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Module Content and Indicative Topics

This module examines the organization of human language in the mind of native speakers. In accord with the weekly plan listed below, it will examine the major components of human language: Morphology (the internal structure of words), Syntax (the internal structure of sentences), Pragmatics (the meaning attributed to sentences in a conversation), Phonetics (the sounds used in human languages and their properties), Phonology (the representation of sounds in the mind of speakers).

· On the notion of ‘grammar' (one week)

· Morphology (two weeks)

· Syntax (two weeks)

· Pragmatics (two weeks)

· Phonetics (one week)

· Phonology (two weeks)

Teaching Delivery

This module consists of 10 one-hour lectures to all students based on power-point presentations, plus 10 one-hour practice sessions in smaller groups to better assimilate the points covered in the main lectures. I will also assign weekly reading and practice exercises with model answers supplied on Moodle.

By the end of the module, you should be able to:

1. Understand and provide the structural representation of words, compounds, and simple sentences.

2. Identify the entailments, presuppositions, and implicatures associated with a simple sentence.

3. Know the International Phonetic Association symbols for the sounds of human languages covered in the course (including all sounds used in the English language).

4. Know how to identify simple phonological rules from observing the distribution of specific sounds in a set of words from a foreign language.

5. Have a clear notion of what ‘grammar’ is.