AJ32050 Selected Topics in Functional Syntax

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 15 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
The knowledge of the basics of linguistic disciplines.
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 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course presents the theory of functional sentence perspective (FSP) developed by Jan Firbas and outlines alternative approaches to the information structure of language. The focus of the course is the analysis of a sentence as a field of distribution of communicative dynamism. The theme-rheme structure is examined in parallel English and Czech text.
Learning outcomes
The course presents the theory of functional sentence perspective (FSP) developed by Jan Firbas and outlines alternative approaches to the information structure of language. The focus of the course is the analysis of a sentence as a field of distribution of communicative dynamism. The theme-rheme structure is examined in parallel English and Czech text.
Syllabus
  • 1. Vymezení pozice funkční syntaxe v lingvistice 2. Interpretace textu s hlediska informační struktury jazyka 3. Základní pojmy v teorii funkční větné perspektivy 4. Souhra faktorů, které se podílejí na určení komunikativní závažnost jazykových jednotek 5. Lineární modifikace komunikativních jednotek 6. Bezprostředně relevantní kontext 7. Dynamicko-sémantické funkce komunikativních jednotek 8. Prozodická závažnost komunikativních jednotek 9. Východisko a jádro sdělení 10. Podrobná analýza tématicko-rématické struktury věty
Literature
  • FIRBAS, Jan. Functional sentence perspective in written and spoken communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, xv, 239. ISBN 0521373085. info
  • SGALL, Petr, Jarmila PANEVOVÁ and Eva HAJIČOVÁ. The meaning of the sentence in its semantic and pragmatic aspects. Vyd. 1. Prague: Academia, 1986, ix, 353. info
  • CHAFE, Wallace L. Discourse, consciousness, and time : the flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, xiii, 327. ISBN 0226100545. info
  • Jazyk a text :výbor z lingvistického díla Františka Daneše. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta, 1999, s. 249-471. ISBN 80-85899-70-1. info
  • Jazyk a text :výbor z lingvistického díla Františka Daneše. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Filozofická fakulta, 2000, 304 s. ISBN 80-85899-86-8. info
Teaching methods
e-learning, presentations, discussion, individula reading The seminars focus on the analysis of texts aiming at determining the functions of language units in the act of utterance.
Assessment methods
Assessment is based on the quality of the final assignment, i.e. an interpretation of a text from the point of view of FSP.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Teacher's information
http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/category.php?id=5
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2002, Spring 2003, Autumn 2003, Spring 2004, Autumn 2004, Spring 2005, Autumn 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
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