31358 - General Linguistics 2

Learning outcomes

Applied linguistics

Students will become familiar with a grounding in the theories of lexical semantics and the issues that fostered a lively debate on semantics in general and on linguistic semantics in particular. They will be able to distinguish between word connotation and denotation and to detect the role played by linguistic environments on the polisemy of words. Students will also become familiar with the use and query of linguistic corpora.

General linguistics 2

Students will become familiar with advanced topics and issues in lexical semantics (including polysemy) and the theory of the lexicon (including the lexicon-syntax interface). At the end of the course, they will be aware of current theoretical debates in these specific fields of general linguistics, they will be able to collect relevant data (from corpora and other sources) and carry out original analyses, and they will acquire the necessary skills to write argumentative compositions.

Course contents

Applied linguistics

The course is on lexical semantics. After offering an overview of the semantics of words and related notions (e.g. meaning and reference, hyponym-hypernym relationships, prototypicality etc.), the main theories on the semantics of words will be presented and critically discussed. Along with a theoretical study on lexical semantics, an applicative approach will involve the students in reading seminars and laboratory sessions.

General linguistics 2

The course, on lexical semantics and the theory of the lexicon, consists of two parts (30 hours each).

Part 1 (Bisetto)

Starting from fundamental issues regarding the semantics of words and related notions (e.g. meaning and reference, hyponym-hypernym relationships, prototypes, etc.), this part of the course will explore the role of linguistic analysis in the field of lexical semantics. Different theoretical models that have been proposed to account for the meaning of words and how they combine with each other will be presented. Theories will also be compared in a critical way, in order to find solutions to problems raised by the various models and to understand how they were solved.

Part 2 (Masini)

After offering an overview of the main research themes in the theory of the lexicon, two specific topics will be covered in more detail: multiword expressions (especially complex predicates and complex nominals) and verbs (semantic classes, argument structure, argument alternations). Each topic will be illustrated by presenting data from different languages and by discussing analyses from different theoretical models. The students will be directly involved in reading seminars and laboratory sessions.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Applied Linguistics

Geeraerts, Dirk (2010). Theories of Lexical Semantics. Oxford University Press.

Hudson, Richard (1995). Word Meaning. London: Routledge.                                                                                           Saeed, John (1997), Semantics. Chapters 1-7 (pages 1-202).                            
Other readings will be given during the course.

General linguistics 2

Part 1 (Bisetto)

Casadei, Federica ( 2003). Lessico e semantica. Roma: Carocci.

Saeed, John (1997). Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell. Chapters 1-7 (pp. 1-202).

Part 2 (Masini)

Jezek, Elisabetta (2003). Classi di verbi tra semantica e sintassi. Pisa: ETS. Chapters 1, 3.

Jezek, Elisabetta (2011). Lessico. Seconda edizione. Bologna: Mulino. Chapters 1, 3, 4, 6.

Masini, Francesca (2012). Parole sintagmatiche in italiano. Roma: Caissa Italia. Chapters 1, 3.

Other readings will be given during the course .                                                

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures, reading seminars/discussion groups, laboratory sessions (extraction and analysis of data from corpora).

Assessment methods

Applied linguistics

The final grade will be based on:

a) an oral presentation of a specific topic each student will discuss during the seminar session.
b) a written examination to assess the students' knowledge of the basic theories of lexical semantics;
c) a written paper of approx. 15 pages on a specific topic (agreed upon with the teacher) to assess the ability of the students to summarize and, when possible, make critics.

d) a brief oral discussion of the paper.

 The evaluation of the student's overall skill will take into account of all the phases above and also the formal (grammatical and semantic) properties of the written paper.

As for the assessment of the written examination, the ability of the students to give clearly written, correct and complete answers will be considered. As for the written paper, the following criteria will be used for assessment purposes: quality and correctness of the data and analysis, formal accuracy, clarity of writing, argumentative rigor (raising problems, discussing pros and cons, presenting data, putting forward solutions). Those students who demonstrate to have a global and harmonious knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, to communicate ideas in a proper and clear way and to have acquired adequate analysis skills will get high grades. A partial knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, an overall fair but not perfect way of communicating, and less refined analysis skills imply average grades. A limited knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology and poor communication and analysis skills imply low grades. Those students who prove to have an inadequate and/or insufficient knowledge of the subject (in both its theoretical and practical parts) and its specific language/terminology will fail the exam.

General linguistics 2

The final exam aims at assessing the general knowledge acquired by the students during the course, their ability to understand and contextualize specific issues, and their capability of applying the acquired techniques and notions to concrete case studies. The final grade is based upon the following steps:

a) a written examination to assess the students' knowledge of the topics that are part of the program; the examination consists of 15 questions related to all issues treated in Part 1 and Part 2;

b) a written paper (of approx. 2000 words), where the students should analyze a specific phenomenon (in one or more languages) related to the subject of the course; the paper, whose topic should be discussed with the instructor before the course ends, will be delivered by the students on the same day of the written examination;

c) a brief oral discussion of the paper, during which the final grade is given (calculated out of the average of the grades obtained in the written examination and the written paper); for students who attended the classes, the work carried out during the seminars will also be taken into account; the brief oral discussion will take place approx. 10 days after the written examination.

As for the assessment of the written examination, the ability of the students to give clearly written, correct and complete answers will be considered. As for the written paper, the following criteria will be used for assessment purposes: quality and correctness of the data and analysis, formal accuracy, clarity of writing, argumentative rigor (raising problems, discussing pros and cons, presenting data, putting forward solutions).

Those students who demonstrate to have a global and harmonious knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, to communicate ideas in a proper and clear way and to have acquired adequate analysis skills will get high grades. A partial knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology, an overall fair but not perfect way of communicating, and less refined analysis skills imply average grades. A limited knowledge of the subject and its specific language/terminology and poor communication and analysis skills imply low grades. Those students who prove to have an inadequate and/or insufficient knowledge of the subject (in both its theoretical and practical parts) and its specific language/terminology will fail the exam.

Teaching tools

Applied linguistics and General linguistics 2

PowerPoint presentations and printed handouts will support most of the lectures. The materials will be published online (in the AMS Campus repository) every week. The laboratory sessions will require the students to work on electronic resources for the analysis of data.

Office hours

See the website of Antonietta Bisetto

See the website of Francesca Masini