AJ32052 Selected Topics in Semantics

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2011
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Objectives of the course: Students successfully completing the course will be able to categorize English verbs and to analyze their internal semantic structure. They will also be able to examine the syntactic behaviour of verbs in relation to their semantic properties.
Syllabus
  • Description of the course: The seminar is an investigative one. It deals with selected problems concerning the semantics and syntax of English verbs, taking into consideration the fuctionalist and structuralist view. The seminar uses as its starting point Zeno Vendler's classification of verbs, which is largely based on the time schemata in which English verbs occur. In the analysis of English verbs the method of componential analysis will also be employed. The topics covered in the course are as follows: - Vendler's time schemata: states versus actions (activites, accomplishments and achievements)
  • - semantic structure of English verbs versus their internal temporal structuration
  • - 'telicity' versus 'atelicity'; event-object homomorphism
  • - semantic multivalence of English verbs
  • - componential analysis
  • - internal semantic structure of verbs in relation to their syntactic behaviour
Literature
  • Frawley, William: Linguistic Semantics (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum) 1992
  • HUDDLESTON, Rodney and Geoffrey K. PULLUM. The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Edited by Laurie Bauer. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, xvii, 1842. ISBN 9780521431460. info
  • LYONS, John. Linguistic semantics : an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi, 376. ISBN 0521438772. info
  • The verb in contemporary English : theory and description. Edited by Bas Aarts - Charles F. Meyer. 1st publ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, x, 313. ISBN 0521460395. info
  • DUŠKOVÁ, Libuše. Mluvnice současné angličtiny : na pozadí češtiny. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 1988, 673 p. info
  • PALMER, F. R. The English verb. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 1988, xii, 268. ISBN 0582297141. info
  • QUIRK, Randolph. A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Edited by David Crystal. London: Longman, 1985, x, 1779. ISBN 9780582517349. info
  • VENDLER, Zeno. Linguistics in philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967. info
Teaching methods
One 1.5 hour seminar, held every other week of the term.
Assessment methods
Seminar attendance is compulsory. Assessment: a research paper discussing a selected topic in verbal semantics.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every other week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2002, Spring 2003, Autumn 2003, Spring 2004, Autumn 2004, Spring 2005, Autumn 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2020, Spring 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2011, recent)
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