TCZJ40 Word

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Aleš Bičan, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Aleš Bičan, Ph.D.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Aneta Fidrichová
Supplier department: Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
Knowledge of linguistic concepts, reading ability in English
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 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course deals with the word as the basic linguistic unit. Most of linguistic analyses are done with a reference to the word, but words are also the first thing we learn in a language, and even the layman knows that it is words that make languages different. Still there is no single and uniform definition of the word and its analysis. The attention will be paid to phonological, morphological, semantic and syntactic characteristics of words.
Learning outcomes
In the course the student will learn about various approaches to the word, and will be able to critically evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
Syllabus
  • Word and its definition
    Morphology vs. syntax
    Phonology of the word: phonological word vs. grammatical word; the problem of clitics
    Morphology of the word: the problem of so-called cranberry morphemes
    Word formation
    Semantics of the word: the problem of synonymy and polysemy of words
    Syntax of the word: the word as the minimal unit of syntax?
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Taylor, J. R. 2015. The Oxford Handbook of the Word, Oxford University Press.
  • Dixon, R. M. W. - Aikhenvald, A. Y. 2002. Word: A Cross-Linguistic Typology. Cambridge University Press.
Teaching methods
seminar, discussion, reading, homework
Assessment methods
oral exam (discussion) or final project (essay)
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/TCZJ40