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2020/2021

Descriptive and Prescriptive Grammar: From Clause to Utterance

Code: 105824 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2503998 Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics FB 1 2
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

Prerequisites

None.

Objectives and Contextualisation

Provide the student with a solid knowledge of the functioning of syntax of the Catalan sentence, both from a descriptive and normative point of view.

Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan language, its evolution over time and its present structure.
  • Critically read and interpret texts.
  • Demonstrate a mastery of the rules of the Catalan language, its linguistic bases and all its application in the academic and professional fields.
  • Display teamwork skills.
  • Innovate in the methods and processes of this area of knowledge in response to the needs and wishes of society.
  • Interpret the political, social and cultural factors that affect the use of the Catalan language and its evolution over time and at the present day.
  • Produce written work and oral presentations that are effective and framed in the appropriate register.
  • 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 be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse linguistic structures.
  2. Analyse the most problematic phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the present-day language.
  3. Analyse the principles of lexical semantics that affect the internal structure of words and their syntactic combination.
  4. Analyse the syntactic structures of simple, complex, modalised and discursively marked clauses.
  5. Apply the principles of correctness required in the standard language and the different registers and variants.
  6. Correctly identify linguistic units.
  7. Describe the combinatory processes for creating linguistic units.
  8. Determine register types on the basis of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.
  9. Gain a greater capacity for reading, interpreting and critically analysing literary and linguistic texts.
  10. Identify causes of variation deriving from register.
  11. Identify principal and secondary ideas and express them using correct language.
  12. Identify the contexts in which historical processes are immersed.
  13. Identify the linguistic differences between the various dialectal variants of the language.
  14. Identify the origin of errors made by non-native speakers when using the language.
  15. Identify the pragmatic factors that condition the use of the various linguistic structures .
  16. Interpret texts in depth and provide standpoints from which to analyse them critically.
  17. Make appropriate use of the knowledge acquired in order to collect data and handle documentary sources in the study of Catalan language and literature.
  18. Match the known internal and external properties of the language to the different conditions of use.
  19. Plan, organise and carry out work in a team.
  20. Produce normatively correct written and oral texts.
  21. Produce written work and oral presentations that are effective and framed in the appropriate register.
  22. Respect the opinions, values, behaviour and customs of others.
  23. Single out the grammatical and pragmatic factors that determine the overall interpretation of the clause.
  24. 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.
  25. Troubleshoot errors made by non-native speakers when using the language.
  26. Use technological resources (digital and audiovisual) to acquire knowledge and apply it in language and literature.
  27. Work self-sufficiently on the synchronic and diachronic study of Catalan language and literature.
  28. Write text commentaries from a critical standpoint.

Content

  1. Descriptive and normative syntax
  2. Syntactic units and their structure
    1. Lexical and functional categories
    2. Nominal and verbal phrases
  3. The sentence
    1. Utterances, sentences and fragments
    2. Sentence structure
    3. Syntactic functions and positions in the structure
    4. Types of sentences
  4. The order of words
    1. Basic and marked word order
    2. Grammatically-based alterations of basic order
    3. Information-based alterations of basic order

Methodology

Learning activities are organized as follows:

1) Directed activities (40%)

2) Supervised activities (30%)

3) Autonomous activities (30%)

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Participation and presentations at class 39 1.56 1, 4, 7, 6
Readings' discussion 15 0.6 11, 16, 22, 9
Type: Supervised      
Essay 35 1.4 17, 21, 11, 22, 19, 20, 27, 26
Exercises at class 10 0.4 1, 4, 7, 6
Type: Autonomous      
Reading 15 0.6 17, 11, 16, 9, 28
Study 30 1.2 17, 16, 9, 27

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment is continuous. Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing tasks and tests. 

To pass the course the minimum grade is a 5.

The calendar will be available on the first day of class. Students will find all information on the Virtual Campus: the description of the activities, teaching materials, and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the subject.

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.

 

 

Review

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will announce at the Virtual Campus a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.

 

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. The maximum final mark for the reassessment is 5.

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved at the Virtual Campus when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities.

 

Classification as "not assessable"

In the event of theassessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript.

 

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject.

Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct. Plagiarism is considered to mean presenting all or part of an author's work, whether published in print or in digital format, as one's own, i.e. without citing it. Copying is considered to mean reproducing all or a substantial part of another student's work. In cases of copying in which it is impossible to determine which of two students has copied the work of the other, both will be penalized.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Exercises 15% 2 0.08 1, 4, 2, 5, 7, 8, 23, 21, 6, 15, 14, 10, 13, 25
Group essay 25% 0.5 0.02 18, 3, 4, 17, 21, 11, 16, 22, 19, 9, 20, 27, 26
Knowledge test 50% 2 0.08 18, 3, 1, 4, 2, 7, 8, 23, 6, 12, 15, 14, 10, 13, 11, 24, 25
Participation and readings' discussion in class 10% 1.5 0.06 2, 17, 5, 12, 11, 16, 22, 9, 20, 24, 28

Bibliography

 

Institut d’Estudis Catalans. 2016. Gramàtica de la llengua catalana. Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Joan Solà, Maria Rosa Lloret, Joan Mascaró & Manuel Pérez Saldanya (eds.), Gramàtica del Català Contemporani. Barcelona: Empúries.

 

Descriptive and normative syntax

Pérez Saldanya, Manuel & Gemma Rigau. 2018. La Gramàtica de la llengua catalana de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Llengua & Literatura 28. 227–236.

Rigau, Gemma. 2018. Norma i descripció gramatical. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzLW156CycI

 

Syntactic units and their structure

Bosque, Ignacio & Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach. 2009. Fundamentos de sintaxis formal. Lingüística. Madrid: Akal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2. cap. 3. Las palabras y los sintagmas I: la estructura de los constituyentes.

 

The sentence

Bel, Aurora. 2008. Les funcions sintàctiques. In Joan Solà, Maria Rosa Lloret, Joan Mascaró & Manuel Pérez Saldanya (eds.), Gramàtica del Català Contemporani, vol. 2, 1075–1147. Barcelona: Empúries.

Bosque, Ignacio & Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach. 2009. Fundamentos de sintaxis formal. Lingüística. Madrid: Akal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2. sec. 4.1-4.2.

 

Word order

Vallduví, Enric. 2008. L’oració com a unitat informativa. In Joan Solà, Maria Rosa Lloret, Joan Mascaró & Manuel Pérez Saldanya (eds.), Gramàtica del Català Contemporani, vol. 2, 1223–1279. Barcelona: Empúries.

Villalba, Xavier. 2019. El orden de palabras en contraste. Madrid: Arco/Libros.