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Structure, Meaning and Discourse

Code: 105833 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics OB 3
English and Catalan Studies OT 3
English and Catalan Studies OT 4

Contact

Name:
Francesc Xavier Villalba Nicolas
Email:
xavier.villalba@uab.cat

Teachers

Maria Teresa Espinal Farre

Teaching groups languages

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


Prerequisites

None.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject analyzes the various aspects of the meaning of the statements involved in the construction of discourse. Students must understand the process of interpreting sentences in the context of use and identify the various factors involved in this process. They must also understand the construction of texts as a structured process aimed at the effective transmission of information.


Competences

    Catalan Philology: Literary Studies and Linguistics
  • 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.
  • Assess gender inequalities when acting in this field of knowledge.
  • 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.
  • Produce written work and oral presentations that are effective and framed in the appropriate register.
  • 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.
    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.
  • Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
  • Carry out effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in different languages.
  • Critically apply the different instruments of analysis to different types of linguistic data.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the rules of Catalan and mastery of its foundations and applications in the academic and professional fields.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Innovate in the methods and processes of this area of knowledge in response to the needs and wishes of society.
  • 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 in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources to gather and organise information.

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 syntactic structures of simple, complex, modalised and discursively marked clauses.
  4. Analyse various types of linguistic data.
  5. Analyzing linguistic structures.
  6. Apply the principles of correctness required in the standard language and the different registers and variants.
  7. Describe the combinatory processes for creating linguistic units.
  8. Distinguish between grammatical gender and natural gender.
  9. Gain a greater capacity for reading, interpreting and critically analysing literary and linguistic texts.
  10. Identify pragmatic factors that influence the use of various linguistic structures.
  11. Identify principal and secondary ideas and express them using correct language.
  12. Identify the pragmatic factors that condition the use of the various linguistic structures .
  13. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  14. Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
  15. Interpret texts in depth and provide standpoints from which to analyse them critically.
  16. Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
  17. Maintain an attitude of respect for the opinions, values, behaviors and practices of others.
  18. Make appropriate use of the knowledge acquired in order to collect data and handle documentary sources in the study of Catalan language and literature.
  19. Make use of the knowledge acquired while respecting diversity of opinion and varieties of a language.
  20. Plan, organise and carry out work in a team.
  21. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  22. Produce normatively correct written and oral texts.
  23. Produce written work and oral presentations that are effective and framed in the appropriate register.
  24. Respect the opinions, values, behaviour and customs of others.
  25. Single out the grammatical and pragmatic factors that determine the overall interpretation of the clause.
  26. Strengthen the capacity of reading, interpretation and critical analysis of literary texts and language.
  27. To distinguish the grammatical and pragmatic factors that determine the overall interpretation of the sentence.
  28. Use technological resources (digital and audiovisual) to acquire knowledge and apply it in language and literature.
  29. Work independently in the synchronic and diachronic study of Catalan language and literature.
  30. Work self-sufficiently on the synchronic and diachronic study of Catalan language and literature.
  31. Write text commentaries from a critical standpoint.

Content

1. Basic concepts of semantics

2. Basic concepts of pragmatics

3. A model of discourse

4. The nature of referents and their syntactic realization

5. The nature of pronouns

6. Anaphoric relations in syntax and discourse

7. Interlinguistic variation

8. Connectors and rhetorical relations


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Class lectures 39.5 1.58 1, 3, 2, 25, 12, 11
Text discussion and problem analysis at class 15 0.6 8, 11, 15, 9, 31
Type: Supervised      
Essay writing 35 1.4 18, 8, 23, 11, 24, 20, 30, 28
Online exercises 10 0.4 1, 3, 2, 18, 25, 12, 9
Type: Autonomous      
Study 30 1.2 18, 11, 15, 9, 30, 28
Text reading 15 0.6 18, 11, 15, 24, 9, 30

Learning activities are distributed as follow:

1) Directed (40%).
2) Supervised (30%).
3) Autonomous (30%).

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
Class attendance 10% 0.5 0.02 8, 25, 19, 12, 11, 13, 15, 17, 24, 9, 26
Delivery of individual exercises 30% 2 0.08 4, 3, 2, 18, 6, 8, 23, 19, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 21, 20, 9, 26, 22, 31, 29, 30, 28
1st written test 30% 1.5 0.06 4, 1, 5, 25, 27, 12, 10, 22
2nd written test 30% 1.5 0.06 4, 1, 5, 3, 2, 18, 7, 8, 27, 25, 12, 10, 22

In the continuous evaluation, students must provide evidence of their progress by completing assignments and tests during the course:

  • two individual assignments (30%)
  • written partial test 1 (30%)
  • a written final test 2 (30%)
  • class attendance (10%)

In the continuous evaluation system, students must provide evidence of their progress by completing assignments and tests at the end of the course:

  • individual assignment (25%)
  • a written test (50%)
  • oral test (25%)

To pass the course you must obtain a weighted average grade of 5 and a grade of 4 in all the blocks.

The detailed calendar with the content of the different sessions will be exposed on the day of presentation of the subject. It will also be posted on the Virtual Campus, where students can find a detailed description of the exercises and practices, the various teaching materials and any information necessary for the proper monitoring of the subject. In the event that the tests cannot be carried out in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB virtual tools; homework, activities and participation in class will be done through forums, wikis and/or exercise discussions through Teams, ensuring that all students can access it.

In the event that the student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. In the event of several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.

Review
By submitting the final grades before incorporating them into the student's transcripts, the teacher will post a date and time on the Virtual Campus to review the assessment activities. Students must arrange the review in agreement with the teacher.

Evaluable activities suspended / not presented

Failed students may recover suspended assessment activities or compensate for those not submitted, provided they meet the following two conditions. First of all,they have completed assessable items corresponding to two thirds of the total grade of the course or module; second, they must have obtained a weighted average grade of the set of assessable items of at least 3.5. Only the final written test can be recovered. The maximum grade for recovery is 5.

Students opting for the unique evaluation modality must present all the evidences for recovery, which will be under the same conditions than the students under the continuous evaluation modality.

The teacher will inform the students of the recovery procedure through the Virtual Campus when he / she publishes the provisional final grades. Theteacher will be able to establish an evaluation activity for each activity passed or not presented or a single activity to cover all these activities.

Students will obtain a “not assessed / not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted at least a 30 % of the assessment items.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not permitted in any of its phases. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a partial or total penalty in the grade of the activity, or greater sanctions in serious cases.


Bibliography

Ahern, A. K., Amenós Pons, J., and Escandell Vidal, M. V. (2020). Pragmática. Akal. [UAB: https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1eqfv2p/alma991010726585306709]

Espinal, M. Teresa et al. (2014) Semántica. Akal. [UAB: https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/avjcib/alma991010433003406709]

Leonetti Jungl, M., & Escandell Vidal, M. V. (2021). La Estructura informativa. Visor Libros.

Portner, P. H. (2005). What is meaning? Fundamentals of formal semantics. Blackwell.

Rigau, G. (1981). Gramàtica del discurs. Tesis doctoral (UAB). [UAB: https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/llibres/1981/138514/gradis_a1981.pdf]

Todolí, J. (2008). «Els pronoms». In J. Solà, M. R. Lloret, J. Mascaró, and M. Pérez Saldanya (Eds.), Gramàtica del català contemporani (vol. 2, pp. 1337-1433). Empúries.

Vallduví, E. (2008). «L’oració com a unitat informativa». In J. Solà, M. R. Lloret, J. Mascaró, and M. Pérez Saldanya (Eds.), Gramàtica del català contemporani (vol. 2, pp. 1221–1279). Empúries.


Software

None.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

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