LgBA07 Approaches to the scientific understanding of language

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2019
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Aleš Bičan, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. RNDr. Václav Blažek, CSc. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Mojmír Dočekal, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Jan Havliš, Dr. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Bc. Ondřej Šefčík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Aleš Bičan, Ph.D.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 10:00–11:40 K23
Prerequisites
no prerequisities
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 introduces students of all subjects (that is, not only students of linguistics) to the ways how language phenomena can be adequately described and explained. It focuses on what it means that linguistics is a science about language. Great attention is therefore given to the nature of (linguistic) knowledge, scientific work and methodology and of course to language itself.
Learning outcomes
By passing the course, the student will gain:
- the understanding of the principles of scientific work in general and of linguistic work in particular
- the orientation in the fundamental problems of the theory of knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge to linguistics
- arguments supporting that linguistics is a type of science
- answers to the question "what is language and how language differs to other communication systems?"
- understanding of various ways of studying language (synchronic, diachronic, corpus-based, experimental etc.)
- knowledge of main linguistic problems and ways to solve them
Syllabus
  • 1) Linguistics as a science about language
  • 2) What is language and what are its function
  • 3) Science, basic principles and methods of scientific work
  • 4) Theory of (linguistic) knowledge
  • 5) Diachronic (historical) and synchronic linguistics and their methods
  • 6) Ways of gaining language data; corpus and experimental linguistics
  • 7) Semiotics, and communications systems other than language
  • 8) Generalization and abstraction in linguistics
  • 9) Variability and variants in language
  • 10) Language as a system of systems, level of linguistic descriptions
  • 11) Main language units
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Lukáš H. Zámečník, Nástin filozofie vědy, Host 2015
  • Lukáš H. Zahradník, Filozofie vědy, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci 2014
  • CRYSTAL, David. The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 516 s. ISBN 9780521516983. info
  • LYONS, John. Language and linguistics : an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981, xi, 356 s. ISBN 5-212-97753-3. info
  • HJELMSLEV, Louis. O základech teorie jazyka. Translated by František Čermák. Vydání 1. Praha: Academia, 1972, 154 stran. info
Teaching methods
lectures, reading
Assessment methods
Written examination.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2019, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2019/LgBA07