Admission requirements
Linguistics 2 must have been successfully completed.
Description
In this course, a follow-up to Linguistics 2: The Syntax of English, we study the sentence structure and word order (syntax) of English. We mainly pay attention to the syntax of present-day standard (British) English, but also to several syntactic phenomena in non-standard varieties of present-day English and in earlier stages of English. We introduce Chomsky’s generative theory that we will use to explain the syntactic phenomena of English.
Course objectives
Students have the ability to analyse and represent the syntactic structure of English.
Students have the ability to formulate syntactic arguments.
Students know some important descriptive tools and theoretical concepts of generative syntax.
Students are familiar with a number of key characteristics of the syntax of early English
Students are able to describe a number of key syntactic changes in the history of English
Timetable
Visit MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture (1 hour p/w)
Tutorial (1 hour p/w)
Assessment method
Assessment
A one-hour written mid-term examination with closed questions and short open questions
A two-hour final examination with closed questions, short open questions and essay questions
Weighing
Mid-term written examination: 30%
End-of-term examination: 70%
A minimum mark of 5.49 for the mid-term exam
A minimum mark of 5.49 for the end-of-term exam
Resit
The mid-term exam and the end-of-term exam can be retaken if one or both marks are 5.49 or less.
Inspection and feedback
Attendance is compulsory. Missing more than two tutorials means that students will be excluded from the tutorials. Unauthorized absence also applies to being unprepared, not participating and/or not bringing the relevant course materials to class.
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 be organized.
Reading list
Trips, Carola. 2015. English syntax in three dimensions: History – synchrony – diachrony. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. (The Leiden University Library offers online access to this book.)
A selection of articles/book chapters (if these are not available in the University Library, they will be made available in Brightspace).
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
Please contact Student administration Arsenaal or the coordinator of studies for questions.
Remarks
Disclaimer: Please note that the course descriptions, in particular the assessment method, might be adjusted (timely) depending on the measures taken regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.