TCZJ58 Introduction to Czech syntax

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2022
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Pavel Caha, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Bc. Pavla Wernerová (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Pavel Caha, Ph.D.
Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jaroslava Vybíralová
Supplier department: Department of Czech Language – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 10:00–11:40 C11
Prerequisites
The course is taught in English. The students should know the language well enough to be able to follow a talk and read a textbook in simple English. The final exam is also in English. I am also presupposing the knowledge of basic grammar terms – like noun, verb, clause, sentence, adverbial, etc.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 7/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The lecture offers an introduction to theoretical syntax on the English/Czech language material. We will go through the basic terminology and ways of representing sentence structure in tree diagrams. I introduce the essential tools of analysis that the students can later use themselves to understand the structure of new examples.
The lecture is mainly aimed at students attending the compulsory course CJA010 (but anyone interested in introduction to syntax is welcome). In the lecture, I introduce the basic tools and methods of syntactic analysis; the seminar will apply them to Czech data. The lecture is also suitable for all language and linguistics students, and those coming within the Erasmus+ exchange program.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the student is able to:
- identify sentence constituents;
- correctly label various kinds of constituents and characterise their function;
- draw a phrase-structure tree for sentences and their parts;
- to understand, formulate and formally encode basic rules of syntax;
- analyse the structure of words using head movement;
- structurally depict the rules for question formation, relative clause formation and conditional clause formation;
- understand, describe and formally capture co-reference relations between antecedents and anaphoric elements.
Syllabus
  • 1. What is syntax about 2. Ambiguity and structure 3. Constituency dignostics 4. Binding 5. Head – Complement – Adjunct 6. Head movement 7. Questions, relative clauses, locality 8. Subject positions
Literature
    required literature
  • HAEGEMAN, Liliane M. V. Thinking syntactically : a guide to argumentation and analysis. 1st pub. Malden: Blackwell, 2006, xii, 386. ISBN 1405118520. info
  • BÜRING, Daniel. Binding Theory. Cambridge: Cambidge University Press. 2005. (kap. 1))
Teaching methods
The methods used include lecture, class discussion; reading assigned materials.
Assessment methods
There is a written exam at the end (you have to tick a-b-c or d) and one has to have 75 percent answers right. The final exam is in English just like the whole course.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2022/TCZJ58