AJ22057 Issues of Linguistic Theory

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2000
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Milan Růžička (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Ing. Mgr. Jiří Rambousek, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Michaela Hrazdílková
Prerequisites
Student must have credits from at least one optional course in the linguistic track (obligatory linguistic classes do not count).
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 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Five questions to think about before you decide to come to this class: 1) In your eyes, what other discipline does linguistics resembles most? 2) What would change in our civilization if we had no systematic knowledge about languages? 3) Does any method of doing linguistics meet your emotional needs? 4) Are linguists able to agree on common terminology. Why? Why not? 5) What is the most important task of linguistic in next 20 years?
Syllabus
  • Major Approaches to Language and Philosophy of Language in the 20th Century: European Structuralism American Structuralism Poststructuralism Functionalism Generativism Cognitive Linguistics The main stress will be on re-thinking the big questions of the theory and methodology of the language sciences: Is linguistics a science? Is "Language" a suitable object for research? Are languages properties of individual minds or social collectives? What are the goals of linguistic theory? What kind of data can be accessed? What explanations can be given? The students will have to read selected pieces of writing by major authors on language in the 20th century (Saussure, Hjelmslev, Jakobson, Halliday, Sapir, Whorf, Chomsky, Jackendoff, Pinker).
Literature
  • Matthews, P.H. (1993) Grammatical Theory in the US from Bloomfiled to Chomsky
  • AKMAJIAN, Adrian, Richard A. DEMERS and Robert M. HARNISH. Linguistics : an introduction to language and communication. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1979, xvii, 357. ISBN 0-262-05058-5. info
  • FROMKIN, Victoria and Robert RODMAN. An introduction to language. 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978, x, 386 s. ISBN 0-03-089947-8. info
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Active participation in the seminar - 25 points Each student will be given a chance to present either a paper in the class or hand in an essay - 45 points A take-home test will be written in the form of a questionnaire - 30 points.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
Credit evaluation note: 2 původní kredity.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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