The Morphosyntax of English

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1002109BNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Alexis Housen
Bram Bulté (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
13 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
45 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

The course English Linguistics II consists of three parts.

Part I outlines basic concepts and techniques in the study of morpho- syntax (e.g. the relation between form, meaning and function, the distinction between surface structure and deep structure, lexical and phrasal classes, constituent analysis, the distinction between linguistic class and linguistic function).
Part 2 discusses the structure of English phrases, with particular attention to noun phrases and verb phrases (including the morphological, syntactic and-, semantic-pragmatic properties of the English verb system).
Part 3 focuses on the syntactic structure and functional properties of English clauses and sentences.
The theoretical discussions are illustrated and put to practice in the exercise sessions (15 hours).

Course material

Course text (Required) : English linguistics II, The Morpho-Syntactic Structure of English, Housen, VUB, 2220170009285, 2022
Practical course material (Recommended) : Reference grammars, To be selected from the bibliographical section in the printed course
Practical course material (Recommended) : General encyclopeadic work on linguistics, To be selected from the bibliographical section in the printed course

Additional info

A printed course is available from the Dienst Uitgaven, VUB. Complementary study material: reference grammars and one general encyclopeadic work on linguistics, to be selected from the bibliographical section in the printed course.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Together with its precursor English Linguistics I, the course English Linguistics II provides a detailed introduction to the descriptive study of contemporary standard English.
Collectively the two courses aim to provide,

Students should be able to
a) understand and apply key principles and concepts of the scientific study of human language in general and English in particular, including the specialised linguistic terminology;
b) analyse the basic structure ('grammar') of contemporary standard British English, including its phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax.

By the end of the course English Linguistics II students are expected to be able to use the specialized terminology of linguistics and to have acquired sufficient insights into the grammar of contemporary standard British English to embark on a more advanced study of the English language and its varieties.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 35% of the final mark.
Written Exam determines 65% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral exam with a relative weight of 35 which comprises 35% of the final mark.

Note: No student with less than 07/20 on either the oral exam or the written exam will be allowed to pass.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written exam with a relative weight of 65 which comprises 65% of the final mark.

Note: No student with less than 07/20 on either the oral exam or the written exam will be allowed to pass.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The final mark will be determined by the weighted average on the following parts:
1) Written examination: 65% of final mark
2) Oral examination: 35% of final mark
No student with less than 07/20 on either the oral exam or the written exam will be allowed to pass.

The second session examinations will be adminitered under the responsibility of prof. Alex Housen. The methods of examination and of evaluation are the same as in the first examination session.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context