Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course concentrates on verb argument structure in English. It first introduces the traditional classification of basic verb classes and clause types, which is largely based on syntactic argument structure. The course will then home in on several analytical problems associated with transitivity:
- Argument structure: Is it a verbal property or a constructional property?
- Degrees of transitivity; transitivity as a scalar notion, and valency-changing mechanisms
- Tension between semantic argument structure and grammatical relations, e.g. notion of subject (Syntactic function only? Semantic import? Information-structural properties? Expletive subjects?)
- Syntactic 'alternations', e.g. dative alternation, locative alternation: How to account for the distribution of the member constructions? How to conceive of the member constructions (derived by syntactic operations or constructions in their own right)?
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Introduction into the methods of corpus linguistics; analysis of corpus data; deeper insights into the domain of verb argument structure and the analytical problems related to transitivity.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Very good knowledge of English; English Language 1 & 2; English linguistics 1 & 2
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course involves interactive seminars in which students will discuss corpus data, read scientific articles, and eventually carry out a corpus study themselves.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Face-to-face seminars.
Recommended or required readings
All teaching materials will be made available on eCampus.
Assessment methods and criteria
Students will have to carry out a corpus study on a topic related to verb argument structure in English. They will have to report on their findings in both an oral presentation and a research paper. This paper integrates feedback from teacher and peers, and relates its findings to the existing literature. Expected length: 5,000-8,000 words, including references. More precisely, grades will be given as follows:
- oral presentation: 5/20
- research article: 15/20
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Contacts
Teacher in charge of the course :
An Van linden
Département de Langues et littératures modernes
Place Cockerill, 3-5
B-4000 Liège
Tel. 04 366 53 60
E-mail: an.vanlinden@uliege.be
Office: A2/6/16
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session
Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning
The lectures (2h per week) are replaced with Skype video call sessions, which are recorded and available for download.
Assessment subjects
Students will only be evaluated on the basis of their corpus study (see below). The material seen in class will not be evaluated in any other way.
Assessment methods
Students will have to carry out a corpus study on a topic related to verb argument structure in English. They will have to report on their findings in both an oral presentation and a research paper. This paper integrates feedback from teacher and peers and relates its findings to the existing literature. Expected length: 5,000-8,000 words, including references. More precisely, grades will be given as follows:
- oral presentation: 5/20
- research article: 15/20
Contacts
(see above)
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session
Assessment subjects
See the information given for the May-June 2020 session.
Assessment methods
See the information given for the May-June 2020 session.
Contacts
See the information given for the May-June 2020 session.