AJ2207 Functional Linguistics

Faculty of Education
Spring 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/3/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Martin Adam, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Martin Adam, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Supplier department: Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Timetable of Seminar Groups
AJ2207/01: Mon 15:00–17:50 učebna 54, M. Adam
AJ2207/02: Mon 10:00–12:50 učebna 10, M. Adam
AJ2207/03: Thu 15:00–17:50 učebna 35, M. Adam
AJ2207/04: Wed 10:00–12:50 učebna 50, M. Adam
Prerequisites
( AJ2102 Practical Language 1B )
Syntax A, Syntax B
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course presents the English grammar as a tool which enables users of English to achieve their purposes in communication and tries to help language learners to realise that grammar is used in a different way in spoken and written interaction and is further modified by the context of language use. The student applies the knowledge gained in Syntax A and Syntax B courses and is able to put it into the communicative and functional context. The English grammar is thus viewed as a tool that enables him to achieve his particular communicative intentions and to interpret authentic English texts. Having completed the course, the students will be able to utilize and practise the communicative appproach in the study and/or teaching of English syntax. They will understand English grammatical structures at sentence level with regards to their function as statements, questions, directives and exclamatives. Also, they will comprehend the meaning in connected discourse (utterance level), such as linking signals and constructions, word order and emphasis, functional sentence perspective etc. Throughout the semester students are encouraged to link theory in the classroom to practice at schools via practical tasks.
Learning outcomes
Students:
• are able to apply the acquired knowledge from normative syntax in practice, with an emphasis on the functional concept of language material and natural communication
• are able to express more accurately and sensitively their communication intention
• can analyze and interpret English texts at different linguistic levels
• are able to use knowledge from functional linguistics for didactic purposes - e.g. to create learning materials or a set of activities for individual phases of text work
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Communicative syntax vs. normative syntax. Varieties of English. Week 2: Giving and requesting information. Representing information. Functions of language. Hypothetical Meaning Week 3: Expressing attitude and opinion. Choices in the semantic representation of sentences. Fronting without Inversion Week 4: Expressing feelings and emotions. Linking and grammatical cohesion I+II. Fronting with subject-verb inversion Week 5: Friendly communication and influencing people. REVISION TEST 1. Fronting with subject-operator inversion. Week 6: Linking signals and constructions. Information processing. Topic and focus I. Extraposition of Clausal Subject Week 7: Reference, substitution and omission. Information processing. Topic and focus II Passive Voice Week 8: Presenting and focusing information. Formal and informal language. Extraposition of Clausal Object Week 9: Order and emphasis 1. Fronting. REVISION TEST 2. Postponement and discontinuities Week 10: Order and emphasis 2. Postponement. Polite and familiar language. Cleft Sentences Proper Week 11: Variation according to the status of participants. Personal and impersonal language. Pseudo-cleft sentences Week 12: Variation according to the medium and place. Written and Spoken language. Existential sentences Week 13: Revision. Dialect variation.
Literature
    required literature
  • DONTCHEVA-NAVRATILOVA, Olga. Grammatical Structures in English: Meaning in Context. 2. dotisk 3. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2016, 168 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-5762-3. info
  • LEECH, Geoffrey N. and Jan SVARTVIK. A communicative grammar of English. Edited by Randolph Quirk. London: Longman, 1975, xiv, 324. ISBN 0582552389. info
    recommended literature
  • TÁRNYIKOVÁ, Jarmila. From text to texture : an introduction to processing strategies. 4., upr. vyd. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2009, 159 s. ISBN 9788024424293. info
  • VACHEK, Josef. A functional syntax of modern English. Vydání 1. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1994, 50 stran. ISBN 8021008636. info
  • COOK, Guy. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989, xi, 167. ISBN 0194371409. info
  • MATHESIUS, Vilém. A functional analysis of present day English on a general linguistic basis. Edited by Josef Vachek, Translated by Libuše Dušková. 1. vyd. Prague: Academia, 1975, 228 s. URL info
Teaching methods
Home assignments + home reading. Teaching methods: classroom discussions, lectures, students' presentations, home assignments, home projects, observations.
Assessment methods
A mid-term test + a credit test (practical analysis of authentic texts and their functional interpretation) + oral exam. More than two absences are not tolerated. Tests passmark: 70%.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
http://moodlinka.ics.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=1255
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/spring2020/AJ2207