General provisions

The course is included as a compulsory module within the Bachelor's Programme in languages. The course syllabus was approved by the linguistic section board on the 15 Feb 2007.

Entry requirements

Swedish B/Swedish as a Second Language B, English B

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course, to be given the grade Pass, the student should at least be able to: reproduce the main ideas of how the concept of language is defined in linguistics and reason about its applicability on spoken language, written language and sign language, as well as on animal communication.

account for the difference between a descriptive and a prescriptive view on linguistic phenomena

discuss some basic concepts within phonetics based on examples

describe and illustrate basic concepts within morphology, such as: What is a word? What is a morpheme? Key concepts are morpheme, allomorph, closed and open word classes, free and bound morphemes and word structure; derivativation, compounding and inflectional morphology

define and analyse linguistic material with regards to the following concepts within grammar: Parts of speech; clause structure; hierarchical structure, Syntactic (= phrase level -) categories (e g, NP, VP, AdjP), Verb classes (e g impersonal verb, intransitive verb, transitive verb, ditransitive verb); syntactic functions (e g subject, direct object, indirect object); Semantic roles (e g agent, patient, dative)

account for basic concepts within semantics and pragmatics with a focus on lexical semantics (e g synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, homophony, homography), compositional semantics, lexical and structural ambiguity, speech acts, discourse.

account for basic concepts and methods at a general level within some of the more important fields of applied linguistics.

Content

The course gives a presentation and discussion of linguistic research areas such as phonetics, grammar, semantics and pragmatics.

Instruction

Instruction consists of lectures, workshops and assessment. The student's own learning activities are crucial for the completion of the course.

Assessment

The course is assessed through oral and/or written assignments and/or a final exam. The teacher can as part of the assessment require compulsory attendance and active participation. The course requirements are announced in writing at the start of the course by the convenor of the course.

Course level in relation to degree requirements

The course is included in the first semester of studies in linguistics. Specialisation to a Bachelor of Arts requires a further 82.5 credits within this, including a degree project of 15 credits.

Other regulations

The courses An Introduction to Linguistics, The Languages of the World, Languages, computers and text processing and Language, individual and society together correspond to Linguistics A, and may not be included in a higher education qualification together with linguistics A. The four said courses together fulfil the entry requirements for Linguistics B.