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2023/2024

Spanish Semantics and Pragmatics

Code: 100585 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OT 3 2
2504386 English and Spanish Studies OT 4 2
2504388 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 0 0
2504388 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 3 0
2504388 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 4 0

Contact

Name:
Yolanda Rodríguez Sellés
Email:
yolanda.rodriguez@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.


Prerequisites

By obtaining the minimum of credits in basic training subjects, students have demonstrated to have acquired the basic competences and they will be able to express themselves orally and in writing. For this reason, any spelling and expression errors that may be committed by the student in the performance of the evaluation activities planned during the subject will lead to a score decrease in the final grade. Activities, practical sessions and papers submitted in the course must be original and under no circumstances will the total or partial plagiarism of third-party materials published on any medium be admitted. Any submission of non-original material without properly indicating its origin will automatically result in a failure
rating (0).



Objectives and Contextualisation

Spanish Semantics and Pragmatics course is part of the 30 compulsory credits of the subject Spanish language: synchrony. This course has two primary goals. The first one is to introduce the main topics of the study of denotative meaning to the student. The second one is to make the student become familiar with those aspects of the meaning related to the usage of language. At the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Know the basic reference works on Semantics and Pragmatics
  • Identify which aspects of the study of meaning belong to Semantics and which ones to Pragmatics
  • Know the existing links between Semantics, Pragmatics and other subjects, including linguistic ones (Syntax, Lexicology and Morphology), and non-linguistic (Philosophy, Logics, Psychology and Sociology).
  • Master the basic concepts and tools that enable analysis and argumentationin Semantics and Pragmatics.

 

 


Competences

    English and Spanish Studies
  • 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.
  • Demonstrate skills for professional development in the fields of linguistic applications, teaching, and literary and cultural management in English and Spanish.
  • Identify the foundations of human language and the principles, methods and results of structural analysis of languages.
    Catalan and Spanish Studies
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan and Spanish languages, their historical evolution and their current structure.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse different types of linguistic data.
  2. Analyse the principles of lexical semantics that affect the internal structure of words and their syntactic combination.
  3. Correctly identify linguistic units.
  4. Describe the process of creating combinatorial linguistic units.
  5. Justify by means of appropriate terminology the analysis of data from a linguistic point of view.
  6. Recognise the links between compositional semantics and other disciplines, both linguistic (syntax, lexicology, pragmatics) and non-linguistic (philosophy, logic, mathematics).

Content

1. Introduction to Semantics. 

2. The semantic information of simple sentences.

3. The semantic structure of simple sentences.

4. Introduction to Pragmatics.

5. Meaning and communicative intention.

6. Meaning and interpretation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Methodology

The learning of this subject by the students is distributed as follows:
Directed activities (35%). These activities are divided into master classes and classroom practices led by the teacher, in which theoretical explanation is combined with solution of exercises and discussion of
all types of texts.
Supervised activities (10%). These tutorials are programmed by the teacher, dedicated to correcting and commenting on problems related to different levels of linguistic analysis.
Autonomous activities (50%). These activities include both time devoted to individual study and production of reviews, papers and analytical comments written, as well as oral presentations.
Assessment activities (5%). The evaluation of the subject will be describe in Assessment section.



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      
Master classes 26.25 1.05
To solve exercices 26.25 1.05
Type: Supervised      
Review readings 6 0.24
Type: Autonomous      
Exercices preparation 42.75 1.71
Readings of references 18.5 0.74
Self-assessment exercices 18.5 0.74

Assessment

1. Continuous assessment

1.1. Criteria for the grading the course

In order to pass the course, after completing the three evaluable activities mentioned above and after applying the percentages indicated above, the student must get a final grade equal or greater than 5. If the final grade is

  • Less than 3.5, the student will get a failing grade.
  • Between 3.5 and 5, the student will be able eligible for re-evaluation.
  • Students will obtain a Not assessed course grade unless the have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.

1.2 Re-evaluation criteria

Students who get a final grade between 3.5 and 5 and who have carried out the three assessable activities mentioned above will be eligible for re-evaluation of the course on the date set by the Faculty. If the re-evaluation test is passed, the final grade for the subject will be 5, regardless of the grades obtained before. Students who have passed the course will not be allowed to re-evaluate to increase their grade.

1.3 Evaluation criteria

In order to pass the exam, mastery of the normative is considered essential; therefore, when evaluating the activities mentioned above, spelling errors, incorrect use of punctuation, lexical errors and morphosyntactic errors will be penalized.

1.4 Review procedure for evaluable evidence

After the publication of the gradingof the evaluable activities mentioned above, the teacher will inform the students through Moodle of the day and time for the review of such activities. 

1.5 Misconduct in assessment activities

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.

 2. Single assessment

Assessment activities

Weight

Test about Semantics

45%

Test about Pragmatics

45%

Delivery of homework

10%


Everything established in points 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 of the previous section is also applicable to the single assessment. The date for the single evaluation will coincide with the date of the Test of Pragmatics of the continuous assessment. The teacher will communicate to the student the date for the single evaluation through Moodle at the beginning of the course.

 


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Participation in class 10% 3.75 0.15 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6
Test about Pragmatics 45% 4 0.16 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6
Test about Semantics 45% 4 0.16 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6

Bibliography

Escandell, Mª. Victoria (1996): Introducción a la pragmática. Barcelona: Ariel.

Escandell, Mª. Victoria (2004): Fundamentos de semántica composicional. Barcelona: Ariel.

Portolés, José (2004): Pragmática para hispanistas. Madrid: Síntesis.


Software

There are no requirements.