Language and linguistics today: Experimental methods in linguistics

The course offers an overview of experimental methods in linguistics. It will focus on selected tools and procedures for data collection in experiments, with the focus on behavioural experiments and semiotic games. It will introduce the students to selected equipment (e.g., eye tracking, motion capture) and selected software (e.g., experiment builders) used for experimental research in linguistics. After the course, the students will be able to critically evaluate experimental research in linguistics and to carry out their own experimental research project.

The course offers an overview of experimental methods in linguistics. It will focus on selected tools and procedures for data collection in experiments, with the focus on behavioural experiments and semiotic games. It will introduce the students to selected equipment (e.g., eye tracking, motion capture) and selected software (e.g., experiment builders) used for experimental research in linguistics. After the course, the students will be able to critically evaluate experimental research in linguistics and to carry out their own experimental research project.

Content distribution:

- Introduction: course aims and content, learning outcomes, assessment criteria, code of conduct;

- Historical and philosophical perspectives on the use of experimental methods in linguistics;

- Experimental design: basic concepts, types of variables, experimental paradigms, behavioural experiments, semiotic games;

- Tools for data collection: introduction to selected equipment and software, eye tracking, motion capture, video analysis;

- Tools for data processing and analysis: introduction to selected data processing procedures and software, types of data, data coding, statistical analysis;

- Practical and ethical issues in experimental research: measurement reliability, replicability, participants recruitment, regulations, rules of ethical research;

- Guided independent project: a mini-study designed and conducted by the students, presented in the form of a conference poster.

All the obligatory readings will be made available on the course page on the Moodle platform. The students are encouraged to familiarise themselves in particular with:

Coolican, H. (2014). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. 6th Edition. Psychology Press.

Galantucci, B., Garrod, S. (2011). Experimental Semiotics: A Review. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 5, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2011.00011.

Gries, S. T. (2021). Statistics for Linguistics with R: A Practical Introduction. Berlin–Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. [selected fragments]

Duchowski, A. T. (2017). Eye Tracking Methodology. Theory and Practice. 3rd Edition. Springer. [selected fragments]

Kepser, S., Reis, M. (2005). Linguistic evidence: Empirical, theoretical, and computational perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. [selected fragments]

Levshina, N. (2015). How to do Linguistics with R: Data exploration and statistical analysis. Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins. [selected fragments]

Nölle, J., Galantucci, B. (2022). Experimental Semiotics. In: A. M. García, Ibáñez, A. (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Semiosis and the Brain. New York: Routledge.

Winter, B. (2020). Statistics for Linguists: An Introduction Using R. New York–London: Routledge. [selected fragments]

Zufferey, S., Gygax, P. (2023). The Routledge Handbook of Experimental Linguistics. London: Routledge. [selected fragments]

Manuals: Gazepoint Analysis User Manual, EyeLink 1000 User Manual, Rokoko Guide

Graded group independent projects, presented in the conference poster format (U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, U6, U7, U8, U9, W1, K1): 60%

Graded test (U2, U3, K1) : 20%

Graded in-class activity (U2, U3, K1): 20%

Scores:

fail: 0–59%

satisfactory: 60–69%

satisfactory plus: 70–75%

good: 76–85%

good plus: 86–90%

very good: 91–100%