CJp031 Czech Language Syntax

Faculty of Education
Spring 2027
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Ivana Kolářová, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Ivana Kolářová, CSc.
Department of Czech Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Petra Rozbořilová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Prerequisites (in Czech)
CJp011 Czech Lang. Morph.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Abstract
The aim of the course is to:
- develop the ability to analyze the sentence as a grammatical unit and to analyze the compound and complex sentences based on knowledge of syntactic terminology, and to demonstrate the capacity to apply this knowledge when explaining sentence structure in an educational context;
- highlight the importance of understanding sentence structure and the structure of the compound and complex sentences as a foundation for comprehending sentence and text meaning, as well as for developing the ability to construct grammatically and stylistically accurate sentences;
- demonstrate the functioning of the sentence and of the compound and complex sentences as a communicative unit—i.e., as an utterance within speech and communicative situations.
Learning outcomes
It is assumed that by the end of the course the student:

a) have created an algorithm for recognizing of the sentential constituents, they can use it in the sentential analysis and modify it by explaining of sentential constituents in the teaching in basic school or lower secondary school;
b) will perform a proper analysis of the structure of a simple sentence, explain the relationships among sentence elements, and be able to clarify the necessity of sentence analysis for understanding its structure and meaning; and he/she will be able to apply these skills in teaching sentence structure at the primary and secondary school levels;
c. are able to analyse compound sentences and complex sentence, to differ the types of the clauses in compound and complex centences; are able to identify the relationships among the clauses in all types of compound and complex sentences.
d) will be able to clarify deficiencies in sentence construction and their causes, and advise on how to avoid them;
e) will recognize which knowledge and skills are fundamental, i.e., those that are important for understanding a sentence and a text, or which are crucial as a basis for acquiring sentence structures in foreign languages, especially in English;
f) will be able to explain the so-called communication principles (maxims) as conditions for the successful functioning of utterances in communication, or alternatively, explain the causes of communicative failure.
Key topics
  • 1.-2. The Sentence and the Utterance in Communication. Communicative Functions of the Utterance. Linguistic means of expression: lexical (particles, interjections), grammatical (verbal categories), and intonation. Communication and communicative principles (maxims): the politeness principle, the maxim of quality, and the maxim of quantity.
  • 3. Sentence. The sentential constituents and word class. Subject and predicate. Subjective and non-subjective sentences. Equivalent of the sentence, their meaning and function.
  • 4. Developing / depend sentential constituents. Object, attribute, adverbial, complement.
  • 5. Syntactical relations (coordination, subordination, apposition, predication). Determination - congruence, governance, association/adjunction.
  • 6. Completed analysis of the sentence, analytic methods. Graphical scheme of the structure of sentence.
  • 7. Valence of the predicative verb, the grammatical structure of the sentence, the classification of the valence-structure of the sentence. Terminology of the valence syntax. Semantic analysis of the sentence.
  • 8. Irregularities in the sentential structure. Functional perspective of the sentence. Word-order in Czech language.
  • 9. Criteria for the differentiation between a sentence, a complex sentence and a compound sentence. Sentences in the compound sentence. The connectives (word category, syntactical function, meaning). The sentence and the clause in the complex sentence.
  • 10. Co-ordination in the compound sentence. Types of the semantic function of the co-ordination, the connective of the co-ordination. The co-ordination of the sentences and of clauses.
  • 11. The subordination in the complex sentence. The classification of the subordinated clauses. Connective words in subordinated clauses. Relationships of the contents of the head-clause and the subordinated clauses.
  • 12. The Compound sentence and the complex sentence with complicated structure. The Graphical scheme of the compound sentence and complex sentence.
Study resources and literature
    required literature
  • Příruční mluvnice češtiny. Edited by Miroslav Grepl - Petr Karlík - Marek Nekula - Zdenka Rusínová. Vyd. 2., opr. Praha: Lidové noviny, 1996, 799 s. ISBN 8071063037. info
    recommended literature
  • GREPL, Miroslav and Petr KARLÍK. Skladba češtiny (Czech Syntax). 1st ed. Olomouc: Votobia, 1998, 503 pp. ISBN 80-7198-281-4. info
  • Mluvnice češtiny. 3, Skladba. 1. vyd. Praha: Academia, 1987, 746 s. info
  • Čeština - řeč a jazyk. Edited by Marie Čechová. 2. přeprac. vyd. Praha: ISV nakladatelství, 2000, 407 s. ISBN 80-85866-57-9. info
  • HAUSER, Přemysl. Cvičení ze současného českého jazyka : skladba. 2. vydání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2002, 95 stran. ISBN 8021028033. info
    not specified
  • FIRBAS, Jan. Functional Sentence Perspective in Written and Spoken Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 239 pp. ISBN 0521373085. info
  • HIRSCHOVÁ, Milada. Speech Acts in Slavic Languages. In In: Berger, T. – Gutschmidt, K. – Kempten, S. - Kosta, P. (eds.): Die Slavischen Sprachen. Slavic Languages. 1. vyd. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2009, p. s. 1055-1090, 46 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-015660-7. info
  • ŠTÍCHA, František a kol. Akademická gramatika spisovné češtiny. 1st ed. Praha: Academia, 2013, 974 pp. ISBN 978-80-200-2205-9. info
  • HIRSCHOVÁ, Milada. Studie k moderní mluvnici češtiny. Edited by Oldřich Uličný. 1. vyd. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2013, 295 s. ISBN 9788024435916. info
  • FRIED, Mirjam. Dative possessor: delimiting a grammatical categorybased on usage. In František Štícha, Mirjam Fried. Grammar & Corpora / Gramatika a korpus 2007. Praha: Academia, 2008, p. 51-53. ISBN 978-80-200-1634-8. info
  • PANEVOVÁ, Jarmila. Mluvnice současné češtiny. Vydání první. Praha: Karolinum, 2014, 291 stran. ISBN 9788024624976. info
Approaches, practices, and methods used in teaching
- Controlled dialogue on sentential structure from various points of view;
- Problem methods, methods of the critical thinking (brainstorming, "map" of thinking...);
- Individual analysis of sentence: sentential elements and syntactic relationships;
- Study hours.
Method of verifying learning outcomes and course completion requirements

Students are required to attend seminars; three unexcused absences are permitted. In the event of a higher number of absences due to serious reasons, the student must make up for the missed sessions by completing an individual ("home") assignment assigned at the beginning of the semester, which will include tasks based on the material covered.

Structure of the examination

1. part: Written test in the end of the term; the test includes the theme of the course (see syllabus). The test is only practical and includes:
a) 50 - 60 test questions - student have to choice 1 correct answer from option;
b) analysis of sentences and compound or complex sentences; tasks focused on creating illustrative examples of generally defined syntactic phenomena.
To be successful the student shall answer 70 % of them correct. There are 1 proper term and 2 retakes for the students.
2. part: Oral examination. It includes theoretical theme of the course - see syllabus and http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=115. The student decides by lot two questions. The answers are evaluated according to the correctness and to the speech cultivation, too.
If the student does not pass the test successfully, the whole exam is classified "F" in that examination term.
If the student past the test successfully and fail to do the oral exam, he have to do the oral exam only on the retake.
Alternate completion

The students that are going to study abroad or are unable to attend class for other serious reasons, are not obliged to visit the seminars, which they will replace by completing specific syntactic tasks assigned as individual ('home') work at the beginning of the semester. The same rules apply to completing the home assignments as for the written test: the student must successfully complete at least 70% of the tasks.

They will take the exam in the same way as other students (see "Method of Assessing Learning Outcomes"...)

They are allowed to pass the exam after coming back from abroad. It is recommended to contact the teacher before leaving Czech Republic.

Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2027, recent)
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