. – Lingua Inglese 2 (Morphosyntax and lexis)
Prof. Sonia Rachele Piotti
COURSE AIMS
Following on from the first year course whichfocuseson the level of phonetics and phonology in language, this course in English linguistics examines other core levels of contemporary English, such as morphology, syntax and lexical semantics. It also introduces students to studying lexis, lexicography and the ways in which lists of words and dictionaries are compiled and used.
COURSE CONTENT
The program includes a selection of the following topics:
- The concepts of ‘word’, ‘lexeme’ and ‘word-form’;
- English morphology and word-formation strategies;
- The lexicogrammar of English: syntagmatic word associations, multi-word units, colligations, collocations and idioms;
- Paradigmatic word associations;
- Aspects of English syntax, the clause, sentence and features of text;
- Core vocabulary, how to learn vocabulary, and vocabulary lists;
- Different types of dictionaries (e.g. monolingual, bilingual, online dictionaries, thesauruses), their characteristics and how to use them;
- Corpus Linguistics applied to the lexicogrammar of English and lexicography.
READING LIST
Compulsory:
Laurel j. Brinton-Donna M. Brinton, The Linguistic Structure of Modern English, JohnBenjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2010.(Chapters 4; 5; 6 -pp. 143-158; 176-182-; 7; 8 -up to p. 220).
Burridge, Kate 2005. Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further observations on the tangled history of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Alternativeor further readings will be recommended during the course.
Students should possess one of the following monolingual dictionaries:
Advanced Dictionary, Collins Cobuild, 2012, 7th ed.
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Cambridge, 2013, 4th ed.
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford, 2015, 9th ed.
English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, Macmillan, 2007, 2nd ed.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2014, 6th ed.
TEACHING METHOD
Lessons in the classroom, practical sessions, group work and self-study.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Students may choose between a) taking a partial written test in itinere (valid for one academic year) and finishing with an oral exam, once they have passed the written and oral language exams, or b) taking only a final oral exam, once they have passed the written and oral language exams.
The oral exam for this course, conducted in English, is divided into two parts. In the first part, students must be able to discuss the contents of the general works on the bibliography (Burridge). In the second part, students must be able to report on and discusseither the wholecourse program and course content (if they choose b) or the course content not included in the written test in itinere (if they choose a).
At the oral exam, students are required to show:
1)knowledge of the course topics;
2)the ability to use appropriate terminology;
3)the ability to make links within the course program and discuss the course contents from a critical perspective.
The final mark reflects the student’s:
a)performance in the written and oral language exams (prove intermedie);
b)score on the written assignment;
c)performance in the oral exam.
NOTES
The course is taught in English and students must enrol via Blackboard.
The final mark for English Language 2 (Language, morphosyntax and lexis) (12 CFU) represents both the language exams (i.e. the written and oral prove intermedie) and the linguistics exam for this course. Students must pass the language exams before they take the linguistics exam.
Place and time of office hours
During the semester office hours take place on a weekly basis, according to the notices communicated through the professors’ university webpages.