Research projects (individual)

Theoretical Grammar

For: 4^th year (seniors) (full-time)

By: Nataliya A. Savelieva, PhD in Linguistics (English Philology Department)

The aim of the course lies in introducing the students to the basic principles and regularities of the grammatical system of English in the context of its structure and functioning, as well as traditional and modern approaches to the study of language units and phenomena.

semester	lectures	seminars	modules	credits	at the end of the semester
2^nd					EXAM

The content of the course

At the lectures the students will be introduced to the basic notions of linguistic theory, such as language and speech, language system and language structure, paradigmatcs and syntagmatics, synchrony and diachrony. They will discover the place of theoretical grammar among other linguistics disciplines, get to know the history of grammar, find out about the subject matter and the aim of the course. The morpheme and the word will be analyzed as the central units of the morphological level of language. The problem of the word classes in modern linguistics will be discussed, taken into consideration traditional and modern approaches to grouping the words of languages. The noun, the verb, the adjective, and the pronouns will be described in terms of the grammatical meaning, derivational properties, grammatical categories, combinability and syntactic functions. The basic notions of syntax will be paid due attention, and the latest approaches to the study of the word group and the sentence will be analyzed. Some modern approaches to the study of language units will be covered to give the students some understanding of the directions in which modern linguistics and grammar go.

Grading policy

#	Name of the activity	Points
	Seminar participation	7 seminars X 4 points = 28
	Notes	6 points
	Research projects (individual)	10 points
	Module tests	2 tests X 20 points = 40
	Comparative charts	8 points
	Progress tests	8 points
	Short reports	7 points
	Total	100 points (+7 points extra)

Activities

Seminar participation (each seminar).

Active participation is required. By active participation I mean both your willingness to participate and your ability to contribute to the discussion at any time you are asked to do so, which means to get the maximum you are to be ready with every question and discussion topic suggested. Languages: English (preferable). Russian is also allowed, if you present the information from a book / article in Russian.

Notes (can be collected after each class).

Reading a lot about the subject matter is critical for expanding your linguistic background, while making notes on what you read is important for processing and organizing the information in your mind. You are to make notes getting ready for your seminars. Please, READ the tasks carefully. Sometimes you will be asked to write the answers to particular questions, while in other cases, you will have to write notes on the materials (all resources, some of them) you will have to read.

Research projects (individual)

Choose one of the topics suggested and write a four-or-five-page essay. Your essay should have an introduction to present the problem to be discussed, the main body consisting of several well-developed and properly organized paragraphs and a conclusion summarizing the ideas described. A list of references is also a MUST (see my list below for typography (оформление списка литературы). The Internet is allowed but do not overuse it. Plagiarism will be harshly punished. Your project is due on 17 March, 2014.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29