MA/MS in Public discourse linguistics

This master's programme trains specialists to evaluate how language planning is realised in public discourse, treating language as a tool for achieving specific communicative aims, and to professionally create and assess persuasive public discourse. Core subjects include the rhetoric of public discourse, linguistic pragmatics, semiotics of public discourse, discourse analysis, public and mass communication, functional discourse grammar, normative linguistics and corpus planning practice, and a practicum in applied writing, concluding with a master's thesis. Learning outcomes include explaining the systemic relations between standard and variant forms of the Lithuanian language, comparing and critically evaluating different schools of linguistics and their influence on Lithuanian research, and identifying and substantiating linguistic research problems using appropriate empirical methods. Graduates can work as language-planning specialists, linguistic experts in legal institutions, editors in broadcast or print media, or analysts and creators of public discourse in public-relations and advertising agencies, with access to PhD study in the humanities.