LINGUIST List 13.191

Thu Jan 24 2002

Support: Discourse Studies:Studentship, Canada

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Olga M.Mladenova, Discourse Studies: Studentship at Univ of Calgary, Alberta Canada

Rank of Job: graduate student
Areas Required: discourse studies
Other Desired Areas: semantics, pragmatics
University or Organization: University of Calgary
Department: Germanic, Slavic and East Asian Studies
State or Province: Alberta
Country: Canada
Final Date of Application: April 1, 2002
Contact: Olga M. Mladenova omladenoucalgary.ca

Address for Applications:
2500 University Drive N.W.
Calgary
Alberta T2N 1N4
Canada

This ad addresses all graduate students with a good knowledge of the
field of discourse studies broadly defined. The funding is part of a
standard 2001 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada grant for the research project "Shared Mental Representations
and Language Patterns: Research Strategies and Empirical Studies". It
amounts to a maximum of 7 units of GRS  CAN$ 3,920 each. Other
benefits include software (Bibliographic Program Endnote v. 5.) and up
to two visits to Calgary (one week at the beginning of our work for
acquaintance and introduction and one week later as needed).

The successful candidate's role will be (1) to get acquainted with the
methods employed by me in my project Shared Mental Representations and
Language Patterns: Research Strategies and Empirical Studies; (2) to
search for and keep track of (newly published) research at the
intersection of cultural representations and language structure and
use during the three-year period of the contract; (3) to present in
instalments a full classified and annotated bibliography, which will
be published on-line in 2004; (4) to submit for publication by the end
of the contract period a review article on methods for research of
cultural representations in conjunction with language structure and
use. Although my own empirical research for this project involves
Russian, no knowledge of Russian is required in order to perform these
four theoretically oriented tasks. Knowledge of German and French
besides English would be an asset. As an example of the kind of
research to be included in the bibliography I can cite Dorothy
Lee. Codifications of Reality. Lineal and Nonlineal. Psychosomatic
Medicine 12, 1950, 89-97 [Reprinted in Alan Dundes (ed.) Every Man His
Way. Readings in Cultural Anthropology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968, 329-343].

The goal of my SSHRCC-sponsored project is to produce four studies,
circumscribed by the fields of cultural and social history, philology,
pragmatics, semiotics, contrastive rhetoric, semantics, ethnic
studies, discourse studies and second language instruction. The topics
of the four studies are (1) folk models and language patterns: issues
and methods; (2) the pragmatics of Russian dedications; (3) Russian
grammar of ethnicity; (4) key symbols, history and self in second
language textbooks of Russian. The first study will be theoretical in
character. It will search for general answers to the following
questions: what kind of knowledge about culture and society is
reflected in language and what research methods can be employed to
analyze language relevant to this kind of knowledge? It will focus on
the interdependence of discourse and folk models of society and self
held by speakers, starting with a definition of discourse and folk
model. The remaining three sections are empirical. They will consist
of three case studies of Russian language, culture and society,
particular definitions of discourse and folk model will be paired with
specific approaches.

Prerequisite for participation in the competition is (1) proof of
enrollment in a graduate program; (2) a letter from the supervisor
showing (a) that s/he is aware of the intention of the student to take
part in the competition and (b) how the student's participation in
this project will benefit his/her own work on his/her dissertation;
and (3) an essay of no more than 5,000 words by the student on the
following topic: "How would you go about studying culturally sensitive
language structure and language use? Give examples and situate your
answer in the context of the relevant scholarly literature." Please
mail the essay and all accompanying documents by April 1, 2002 to

Dr. Olga M. Mladenova
Germanic, Slavic and East Asian Studies
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive N.W.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 1N4