Language & Ecology

This project is a contribution to ecolinguistics, the study of how language plays a role in the current climate crisis. Ecolinguistics analyses linguistic patterns in texts and narratives taken from governments, media, and corporations. Analysing and criticising such texts have taught us much about the assumptions and philosophies that underlie our current excessive use of natural resources. However, the project argues that current linguistic methods are insufficient for understanding how language shapes behaviour and through that our natural environment. The project seeks to overcome this limitation by turning to cognitive science, that is, the study of thinking and behaviour. The outcome of the project is a more robust theoretical and methodological framework in ecolinguistics.