The course aims to provide students with the conceptual tools characterizing the study of language in a cognitive perspective. In particular, the course aims at providing knowledge about the processes underlying a specific aspect of language: the ability to tell stories.
At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- reconstruct the contemporary debate on the nature of language in the framework of cognitive science.
- know the basic concepts and empirical investigations carried out in the context of the cognitive sciences of language.
- read and understand experimental scientific articles dealing with issues relating to the cognitive foundations of language.
At the end of the course, the student will be able to:
- reconstruct the contemporary debate on the nature of language in the framework of cognitive science.
- know the basic concepts and empirical investigations carried out in the context of the cognitive sciences of language.
- read and understand experimental scientific articles dealing with issues relating to the cognitive foundations of language.
teacher profile teaching materials
The course includes experimental activities aimed at supporting the theoretical model proposed.
- Ferretti, F. (2025). Stories come first. The origins of human communication from a naturalised perspective of language. Rivista internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 16(1), 1-16.
- Ferretti, F. (2024) Agonistic conversation: A cognitive-interactive perspective on the origin of grammar. In: Introducing Evolutionary Pragmatics (pp. 124-149). Routledge.
Mutuazione: 20710271 SCIENZE COGNITIVE DEL LINGUAGGIO - LM in Scienze Cognitive della Comunicazione e dell'Azione LM-92 R FERRETTI FRANCESCO
Programme
The course focuses on the relationship between language and narrative from a cognitive and evolutionary point of view. In contrast to the theories considering the sentence as the essence of language, the course suggests an interpretative hypothesis based on the priority of discourse over sentence; specifically, it is suggested that the ability to tell stories is the distinctive trait both of language and human nature.The course includes experimental activities aimed at supporting the theoretical model proposed.
Core Documentation
-Bilandzic, H., & Busselle, R. (2013). Narrative persuasion. In “The Sage handbook of persuasion: Developments in theory and practice”, 2, pp. 200-219.- Ferretti, F. (2025). Stories come first. The origins of human communication from a naturalised perspective of language. Rivista internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 16(1), 1-16.
- Ferretti, F. (2024) Agonistic conversation: A cognitive-interactive perspective on the origin of grammar. In: Introducing Evolutionary Pragmatics (pp. 124-149). Routledge.
Attendance
.Type of evaluation
L'esame (uguale per tutti, sia frequentanti che non frequentanti) consiste in una tesina. I dettagli e gli argomenti tra cui scegliere saranno comunicati a lezione a corso iniziato e saranno indicati sulla pagina Moodle del corso, a cui gli studenti sono invitati ad iscriversi.