AJ52011 Topics in Linguistics: Semantics

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2008
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
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: doc. Mgr. Tomáš Kačer, Ph.D.
Timetable
Fri 13:20–14:55 G32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Semantics (as the study of meaning) is central to the study of communication. This seminar offers an introduction to some of the basic concepts of semantics and to the basic problems connected with the analysis of the semantic structure of the sentence. In view of the interrelation between semantics and syntax, attention is naturally paid also to the syntactic structure of the sentence.The seminar is devoted also to some of the problems of the semantics and syntax of the English verb because the verb represents the main organizing element in the sentence. The seminar uses as its starting point Vendler's classification of verbs, which is largely based on the time schemata as reflected in the verbal semantic structure. In the analysis of English verbs the method of componential analysis will also be employed. This seminar is designed for advanced students. It is aimed at encouraging an active approach on the part of students toward the subject matter.
Syllabus
  • - semantics versus pragmatics - relations between grammatical sentence patterns and semantic sentence patterns - typology of events - semantic roles - tense and aspect - modality - Vendler's time schemata - internal structure of states and actions - telicity versus atelicity - Quirk's classification of verbal semantic classes - componential analysis
Literature
  • Frawley, William: Linguistic Semantics (Hillsdale,NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum) 1992
  • Vendler, Zeno: Linguistics in Philosophy (Ithaca:Cornell University Press) 1967
  • LYONS, John. Linguistic semantics : an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi, 376. ISBN 0521438772. info
  • QUIRK, Randolph. A Comprehensive grammar of the English language. Edited by David Crystal. 1st pub. London: Longman, 1985, x, 1779. ISBN 0582965020. info
Assessment methods (in Czech)
A seminar. Assessment: an essay plus a written test at the end of the course.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 5x2.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2008, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2008/AJ52011