This is a unique opportunity for students to attend presentations by international guests or STL members, widening their perspective on linguistic research.
Faculty
There is a lively research scene in linguistics at Lille 3 with specialist in a wide range of topics and approaches. Below is a list of the linguists who work in the English Department. Information about the relevant fields of expertise are available on the their web pages (click on the names in the list below or go via the STL/CECILLE website).
Cyril Auran: phonetics, discourse, pragmatics, corpus linguistics
François Bercker
Caroline Bouzon: phonetics
Bert Cappelle
Rodica Calciu (EA Cecille): morphophonology, phonosyntax
Ilse Depraetere: semantics, pragmatics, tense-aspect-modality
Christopher Desurmont
Rudy Loock: discourse, pragmatics, information packaging, corpus-based translation studies
Laurence Delrue: Intonation in Discourse, Second Language Learning
Maarten Lemmens: lexical semantics, cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics,
Kathleen O’Connor: syntax, language acquisition, foreign language pedagogy
Christopher Piñón
Annick Rivens: language learning, applied linguistics
Programme schedule
Semester 1 (M1)
Semester 2 (M1)
Semester 3 (M2)
Semester 4 (M2)
(5) Mood and modality
Ilse Depraetere, 6ECTS
(6) M2 Dissertation
24 ECTS
Registration
M1
- If you have obtained a Bachelor’s degree in English at a French University, you can register for M1 (between 5 July and 30 September).
- If you have obtained a Bachelor’s degree abroad you will need to submit an application form to the “bureau d’accueil des étudiants internationaux”. Contact Ilse Depraetere ( Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ) and Maarten Lemmens ( Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ) a.s.a.p. to obtain this form and further information.
- If you have obtained a Bachelor’s degree (other than in English) in France, you need to submit an application ‘Validations des Acquis’ (VAP 85) by between July 5 and Sept. 20. You can download the application form here
M2
- If you have obtained a Master 1 degree in English linguistics at a French University, you will need to submit a ‘dossier de candidature’, for entrance in M2; this application file includes a dissertation proposal (for which you need to find a supervisor). There are two rounds: submission deadline for the first one is July 2 (decision taken on July 5); the deadline for the second is Sept. 11 (decision taken on Sept. 17). The applications should be sent to the secretariat for Master in English Linguistics (resp. Thomas Dutoit). Once the application has been approved, students can register (on-line) between 5 July and 15 October 2012.
- The application form is available here
- If you have obtained a Master’s degree abroad or if you have obtained a Master 1 degree (other than in English) in France, you need to submit both an application ‘Validations des Acquis’ (VAP85) and a ‘dossier de candidature’ , for entrance in M2; this application file includes a dissertation proposal (for which you need to find a supervisor). There are two rounds: submission deadline for the first one is July 2 (decision taken on July 5); the deadline for the second is Sept. 11 (decision taken on Sept. 17). The applications should be sent to the secretariat for Master in English Linguistics (resp. Thomas Dutoit). Once the application has been approved, students can register (on-line) between 5 July and 15 October 2012. In any case, contact Ilse Depraetere ( Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ) and Maarten Lemmens ( Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. ) a.s.a.p.
The VAP85 application form is available here (submission deadline June 4)
The M2 application form is available here
Useful links
- STL (Savoirs, Textes, & Langage)
- CECILLE
- Master Etudes Anglophones, Option Linguistique
- Foreign students (Bureau d’accueil des étudiants internationaux):
- tel.: + 33 3 20 41 66 59
- e-mail: Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. .
