Admission requirements
If the class has insufficient enrollment, it will be cancelled. If you are interested in this class, please contact Titia Bouma of the Russian Studies Department.
Course Description
The course covers one or more specialised subjects in the field of modern (Russian)linguistics.
One of the most intriguing categories of Russian (and other Slavic languages) is verbal aspect. In Russian all verbs (irrespective of the tense or mood that they express) are marked for aspect. The term ‘aspect’ is in fact assumed to be a translation of the Russian term vid (‘view’). By using either an imperfective or a perfective aspect of the verb, the speaker expresses a particular ‘view’ on the event expressed by the verb. Many different scholars have proposed very general definitions of the difference between the perfective and the imperfective aspect in Russian (e.g. the perfective conceptualizes the event in its totality; the imperfective does not conceptualize the event in its totality). Nevertheless, it has been the topic of heated debated what exactly are the rules of aspect. Furthermore, in modern linguistics there has been an increasing interest in the relation between the category of aspect in Slavic, and similar categories in other languages. To give an example, do English, French or non-Indo-European languages also have aspect? What are the differences and similarities between aspect in Slavic and similar linguistic phenomena, such as Aktionsart?
Course objectives
The acquisition of specialised knowledge of and insight into one or more aspects of the discipline.
Timetable
See Roosters
Mode of instruction
Tutorial
Assessment methode
Oral presentation and paper.
Blackboard
This is a Blackboard-supported course.
Reading list
To be announced.
Registration
Through uSis.
Contact information
Dr. E.L.J. Fortuin (see www.slavisch.leidenuniv.nl, stafleden)