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2022/2023

English Syntactic Analysis

Code: 106293 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2504212 English Studies OB 2 1
2504380 English and Catalan Studies OT 3 1
2504380 English and Catalan Studies OT 4 1
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OT 3 1
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OT 4 1
2504393 English and French Studies OB 4 1
2504394 English and Classics Studies OB 4 1

Contact

Name:
Montserrat Capdevila Batet
Email:
montserrat.capdevila@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

A level of English of C2 (Proficiency) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment is required.  With C2 the student can straightforwardly understand practically everything s/he reads or hears, summarise information from different oral and written sources, reconstruct facts and arguments and present them in a coherent way, express himself/herself naturally and fluently, distinguishing subtle meaning nuances even in the most complex situations.

The English grammar notions covered in the first-year courses Gramàtica Anglesa I: de la paraula a l'oració (106279) and Gramàtica Anglesa II: l'oració (106280) are taken for granted.

Objectives and Contextualisation

- Recognise the various existing grammatical categories and their features.

- Be able to analyse the structure of English simple sentences.

- Identify movement operations.

- Evaluate different analysis proposals with syntactic arguments.

 

Competences

    English Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values. 
  • Describe and analyse—synchronically and comparatively—the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of English and its historical development.
  • Distinguish and contrast the distinct paradigms and methodologies applied to the study of English.
  • 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.
  • Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2).
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources for the collection and organisation of information.
  • Use written and spoken English for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, the philosophy of language, history, English culture and literature.
    English and Catalan Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan and English languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structures.
  • Critically evaluate the literary and cultural production in the Catalan and English languages and their historical and social context.
  • Make correct use of written and spoken English for academic or professional purposes, related to the study of language, history, culture and literature.
  • 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.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
    English and Spanish Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the English and Spanish languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structure.
  • Apply teaching and acquisition strategies in the development of communicative competence (both linguistic and extra-linguistic) in a global and multilingual society.
  • Correctly use written and oral English and Spanish for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, history, culture and literature.
  • 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.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
    English and French Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical, semantic and pragmatic properties of the English and French languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structures.
  • Carry out linguistic analyses of the English and French languages using specific competences methodologies and terminology.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
  • Use spoken English and French correctly for academic and professional purposes related to the study of linguistics, history, culture and literature.
    English and Classics Studies
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values. 
  • Apply the concepts, resources and methods acquired to the study of the English language in order to understand its diachronic change, as well as its current geographic and social diversity, and to study its acquisition and learning in a global and multilingual society.
  • Describe and analyse synchronically and comparatively the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of English, Greek and Latin, as well as their historical evolution.
  • 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.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.
  • Use written and spoken English correctly for academic and professional purposes related to the study of English linguistics, history, culture, and literature.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Describe and analyse (synchronically and diachronically) the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic properties of English.
  2. Express oneself in English in writing and orally in an effective and correct manner, in an academic register and using appropriate terminology in relation to the study of phonetics and phonology, syntax, semantics and the history of the English language.
  3. Gather and interpret relevant data to make critical judgements on aspects of English linguistics and its practical applications.
  4. Identify and understand different models for the linguistic analysis of English at phonetic-phonological, syntactic, semantic and historical levels.
  5. Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
  6. Make use of the knowledge acquired while respecting diversity of opinion and varieties of a language.
  7. Produce written and oral academic texts at higher-proficient-user level (C2) on the concepts and skills relevant to the study of English linguistics.
  8. Understand specialised academic texts on research in English linguistics at C2 level.
  9. Understand specialised academic texts on research in English linguistics at Mastery level (C2).
  10. Understand specialised academic texts on research in English linguistics at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2).
  11. Understand specialised academic texts on research in English linguistics at higher-proficient-user level C2.

Content

UNIT 1. Objectives, assumptions and introductory concepts

UNIT 2. Morphosyntactic features

UNIT 3. Constituency, theta roles, and representing phrase structure

UNIT 4. Functional categories and their role in the structure of simple sentences in English

 

Methodology

Directed activities:

Lectures with IT support and group debate.

 

Supervised activities:

Exercises.

Back-up tutorials to help in the realisation of exercises.

 

Autonomous activities:

Reading of manuals, textbooks and handouts.

Elaboration of study diagrams, summaries and texts.

Practical exercises (individual and in group).

Use of the Virtual Campus (Moodle).

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures and group debate 50 2 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3
Type: Supervised      
In-class exercises and individual tutorials 50 2 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3
Type: Autonomous      
Reading, study, exercices and use of Moodle 25 1 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3

Assessment

  • This course is assessed through 2 partial exams (35% Test 1 and 40% Test 2), an assignment (20%) and the self-correction exercises (5%).
  • The dates of tests and submissions are specified in the course calendar, published in Moodle at the beginning of the semester. Any change will be duly announced.
  • Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 35% of the assessment items.
  • In case of absence on the day of an exam (e.g. due to illness) students must provide a certificate to justify their absence to gain the right to re-assessment.
  • In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Review of assessment items:

On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Re-assessment:

Re-assessment for this course will involve a final summative test (date and time to be announced by the Faculty) which will cover all course content with the following conditions:

  • The student must have obtained a minimum course mark of 3.5/10.
  • The student must have taken/submitted all assessment items (THIS INCLUDES SELF-CORRECTION EXERCISES).
  • The student must have passed at least 35% of the course.
  • The final course mark ifthe student passes the re-assessment test is 5. Studentscannot re-assess to improve their course mark.

VERY IMPORTANT: Total or partial plagiarism of any of the exercises will automatically be considered "fail" (0) for the plagiarised exercise. If plagiarism occurs for a second time, the entire course will be failed. PLAGIARISM is copying one or more sentences from unidentified sources, presenting it as original work (THIS INCLUDES COPYING PHRASES OR FRAGMENTS FROM THE INTERNET AND ADDING THEM WITHOUT MODIFICATION TO A TEXT WHICH IS PRESENTED AS ORIGINAL). Plagiarism is a serious offense. Students must learn to respect the intellectual property of others, identifying any source they may use, and take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of the texts they produce.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Assignment 20 6 0.24 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3
Midterm 1 35 7 0.28 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3
Midterm 2 40 7 0.28 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3
Self-correction practical exercices 5 5 0.2 9, 10, 11, 8, 1, 2, 6, 4, 5, 7, 3

Bibliography

Aarts, Bas. 1997. English Syntax and Argumentation. London: MacMillan.

Adger, David. 2003. Core Syntax. A Minimalist Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Carnie, Andrew. 2011. Modern Syntax: A Coursebook. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Haegeman, Liliane. 1991. Introduction to Government  and Binding Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.

Haegeman , Liliane y Jacqueline Guéron. 1999. English Grammar. A Generative Perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.

Haegeman, Liliane. 2005. Thinking Syntactically. Oxford: Blackwell.

Llinàs, Mireia, Capdevila, Montserrat, Dominguez, Joaquín, Moyer, Melissa, Pladevall, Elisabet, y Susagna Tubau. 2014. [SECOND EDITION]. Basic concepts for the analysis of English sentences. Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions.

Newson, Mark, Hordós, Marianna, Pap, Dániel, Szécsényi, Krisztina, Tóth, Gabriella, y Veronika Vincze. 2006. Basic English Syntax with Exercises. http://mek.oszk.hu/05400/05476/05476.pdf

Radford, Andrew. 2016. Analysing English Sentences, Cambridge University Press.

Roberts, Ian. 1997. Comparative Syntax. London: Arnold.

 

Software

Not applicable.