PLIN067 Foundations of Language

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2020

The course is not taught in Spring 2020

Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Caha, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Michal Starke, Docteur es Lettres (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Michal Starke, Docteur es Lettres
Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jaroslava Vybíralová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
No prerequisites.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 90 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/90, only registered: 0/90, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/90
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 15 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course will provide you with the necessary background to continue your studies in linguistics at a more advanced level if you choose to.
It will provide some answers to basic questions about the nature of human language. Throughout the course, we will be examining a number of ways in which human language is a complex but law-governed mental system. During the semester, we will look at questions like the following: Is speaking an instinctual or a learned behavior? Why do children acquire language so much faster and easier than adults, and what are the stages of acquisition? What do the native speakers of a language know about the language’s word structure, sentence structure, sentence meaning, and pronunciation? How is language processed in the brain?
Learning outcomes
The student will be able to:
- understand and use basic concepts in contemporary lingustics;
- analyze utterances in their basic constituent parts;
- apply the principle of compositionality;
- read and critically asses scientific articles on language;
Syllabus
  • Introduction Morphology (word structure) Syntax (grammar of sentence structure) Semantics (grammar of meaning) Phonetics (sounds of speech: production and perception) Phonology (grammar of sounds of speech) Historical change, language families and the history of English Language and Brain Language and Computers
Literature
    required literature
  • An Introduction to Language, 11th Edition Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams ISBN-13: 9781337559577
    recommended literature
  • O'Grady, William, John Archibald, et al. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction. 6th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. ISBN: 9780312618513.
Teaching methods
Lecture, homework, reading
Assessment methods
Homework - 20 percent of grade Exam - 80 percent of grade
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2020/PLIN067