Synchronic Study of Dutch

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1020981BNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Om Synchronische studie van het Nederlands te kunnen opnemen, moet je geslaagd zijn voor Nederlandse taalkunde: woord- en zinsleer, of dit vak tenminste opnieuw registreren. Geef steeds voorrang aan vakken uit de laagste fase van je opleiding. Als je een verkort programma volgt, kan je dit vak zo opnemen.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Rik Vosters (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

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

Course Content

This course offers an introduction to synchronic, corpuslinguistic research into language variation in Dutch.

After a theoretical introduction dealing with the origins, use and applications of corpus linguistic research, this course will mainly follow a hands-on approach. Through demonstrations and exercises on the computer, students will be familiarized with the main tools to conduct corpus linguistic research, mostly using the R programming language (http://www.r-project.org). They will specifically learn to generate, use and interpret a.o. frequency lists, concordances and (time permitting) collocation clusters. While doing so, they will also be familiarized with the most important linguistic corpora of Dutch. Finally, this course will also offer a concise introduction to the processing and analysis of the obtained results of a corpus study, touching upon basic descriptive statistics and different methods for graphical data exploration. Throughout the course, we will work with exercises and case studies based on realistic research questions and authentic language material.

Over the course of the semester, students will be prepared to conduct corpus linguistic research on their own, and they will be expected to implement and integrate these skills in a corpus study of a specific topic in Dutch linguistics through independent research.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Digital syllabus, slides and digitally provided files

Additional info

A syllabus, slides and digital files made available throughout the semester make up the bulk of the material, supplemented with extensive notes taken by the students during classes. Additional material may be made available to the students over the course of the semester.

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes

1. Students are able to recognize the most important principles of variationist and corpus linguistic research, and apply these principles to empirical research in the field. [Dublin-descriptor NVAO: toepassen kennis en inzicht]

2. Students can independently make use of the principal tools for corpus linguistic research to generate frequency lists, collocation clusters and concordance lists based on existing linguistic corpora. [Dublin-descriptor NVAO: toepassen kennis en inzicht]

3. Students are able to apply the insights and methods learned in the course to an independent corpus study, in which they can process, analyze and interpret their own research results in an appropriate manner. [Dublin-descriptor NVAO: toepassen kennis en inzicht + oordeelvorming]

4. Students can report about their insights in a scientific paper written in an appropriate register of Standard Dutch, with an accurate use of the acquired terminology. [Dublin-descriptor NVAO: communicatie]

5. By independently conducting a corpus study, students show that they have acquired the necessary scientific autonomy to set up and carry out a full empirical investigation at the BA level. [Dublin-descriptor NVAO: leervaardigheden]

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 20% of the final mark.
SELF Paper determines 80% of the final mark.

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

Tussentijdse presentatie 50% with a relative weight of 20 which comprises 20% of the final mark.

Note: Oral exam 20%
During the oral exam, we will briefly discuss the research paper. The lecturer may ask additional questions about the methods and techniques used for the paper, and students will have the opportunity to further expand on some aspects of their corpus research where necessary. The examiner will also check if students understand the code they used and can explain the process followed. If required, each student will be given 5 to 10 minutes of time to prepare his or her answer.

Within the SELF Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Research paper 100% with a relative weight of 80 which comprises 80% of the final mark.

Note: Paper 80%
Students integrate the insights, methods and skills acquired in the course into a small-scale empirical corpus study of their own, which they write up in the form of an extensive research paper. In consultation with the lecturer, they choose an appropriate topic in Dutch language variation, and prepare a research plan for this small-scale corpus study. This topic may build on the topic of students’ previous work in Dutch linguistics. Students are also required to report on the progress of their corpus study over the course of the semester

Additional info regarding evaluation

Partial grades cannot be transferred to a later exam session.

Late submissions of assignments, papers or other tasks will be accepted until 48 hours after the deadline. For submissions up to 24 hours after the deadline (to be submitted by email and on paper), the student's result will be lowered by 15%, and for submissions between 24 and 48 hours after the deadline (also to be submitted by email and on paper), the student's result will be lowered by 30%. Submission that are more than 48% late will not be evaluated anymore and will be marked as an 'absence'. All deadlines hold for both digital as well as paper copies.

Students can only participate in the oral examen if they handed in a paper. Students who hand in a paper but do not participate in the oral exam will be marked absent for the final evaluation of the course as a whole.

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