Logo UAB

Spanish Morphology

Code: 106366 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2504211 Spanish Language and Literature OB 2

Contact

Name:
Cristina Buenafuentes de la Mata
Email:
cristina.buenafuentes@uab.cat

Teachers

Matthias Ulrich Raab

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


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 will lead to a score decrease in the final grade.

It is also expected that students know the general rules of submission of an academic work. However, students could apply the specific rules that the teacher of the subject may indicate to them, if they deem it necessary.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The subject of "Morphology of Spanish" has as its fundamental objective to offer a general vision of the study of words. It is recommended that the student has previously attended the subject "Spanish Language: Unity and Diversity".

At the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Know the different units of analysis used in morphology.
  • Identify the constituents of a word and the levels in which they operate.
  • Master the aspects related to inflection and its implications.
  • Recognize the word formation processes and their characteristics.
  • Understand the particularities of the main word classes.

Competences

  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Spanish language, its evolution throughout history and its current structure.
  • Develop arguments applicable to the fields of Hispanic literature, literary theory, Spanish language and linguistics, and evaluate their academic relevance.
  • Introduce changes in the methods and processes of the field of knowledge to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.
  • 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 be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Acquire in-depth phonetic knowledge so that it can be applied to other interdisciplinary fields.
  2. Characterise linguistic phenomena taking into account the different levels of analysis.
  3. Describe the phonological system of Spanish on the basis of the distribution, relationships and articulatory and acoustic properties of its elements.
  4. Identify and describe the syntactic constructions of Spanish.
  5. Identify the constituents of a word and the levels at which they operate.
  6. Justify by means of appropriate terminology the analysis of data from a linguistic point of view.
  7. Make linguistic predictions and inferences about the content of a text.
  8. Propose new ways of measuring success or failure in the implementation of proposals or innovative ideas.
  9. Recognise acoustically and articulately the sounds and prosody of Spanish.
  10. Recognise the links between compositional semantics and other disciplines, both linguistic (syntax, lexicology, pragmatics) and non-linguistic (philosophy, logic, mathematics).
  11. Use digital tools to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of Spanish language and literature.
  12. Use the appropriate terminology in the construction of an academic text and in the transmission of their knowledge.
  13. Use traditional sources to obtain, classify, interpret and analyse relevant data related to the study of Spanish language and literature.

Content

Lesson 1. The morphology: Units of analysis

Lesson 2.- Inflectional Morphology

Lesson 3.- Word Formation

Lesson 4.- Main word classes: nouns, adjectives and verbs


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Master classes, seminars and practical sessions 55.5 2.22 2, 7, 12, 11, 13, 5, 4, 6, 10
Type: Supervised      
Programmed tutorials 15 0.6 2, 12, 11, 13, 5, 4, 6, 8, 10
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous activity 75 3 2, 7, 12, 11, 13, 5, 4, 6, 8, 10

Students must carry out a continuous follow-up of the subject (except for students who choose single assessment).

In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, theoretical explanations will be combined by the teacher with the practical realization of exercises in the classroom and comments on the compulsory readings.

The learning of this subject is distributed as follows:

  • Directed activities (35%, 55,5 hours). These activities are divided into master classes and seminars and classroom practices led by the teacher, in which theoretical explanation is combined with performance of exercises.
  • Supervised activities (10%, 15 hours). These tutorials are programmed by the teacher, dedicated to correcting and commenting on problems at different levels of literary analysis.
  • Autonomous activities (50%, 75 hours). These activities include both time devoted to individual study as well as performance of exercises and reading of the mandatory bibliography.
  • Evaluation activities. The evaluation of the subject will be carried out through written tests and practical activities.

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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Practical evaluation activity 40% 1.5 0.06 2, 12, 5, 6, 10
Theoretical and practical test 40% 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 7, 12, 11, 13, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Theoretical test 20% 1.5 0.06 2, 7, 12, 11, 13, 4, 6, 10

The faculty will evaluate this subject on an ongoing basis (except for students who choose single assessment).

The evaluation of the subject will be carried out, therefore, starting from the realization of three activities / tests in which the following aspects will be evaluated:

  • The assimilation of theoretical contents;
  • the practical application of the contents;
  • the adaptation to the requirements of the activity in question

 The three activities/tests to be carried out are the following:

  • 1 theoretical and practical test for topic 1 (40%)
  • 1 theoretical test for topics 2 and 3 (20%)
  • 1 practical evaluation activity for topics 3 and 4 (40%)

To pass the subject all the evaluation activities must be done. The final grade, once all the notes have been added and the percentages indicated above applied, must be equal to or greater than 5.

The completion of spelling, expression, lexicon and syntax will have a penalty of 0.25 each, without limit, on the final grade in the activities and exams. Repeated faults also discount.

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 processthat 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.

Not assessed/not submitted

Students will obtain Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.

Re-assessment

All evaluation activities are recoverable. However, the student will lose the right toreassess if the averageof the tests performed with the corresponding percentage isless than 3.5 points. If the student has the right to reassessment, he can only reassess at most two tests. Moreover, it should be taken into account that in order to be eligible for re-evaluation, students are obliged to attend all the evaluable tests. 

On carrying out each evaluation 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.

Single assessment

Students who take the single assessment will have to carry out the following activities:

  • 1 theoretical test corresponding to the four topics of the subject (40%).
  • 1 practical test corresponding to the four topics of the subject (40%).
  • 1 work consisting of the elaboration of a morphological column (20%).

Students must complete and hand in all the activities on the established date within the assigned period. The teacher will indicate the exact date through Moodle.

The same assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.


Bibliography

The professor will indicate during the course the mandatory and recommended readings for each item of the agenda.

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

BUENAFUENTES, Cristina and RAAB, Matthias (2018): La morfología léxica a la luz de la variación. Monograph of ELiEs. Estudios de Lingüística del Español. Avaiable on https://bop.unibe.ch/elies/issue/view/1178  

ADELSTEIN, Andreína and Nercesian, Verónica (2021): "Las palabras: léxico y morfología", in Guimar Elena Ciapuscio and Andreína Adelstein (coords): La lingüística. Una introducción a sus principales preguntas. Buenos Aires: Eudeba, pp. 189-224.

ALCOBA, Santiago (1999): "La flexión verbal", in Ignacio Bosque and Violeta Demonte (eds.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española. Vol. 3, Madrid: Espasa Calpe, pp. 4915-4991

ALMELA, Ramón (1999): Procedimientos de formación de palabras en español. Barcelona: Ariel.

BOSQUE, Ignacio (1983): "La morfología", in Francisco Abad and Antonio García Berrio (eds.), Introducción a la lingüísti­ca. Madrid: Alhambra, pp. 115-153.

BOSQUE, Ignacio (2015): Las categorías gramaticales. Relaciones y diferencias. Madrid: Síntesis, 2.ª ed.

BOSQUE, Ignacio and DEMONTE, Violeta (eds.) (1999): Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española. Vol 3. Madrid: Espasa.

CAPPELLARO, Chiara and MEINSCHAEFER, Judith (2022): "Inflexion, derivation and compounding", in Adam Ledgeway and Martin Maiden (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Romance LinguisticsCambridge: CUP, pp. 400-433.

CAMUS, Bruno (2022): La formación de palabras. Madrid: Arco/Libros.

FÁBREGAS, Antonio (2013): La morfología. El análisis de la palabra compleja. Madrid: Síntesis. Avaiable in e-book.

FÁBREGAS, Antonio (2024): Diccionario de afijos del español contemporáneo. New York: Routledge.

FÁBREGAS, Antonio; ACEDO, Víctor; AMSTRONG, Grant; CUERVO, M. Cristina and PUJOL, Isabel (Eds.) (2021): The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Morphology. London: Routledge. Avaiable in e-book.

FELÍU, Elena (2009): “Palabras con estructura interna”, in Elena de Miguel (ed.), Panorama de la lexicología. Barcelona: Ariel, pp. 51-81.

GARCÍA MEDALL, Joaquín (2019): "La morfología derivativa del español", in Ridruejo, E. (ed.), Manual delingüística española. Berlín-Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 402-431. Avaiable in e-book.

GARCÍA-PAGE, Mario (2006): Cuestiones de morfologia española, 3ª ed. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces.

GUTIÉRREZ-REXACH, Javier (ed.) (2016): Enciclopedia de lingüística hispánica. Vol 1. London: Routledge. Avaiable in e-book in the UAB catalog.

LIEBER, Rochelle (2021): The Oxford Encyclopedia of Morphology. Oxford: OUP.

MÜLLER, Peter O.; OHNHEISER, Ingeborg; OLSEN, Susan; and RAINER, Franz (2016): Word-Formation. An International Handbook of the Languages of Europe. Berlín: de Gruyter Mouton, 5 vols. Avaiable in e-book.

PENA, Jesús (1991): “La palabra: estructura y procesos morfológicos”, Verba, 18, pp. 69-118. Avaiable on https://minerva.usc.es/xmlui/handle/10347/3151 

PHARIES, David (2002): Diccionario etimológico de los sufijos españoles (y de otros elementos finales). Madrid: Gredos.

REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA and ASALE (2009): Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Vol 1. Madrid: Espasa. Avaiable on http://aplica.rae.es/grweb/cgi-bin/buscar.cgi

REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA and ASALE (2019): Glosario de Términos Gramaticales. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca.

VARELA, Soledad (2009): Morfología léxica: La formación de palabras. Madrid: Gredos. Avaiable on https://morforetem.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/formacic3b3n-de-palabras.pdf

VARELA, Soledad (1990): Fundamentos de morfología. Madrid: Síntesis. Avaiable in e-book.


Software

In this course it is not necessary to use specific computer programs.

Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 2 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 Spanish first semester morning-mixed