English Syntax and Semantics

A) General

- Improve students’ knowledge of English grammatical structures (complex and compound sentences) and basic semantic principles through the exploration and analysis of linguistic data in real texts.

- Promote reflection upon language. At this level, students should be able not only to understand and express themselves in English with fluency and accuracy but should also be aware of the mechanisms used by the English linguistic system to convey meaning.

- Favour students’ critical ability in regard to linguistic phenomena.

- Initiate students into linguistic research using the resources and technologies that are available to that end.

- Read critically specialised literature related to the field.

B) Specific

- Introduce students to the study of the relationships between clauses from a discourse-functional perspective.


- Get get students acquainted with the different subtypes of clause combining (coordination and subordination) and clause condensing (ellipsis and substitution).

- Do case analyses.

- Give an introduction of English Semantics.

- Explore the connections between Syntax and Semantics.

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH SYNTAX

UNIT 1 Introducting the syntax of the clause
1.1. Utterance, sentence, clause
1.2. The structure of the clause
1.3. Syntactic patterns of canonical and non-canonical clauses
1.4. Interclausal connections and syntactic relationships

PART II: CLAUSE COMBINING AND CLAUSE CONDENSING

UNIT 2 Coordination and parataxis
2.1. Syndetic vs. asyndetic
2.2. Yuxtaposition
2.3. Basic coordination: characterization and markers
2.3.1. Reductibility to one element
2.3.2. Order change
2.3.3. Likeness of class and function
2.3.4. Open endedness.
2.3.5. Range of occurrence
2.4. Non-basic coordination: characterization and markers
2.4.1. Discontinuity
2.4.2. Bound ellipsis and Gapping
2.4.3. Restructuring
2.5. Expressive and idiomatic uses of coordination
2.5.1. Pseudocoordination
2.5.2. Iterative or continued use of coordination
2.5.3. Other expressive uses of coordination

UNIT 3. Subordination and hypotaxis
3.1. Characterization and markers
3.2. Subordination vs. embedding
3.3. Complement clauses
3.3.1. Noun complement clauses
3.3.2. Adjective complement clauses
3.3.3. Verb complement clauses
3.4. Relative clauses
3.4.1. Restrictive
3.4.2. Non-restrictive
3.4.3. Fused relative constructions
3.4.3. Finite, non-finite and other reduced variants
3.5. Comparative constructions
3.5.1. Equality
3.5.2. Inequality
3.5.3. Comparison + result
3.5.4. Comparison + purpose
3.6. Adverbial clauses
3.6.1. Clauses of time
3.6.2. Clauses of place
3.6.3. Clauses of condition
3.6.4. Clauses of concession
3.6.5. Clauses of reason or cause
3.6.6. Clauses of result
3.6.7. Clauses of purpose
3.6.8. Clauses of manner

UNIT 4. Clause condensing
4.1. Substitution
4.2. Ellipsis


PART III: INTODUCTION TO ENGLISH SEMANTICS

UNIT 5 Introducing Sentence and Word Semantics
5.1. Sentence Semantics and RST
5.2. Lexical Semantics

I. Basic bibliography

A) Syntax
Biber, Douglas, Geoffrey Leech and Susan Conrad. 2002. Longman Student Grammar of Written and Spoken English. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Downing, A. & Locke, P. 2006. English Grammar. A university Course. London: Routledge (2nd ed.).
B) Semantics
Hurford, James R., Heasley, B. and Smith, B. rendan. 2007. Semantics: A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2nd ed.).
Lyons, J. 1995. Linguistic Semantics: An introduction. Cambridge: CUP.
Mann, William C. and Sandra A. Thompson. 1987. Rhetorical structure theory, description and construction of text structures.In: Kempen, Gerard (Eds.), Natural Language Generation. New Results in Artificial Intelligence, Psychology and Linguistics. Dordrecht, Nijhoff, Nato ASI Series, E 135, pp. 85–95.

* There will be compulsory readings for each unit.


II. Complementary bibliography
A) Syntax
Aarts, Bas. 1997. English Syntax and Argumentation. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan.1999. Longman Grammar of Written and Spoken English. Harlow: Longman. (Chapters 9 and 10).
Biber, D., Conrad, S. & Leech, G. 2002. Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English.
Burton-Roberts, N. 1986. Analysing Sentences. London: Logman.
Dik, Simon. Coordination: Its Implications for the Theory of General Linguistics. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.
Givón, T. English Grammar. 1993. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publishing Company. (Volume 2, chapter 13 "Interclausal Connections and Discourse Coherence", pp. 315-344).
Halliday, M.A.K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. 2004 (3rd ed.). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Arnold. ER. Chps. 3 & 8.
Huddleston, Ronald. 1984. Introduction to the Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 12)
Huddleston, Rodney, George Pullum et al. 2002. A Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 11 to 15)
Mann, W. C., C. M. I. M. Matthiessen & S. A. Thompson. 1992. Rhetorical structure theory and text analysis. In W. C. Mann & S. A. Thompson (eds.), Discourse description: Diverse linguistic analyses of a fund-raising text. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 39-78.
Mann, W. C., & Thompson, S. A. 1988. Rhetorical structure theory: Toward a functional theory of text organization. Text 8.3. 243-281.
Matthews, P.H. 1981. Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Muñoz, C. 1995. Clause Analysis. A Practical Approach. Barcelona: PPU.
Quirk, Randolph et al. 1985. A University Grammar of English. London: Longman. (Chapter 9, pp. 533-648; chapter 10, pp. 649-716; chapter 11 , pp. 717-798).
Sinclair, John (ed.). 1990. Collins COBUILD English Grammar. London: Collins ELT. (Chapter 7, pp. 319-324; chapter 8, pp. 373-383)
Van Oirsouw. Robert R. 1987. The Syntax of Coordination. London: Croom Helm.
Young, David J. 1980. The Structure of English Clauses. London: Hutchinson.


B) Semantics
Cruse, Alan. 2000. Meaning in Language. An Introduction to Syntax and Semantics. Oxford: OUP.
Leech, Geoffrey. 1980. Explorations in Semantics and Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Löbne, Sebastian. 2002. Understanding Semantics. London: Arnold.
Palmer, Frank Robert. 1976. Semantics: A New Outline. Cambridge: CUP.
Saeed, John I. Semantics. London: Blackwell.

* Other useful supplementary bibliographical references will be provided throughout the course.

CG3, CG6, CG7, CG8, CG9, CE2, CE3

- Development of English language learning skills, with particular attention to the study of English Syntax and Semantics.
- Development of metalinguistic skills.
- Development of linguistic research skills.
- Development of language awareness skills.
- Development of language contrastive skills.
- Development of skills for the analysis and critical reading of bibliographical references on English Syntax and Semantics.

Theoretical presentations will alternate with practical classes and personal tutorials. Students will be required to complete a series of assignments and exercises. Attendance and active participation in class are very important.

First Opportunity

Continuous evaluation (first sit and resit students):

• A. Partial liberatory exam # 1 through the Virtual Campus (UNITS 1 and 2): 35%.

• B. Partial liberatory exam # 2 through the Virtual Campus (UNITS 3 to 5): 65%

Resit students who wish to renounce continuous assessment and opt for final exam assessment must inform the subject coordinator by e-mail via the CV WITHIN A PERIOD NOT EXCEEDING 15 DAYS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER. If this communication does not take place, it will be understood that they opt for continuous assessment.

Second Opportunity (first sit and resit students):

• Final exam covering the whole syllabus: 100%.

The assessment of students officially exempt from class attendance will be based exclusively on the result obtained in a written final exam (100% of the grade), both in the first and in the second opportunity.

IMPORTANT

• Class attendance is MANDATORY.

• The course is taught in English. Fluency and correct English usage will be taken into account when marking the exams and the assignments.

• During the semester, students who opt for continuous evaluation may be offered the possibility of doing additional voluntary work/activities (1 per student) in order to increase their grade (0.5 points maximum).

• Inadequate academic behaviour (plagiarism, cheating in exams, etc.) will be penalized. In the case of fraudulent performance of exercises or tests, the provisions of art. 16 of "Normativa de Evaluación de rendimiento académico de los estudantes y de revisión de calificaciones" will apply:

“A realización fraudulenta dalgún exercicio ou proba exixida na avaliación dunha materia implicará a cualificación de suspenso na convocatoria correspondente, con independencia do proceso disciplinario que se poida seguir contra o alumno infractor. Considerarse fraudulenta, entre outras, a realización de traballos plaxiados ou obtidos de fontes accesibles ao público sen reelaboración ou reinterpretación e sen citas aos autores e das fontes”.

The time devoted to the study of this course may vary from week to another although it is reckoned that students will have to study on their own a total of 6 hours a week, including the time for tasks and assignments.

This is a subject with an important practical component. For this reason, attendance and participation in class is a requirement. Students are expected to do exercises and assignments throughout the course.