| Description
| As digital platforms become more central to everyday life, communication now extends beyond face-to-face interactions to include various digital media, from social media to instant messaging apps. This course introduces undergraduate students to the principles of pragmatics—the study of language in use—within the context of English digital communication. Students will explore how meaning is created and interpreted online, and how language functions in digital platforms where traditional cues like tone and gestures are absent or altered. Through theory, case studies, and hands-on analysis of social media and text-based interactions, students will learn to identify and analyze pragmatic markers (i.e., PMs, DMs, and even “emojis & memes”), speech acts, and implicature in digital discourse. The course will also examine how power, identity, and politeness are negotiated online, and how digital communication reshapes societal norms.
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