Høst 2017

ENG-3010 Structure of English - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

This course may be taken as a single course by students who meet the admission requirements for the MA programme in English linguistics.

Course contents

This course applies advanced diagnostic and investigative tools to the syntactic structure of English, including phrase structure, clause structure, argument-adjunct asymmetries, different kinds of embedded clauses and operators, and the relationship of structure to interpretation.

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for the spring semester and 1 December for the autumn semester. Exchange students and Fulbright students: 1 October for the spring semester and 15 April for the autumn semester.

Application code 9317 (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student has:

an advanced understanding of the syntactic structure of English,
understand how English syntax relates form and content,
are able to critically discuss theories of syntax.

Skills

The student is able to / can

analyze structurally complex sentences,
identify and characterize structural ambiguities,
apply diagnostic tools to novel data.

Language of instruction

English.

Teaching methods

One lecture (two hours) per week for 13 weeks. Quality assurance: At the master's level, all courses undergo a mid-term evaluation once in a 2-year period. The Programme Board determines which programmes will be evaluated per year, and which courses will be evaluated by the students and the teacher each year.

Assessment

The following coursework requirements must be completed and approved in order to take the final exam:

Coursework requirements: Five short assignments will be issued over the course of the term. Obligatory coursework is evaluated as approved/not approved. The obligatory coursework requirements must be approved in order to take the final exam.

Assessment method: Term Paper in Wiseflow. A term paper ("semesteroppgave") is normally between 10 and 20 pages in length, depending on formatting, or approximately 5000 words of text, not counting diagrams, trees, example sentences, bibliography, and so on.

Performance in the course will be assessed on the usual A-F grade scale (A-E for pass and F for fail). A re-sit examination is offered in the event of an F grade.

The deadline to register for a re-sit examination is January 15th for the autumn semester and August 15th for the spring semester.