English Language and Literature Lecture Series (2): What is linguistics? How to study human language scientifically?

Lecturer: Zhou Pin

Time: May 26, 2021, 13:10

Location: 3D206, Teaching Building

Lecturer Profile:

Zhou Pin, female, Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from Fudan University, a postdoctoral fellow in Foreign Language Linguistics or Applied Linguistics from Shanghai International Studies University. She is currently an associate professor of English (shipping) at Shanghai Maritime University and a supervisor of master students. She has studied at the Brain and Creativity Institute, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA, and the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Department of Neuroscience, University of Sussex, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK. Science). Her main research includes: neurolinguistics, embodied semantics, the comparative cross-linguistic conceptualization of emotions, linguistic science research methodology, and philosophy of science. She has led six research projects, including the National Social Science Fund project “Conceptualization of prototypical emotions in English and Chinese”. She has published nearly 20 papers in top international SCI journals Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews (impact factor 8.33) and domestic CSSCI journals, some of which have been reprinted in China Social Science Digest and Academic Abstracts of Higher Education Institutions.

Lecture Introduction:

This lecture will take you through the door of linguistics, and give you a first glimpse of what modern linguistics is, how linguists study language scientifically? And what is science, and how does scientific knowledge grow? Does science begin with an observation or a question? How do you find meaningful research questions through criticism? What is the relationship between linguistics and related disciplines in cognitive science? Where will linguistics go in the future? I hope that my talk will enlighten you and arouse your future desire to join the frontier of linguistic science!