Admission requirements
It is expected that students have a good basis in phonology, semantics, and morphosyntax.
Description
Speakers of any human language take into account who they are speaking to. But what effect does that have on the language? It affects communication, but does it form part of the grammar? In this course we consider how we convey not only information about events (who took part, what happened, etc.) but also what is new or old information, and what is contrasted. That is, how we structure our information. Languages show enormous variation in expressing this information structure, using word order, prosody, and morphosyntactic marking. In this course we overview key concepts of information structure, such as topic and focus, and discuss methodology for investigating them. Students will have the opportunity to research information structure in a language of their choice, with an oral presentation and a final written assignment. Over the course of 6 weeks we will be working towards answering the question ‘Where is information structure in the grammar?’, an issue that is at the heart of current academic debates.
Course objectives
After the course
Students are comfortable with what information structure is and can explain concepts such as ‘focus’, ‘topic’, ‘contrast’, etc.
Students have an idea of the crosslinguistic variation in the expression of information structure, and can identify different linguistic strategies for the expression of information structure.
Students have practical experience in analysing linguistic data in terms of information structure and are equipped with the methodology needed to investigate it in their own research.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Active Participation/coöperation in class/group
Essay, paper
Abstract, oral presentation
Weighing
Students are required to
participate actively in classes (20%);
prepare for classes by reading the set course material and do assignments (20%);
do an oral presentation (25%);
write a final assignment (35%).
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
The final paper may be resubmitted (i.e. the original must be submitted by the deadline in order to be able to resubmit it) one month after the deadline.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
The reading list will be published on Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Reuvensplaats
Remarks
None.