Team A – Linguistics – Corpora : From Units to Discourse

Head of the team : Stéphanie Gobet

Team A of the FoReLLIS Research Unit brings together linguists from the UFR Lettres & Langues and INSPE, who specialise in the study of corpora. Their research focuses on four areas : inter-language contrastivity, linguistic variation, discourse construction and language didactics.

They adopt a varied and multidisciplinary methodological approach, analysing different linguistic units in a wide range of languages (such as French, English, German and Spanish), crossing theoretical perspectives such as structuralism, functionalism, generative and cognitive theories.

The team A works closely with other Research Units at the University of Poitiers, particularly the team B, on cross-disciplinary themes such as construction and reported discourse, with applications in lexicography, translation and didactics, particularly of French as a foreign and native language.

Their research is based on the analysis of written and oral corpora from various genres and languages, contributing to a better understanding of linguistic phenomena. The main areas of research — inter-language constrativity, linguistic variation, discourse construction and didactics — are supported by local and international scientific collaborations.

Team B – Literature, Image, Performance

Head of the team : Sophie Aymes-Stokes

Team B of the FoReLLIS Research Unit, which specialises in literature and the Visual and Performing arts, is made up of teacher-researchers and doctoral students from l’Ecole Doctorale 612 (Humanities). The team conducts research on a wide range of subjects, including ancient and modern literature (French, francophone, foreign and comparative), as well as the visual and performing arts such as comics, photography, painting, film and theatre. Research focuses particularly on the relationships between the aesthetic aspects of works and socio-political contexts, adopting both a diachronic and synchronic approach.

Team B is organised around three main axis : « Medialities, Intermedialities, Transmedialities », which explores the relationships between different media. « History and Poetics of Literary Forms », which focuses on the evolution of literary forms and their aesthetic analysis, and « Arts Policies : Knowledge, Imaginations, Aesthetics », which examines the interactions between the arts, politics and collective imaginations. These axis enable the team to develop synergies and encourage researchers to move between different projects.

Team B’s members choose to invest in a specific area or to participate in inter-area projects according to their interests. There is also a strong collaborative dimension with the Team A, particularly on topics related to discourse analysis and the language of emotions. The two teams have already begun formal collaboration on two cross-cutting themes : « Discourse and cognition », directed by G. Col and S. Bikialo, and « Reported discourse », led by S. Hanote and C. Rannoux.

• The Cross-language constrativity axis focuses on linguistic analysis and the construction of comparable multilingual corpora, with particular attention to diatopic variation and rare languages. It has several multilingual corpora at its disposal and carries out projects such as the comparative study of the pronoun « On » across different genres and languages.

• The Variation axis studies the facts of language subject to variation, influenced by geographical, historical and situational factors. It focuses on the challenges associated with the notation and annotation of non-standard languages, in particular minority languages and MODIMES. Work focuses on the enrichment of corpora, the analysis of orthographic and graphic variation, as well as on isssues relating to the standardisation of variation in a digital environment, including for languages such as French Sign Language.

• The Discourse Construction axis, created in 2016, studies the construction of discourse through Discourse Analysis, Syntax and Prosody, and Multimodality. It focuses on the interaction between social context, discourse genres and linguistic markers in speech, integrating Sign Language and gesture. It is involved in projects on discourse genres, linguistic markers and sign language acquisition.

• The Language Didactics axis focuses on the analysis of learner’s grammar based on corpora and the study of teaching pratices. It explores the interlanguage of FLE learners, the practices of novice teachers and language gestures. The department is involved in international projects for the integration of immigrants and the modernisation of applied linguistics training.

• The Medialities, Intermedialities, Transmedialities axis studies the relationships between literature and the arts in their aesthetic, poetci, historical and political dimensions. It is interested in the interactions between different media and arts (visual, sound, interactive) and brings together specialists in literature, linguistics, aesthetics, theatre and film to analyse and interpret these artistic forms.

• The History and Poetics of Literary Forms axis analyses the specific features of French, French-speaking and foreign literature in relation to their representation of reality, genres and forms. It offers a diachronic, theoretical and literary approach to litterary genres, studying writing practices, reception effects and the history of forms. It also carries out projects on wonder and its aesthetic and epistemic forms, in collaboration with academic and cultural partners.

• The Arts Policy axis explores the critical power of artistic practices in a world in crisis, highlighting their ability to challenge the established order and anticipate social change. The research looks at artworks as modes of knowledge, sources of multiple imaginations and sites of aesthetic experimentation, while studying their impact on social and political issues. The projects in this axis aim to decipher the interactions between the arts, knowledge and the imaginary in their forms and uses.