Prospectus

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Linguistics 1: Analyzing English Sounds and Words

Course
2024-2025

Admission requirements

Not applicable.

For this course transitional provisions apply. If you are a student who started the BA programme in 2021-2022 or earlier and have to retake this course, please check the 'More info'-tab or contact your study advisor.

Description

This course offers an introduction to the phonetics and the morphology of modern English. In the first part of the course we examine the production, description and classification of English speech sounds, and we look at how the sounds of English are transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The second part of the course examines the morphological structure of English words. We consider among other things the types of building blocks of which words are composed, the difference between inflection and derivation, the internal structure of compounds.

Course objectives

Students:

  • become acquainted with the aims of (English) linguistics;

  • become acquainted with the terminology needed in the study of phonetics and morphology;

  • learn the articulatory and acoustic properties of English speech sounds;

  • learn the symbols needed to do phonemic transcriptions;

  • learn to analyze the internal structure of complex words;

  • learn about the difference between inflection, derivation, and compounding.

  • reflect on word-formation processes and their productivity

Timetable

The timetables are available through My Timetable.

Mode of instruction

  • Lecture (1 hour per week)

  • Tutorial (1 hour per week)

Assessment method

Assessment

  • Mid-term (written) exam on phonetics (including a transcription assignment);

  • Final (written) exam on morphology.

Attendance is compulsory. Missing more than two tutorials means that students may be excluded from the tutorials. Unauthorized absence also applies to being unprepared, not participating and/or not bringing the relevant course materials to class.

Weighing

  • Mid-term exam: 50%; minimum grade required: 5,5

  • Final exam: 50%; minimum grade required: 5,5

The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average combined with additional requirements. To pass the course, a minimum of a 5.5 is required for both the mid-term and the final exam.

Resit

If the mark for either of the exams is below 5.5, the exam will have to be retaken during the resit period.

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 be organized.

Reading list

  • Knight, Rachael-Anne (2012). Phonetics: A coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Lieber, Rochelle (2022). Introducing Morphology (3rd revised edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .

  • A syllabus (with weekly exercises and the course programme) will be made available through Brightspace before the start of the course.

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.

Please note: it's not possible to enroll in MyStudyMap yourself for first-year-courses, the courses will state as 'full'. If you are a higher year student or pre-master student and need to take a first-year-course, please contact the education coordinator.

Students other than from the BA English language and culture cannot take this course.

Contact

  • For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.

  • For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal

Remarks

None