CJBB192 Are there sentences without a subject?

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Petr Karlík, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Petr Karlík, CSc.
Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jaroslava Vybíralová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Fri 12:00–13:40 C31
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of morphological and syntactic theories as required at the B.A. level.
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 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the seminar is to get the students acquainted with the syntactic analysis of the clausal structure within the framework of the generative grammar, especially from the viewpoint of the question, weather every clause must contain the subject or not, i.e. weather there are clauses without subject in Czech (as Prší x It rains). Logically, the main attention will be paid to the Czech clauses without the phonetically present subject and to the diagnostics of unpronounced subjects.
Learning outcomes
The student should be able to analyze Czech sentences without a phonetic subject and to describe the properties (reference, exhaustiveness) of the subject and which phrase corresponds to it in the syntactic structure.
Syllabus
  • Analysis of the syntactic clause structure Subject in the classical grammar Subject in the generative grammar Subject in the finite clause Subject in the infinite clause Pro-drop parameter Types of the unpronounced subject
Literature
  • Svenonius, P. (ed.) Subjects, Expletives, and the EPP. Oxford: OUP, 2002.
  • Lindseth, M. Null-Subject Properties of Slavic Languages with Special Reference to Russian, Czech and Sorbian. München: Otto Sagner, 1998.
  • Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny. Edited by Petr Karlík - Marek Nekula - Jana Pleskalová. První vydání. Praha: NLN, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2016, Strana 110. ISBN 9788074224829. info
Teaching methods
Seminar, student papers, discussion.
Assessment methods
To receive credits, it is necessary to present a paper in which the student will analyze the selected type of clauses with a null subject according to the methodology he will become acquainted with in the seminar.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/CJBB192