Postgraduate Course: Current Issues in Morphology (MSc) (LASC11102)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Language Sciences |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
Please use Learn |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The relation of morphology to syntax is a topic of central interest in modern linguistics. It comprises several subtopics, such as the following.
* There seem to be many connections between the inflectional make-up of a language and its syntactic behaviour. Languages with rich verbal inflection tend to be able to drop subjects from sentences, while languages with poorer inflection tend not to do this. Languages with rich nominal inflection tend to have more word order possibilities than languages with poorer inflection. The question is to what extent such apparent connections hold up empirically, and why they would hold.
* The phenomenon of 'agreement', in which a relationship between two different elements in the sentence is expressed morphologically by adding a particular inflectional affix to one of the elements. Agreement seems to be conditioned by syntactic factors such as the relative position in the syntactic structure of the two elements and whether or not other particular elements intervene between the two. The question then is how morphological agreement inflection can be conditioned by syntax.
*There are indications that syntactic rules and principles cannot see inside complex words. Syntax will treat a complex verb like 'apolog-ize' just like it treats a simplex verb; it is claimed there are no syntactic rules that are sensitive to whether a word is complex or simplex, or that can manipulate the parts of a complex word separately. Exceptions of various sorts to this phenomenon of 'lexical integrity' have been claimed to occur however. The question is to what extent the phenomenon holds true, and why natural languages should show this behaviour.
The above are just a subset of the many ways in which morphology and syntax interact. The exact topics that will be discussed in the course can differ somewhat from year to year, but they will be related to this general topic.
The course will be taught by Dr Bethany Lochbihler.
Formative feedback event;
- Dr Lochbihler will be having a "feed forward" event in class discussing what the expectations for the essay/assessment are
- Dr Lochbihler plans on meeting with students individually if they wish to discuss their topics. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| To be able to read current primary literature on morphology, in particular on the morphology-syntax interface; to formulate and evaluate analyses of linguistic data in the light of theoretical proposals; to reason critically; to identify and solve problems; to independently formulate and test hypotheses; and to compare and evaluate competing hypotheses and theories. |
Assessment Information
Project work (approximately 4,000 words) on an approved topic (100%)
Assignment deadline: Monday 21st April by 12 noon
Word limit: 4000 words maximum
Return deadline: Tuesday 13th May 2014 |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | morphology, syntax |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Peter Ackema
Tel: (0131 6)50 3495
Email: packema@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188
Email: Toni.noble@ed.ac.uk |
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