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2020/2021

Questions of Comparative Grammar

Code: 100688 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500243 Classics OT 3 0
2500243 Classics OT 4 0
2500245 English Studies OT 3 0
2500245 English Studies OT 4 0
2500247 Catalan Language and Literature OT 4 0
2500248 Spanish Language and Literature OT 3 0
2500248 Spanish Language and Literature OT 4 0
2501801 Catalan and Spanish OT 3 0
2501801 Catalan and Spanish OT 4 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 3 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 4 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 3 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 4 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 3 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 4 0
2501913 English and French OT 3 0
2501913 English and French OT 4 0
2503998 Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Xavier Villalba Nicolás
Email:
Xavier.Villalba@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

It is highly advisable that students can read texts on linguistics in English

Prerequisites

Students must be studying a degree related to language.

Objectives and Contextualisation

In this course several syntactic phenomena will be reviewed, from Romance languages and other families; the course will also go over the analyses that have been proposed in the last decades to account for them.

 

Competences

    Classics
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive, and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical structures.
    English Studies
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical models.
    Catalan Language and Literature
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive, and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical structures.
    Spanish Language and Literature
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive, and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical structures.
    Catalan and Spanish
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical models.
    English and Catalan
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical models.
    English and Classics
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical models.
    English and Spanish
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical models.
    English and French
  • Analysing the lexical, phonetic, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of natural languages.
  • Applying the various analytical tools to different types of linguistic data.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understanding the biological, cognitive and cultural foundations of human language and the main contemporary grammatical models.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accurately drawing up normative texts.
  2. Applying the results presented in specialised articles to the analysis of similar or related phenomena.
  3. Appropriately use the different available formal and technical resources.
  4. Appropriately using the different available formal and technical resources.
  5. Identify main ideas and express them with secondary and linguistic correctness
  6. Identify the main and secondary ideas and express them with linguistic correctness.
  7. Identifying main and supporting ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  8. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  9. Preparing an oral and written discourse in the corresponding language in a proper and organized way.
  10. Solve complex linguistic analysis at any level and with the appropriate tools.
  11. Solve problems autonomously.
  12. Solving complex problems of linguistic analysis in any level with the appropriate tools.
  13. Solving problems autonomously.
  14. Summarising acquired knowledge about the origin and transformations experienced in its several fields of study.

Content

1.  Introduction. Cross-linguistic variation in syntax.

2. Theoretical frameworks and grammatical comparison: linguistic typology and generative grammar. Micro- and macro-parameters.

3. Case analyses.

  • Exclamative sentences in Romance
  • Expressive constructions in Romance and Germanic
  • The codification of information structure

Methodology

There will be a combination of lectures with some exercises, discussion and analysis of phenomena and in-class presentations.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures, discussion sessions, presentations 52 2.08 2, 1, 9
Type: Supervised      
Programmed mentoring 15 0.6 2, 5, 8, 6, 12, 10, 14
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous work 70 2.8 2, 9, 4, 3, 5, 8, 7, 6, 13, 11

Assessment

The evaluation of the course will be based on the following actvities:

(a)  Presentation and active participation in class: 10%

(b) Delivery of two exercises within the deadline that will be established: 30%

(c)  Delivery of a summary of a reading: 10%

(d)  Written test: 50%

The minimum grade for passing the course is 5.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives. 

Students have the right to resit or make up evaluated work provided they have submitted a minimum of two thirds of the formally assessed work which makes up the final grade and who have an average between 3.5 and 4.9 according to the evaluation criteria. The highest mark that can be obtained in this case is 5.

Activity (a) is excluded from resitting.

The dates of course activities and their revision will be announced through Moodle.

A mark of “no avaluable” (N/A Not Assessable) will be awarded if a student fails to hand in more than 25% of the assessed work used to calculate the final mark.

In cases of plagiarism, identity theft and others in an evaluation activity, a mark of ‘0’ will be given. If such a case is detected over more than one of the evaluable activities, the final mark of the course will be ‘0’. In these cases the student does not have the right to resitting or making up work.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Delivery of exercise 1 15% 2 0.08 2, 1, 9, 4, 3, 5, 8, 7, 6, 12, 10, 13, 11, 14
Delivery of exercise 2 15% 2 0.08 2, 1, 9, 4, 3, 5, 8, 7, 6, 12, 10, 13, 11, 14
Presentation and active participation in class 10% 1 0.04 9, 5, 8, 7, 6, 12, 10
Summary of a reading 10% 5 0.2 2, 1, 9, 4, 3, 5, 8, 7, 6, 14
Written test 50% 3 0.12 2, 1, 4, 12, 10, 13, 11, 14

Bibliography

Cinque, Guglielmo. 2007. A note on linguistic theory and typology. Linguistic Typology 11(1). 93–106. https://doi.org/10.1515/LINGTY.2007.008

Cinque, Guglielmo & Richard S. Kayne. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195136517.001.0001

Haspelmath, Martin. 2010. Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic studies. Language 86(3). 663–687. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2010.0021

Haspelmath, Martin. 2020. Human Linguisticality and the Building Blocks of Languages. Frontiers in Psychology 10. 3056. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03056

Kayne, Richard S. 2013. Comparative syntax. Lingua 130. 132–151.

Newmeyer, Frederick J. 2008. Universals in syntax. Linguistic Review 25(1–2). 35–82. https://doi.org/10.1515/TLIR.2008.002

Roberts, Ian (ed.). 2016. The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199573776.001.0001

Song, Jae Jung (ed.). 2010. The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199281251.001.0001