List of courses, Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw

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LINGUISTICS

	INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGY
	INTRODUCTION TO MORPHOLOGY is a 15 hours-course for first year students. It has two main aims: to introduce the idea of a morphological system on the one hand, and describe selected categories and types of English word formation on the other hand. Basic terminological distinctions (such as simple, complex, and compound words; bound and free morphemes; types of affixes and the bracketing convention for representing the internal structure of words) are presented; a few definitions of word and morpheme are analysed in detail. With the help of the notions of the word formation type and word formation category, some properties of word formation systems are discussed and exemplified by co-functional and multi-functional affixes of English; throughout the discussion attention is given to the idea of non-arbitrary relations between lexical items (system-internal motivation). Three theoretical approaches to description of morphological systems are briefly characterized: 1) structuralism; 2) classical generative grammar; 3) cognitive grammar.
	INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
	Introduction to linguistics is a two-term course whose aim to introduce students to selected notions and problems of the study of language. The fall term is devoted mainly to topics on the borderline between linguistics and other disciplines. The discussion covers issues such as the nature and origins of language, writing systems, neurobiological foundations of language, first language acquisition, second language acquisition/learning, computer modelling of language, sign language and finally, the geographical variation within one language (with specific reference to English). The aim of the course in the spring term is to introduce students to selected problems of various arcas of study within linguistics. The arcas under discussion include morphology (that is, the study of mechanisms of forming new words and complex grammatical forms of the same word; the discussion makes reference also to mechanisms in exotic languages), semantics (that is, the study of meaning in language) , pragmatics ( that is, the study of the mechanisms of interpreting utterances in specific contexts of use), and historical linguistics (that is, the study of mechanisms of historical language change). The final part of the courses focuses on the issue of social variation within a language , as well as the problem of the relation between language and culture or language and human thought.
	SYNTAX
	This is a one-term course for full-time first-year students, with a cumulative end-of-term exam. The course is made up of sixty teaching hours, those being divided between lectures (thirty teaching hours) and practical exercises / classes (thirty teaching hours). The classes are synchronized with the lectures and they rely on open discussion, group work and problem solving activities to promote creative thinking and to encourage the perception of language as process rather than product. The course introduces elements of descriptive syntax (basic syntactic processes and categories - a valuable tool in studying pedagogical grammar and language learning in general) as well as of recent developments in formal syntax (the lectures look at the generative paradigm - aspects of the Principles and Parameters Approach and the Minimalist Program).
	HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
	The course of the history of English covers the evolution of the language with special consideration of external history, phonology, morphology, lexis and semantics. The course participants analyse original texts which represent different periods of the history of English. Another objective of the course is the presentation of the varieties of English in the British Isles and in the world.
	Phonetics and Phonology
	This course reviews all the basic issues in the phonetics and phonology of English from the points of view of general phonetic theory and general phonological theory (generative phonology). The classes in the autumn semester focus on primarily phonetics and cover the following subjects: types of consonants and vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs, cardinal vowels, the phoneme - allophone distinction, types of distribution, allophones of English vowels and consonants, principles of stress and transcription. The lectures in the spring semester deal with issues in English syllable structure from the perspective of autosegmental phonology. Of particular significance are the following subjects: three-dimensional representations, structure of the melody (distinctive features), structure of the skeleton, constituents of the syllable, the syllabification algorithm, the sonority generalization and language specific constraints, ambisyllabicity, rules that are sensitive to syllable structure. Section meetings are devoted to the discussion of underlying representations and derivations in the phonology of English. Students are asked to do take-home assignments, which train the ability to solve phonological problems by analysing sets of data.
161	Contrastive Phonology	K
	Theory of phonological error and linguistic interference on the basis of an English-Polish contrastive study.
164	Varieties of English	T
	Varieties of English in the British Isles and overseas: a concise review (southern and Northern England, Scotland, Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and pidgins).
165	Introduction to Semantics	K
	An overview of the basic concepts of semantics.
167	Introduction to cognitive linguistics	PS
	An introduction to the theory of cognitive linguistics, which does not view language as an autonomous module of the human mind, but rather as its integral part, governed by the same principles that govern other aspects of human cognitive functioning. Because of this integral connection between language and other aspects of the human mind the model of language advocated by cognitive linguistics must seriously take into consideration what is known about human cognitive functioning from other disciplines (such as e.g. psychology, anthropology, etc.).
168	English Graphemics and Phonemics	T
	Relations between spelling and pronunciation in contemporary English. Stress rules and pronunciation patterns of proper names.
169	Conceptual Metaphor	K
	An introduction to the theory of metaphor viewed as a means to understand the world. Examples of conceptual metaphors and metaphorical expressions from everyday language and literature.
173	Shakespeare's language	T
	Linguistic analysis of William Shakespeare's dramas, poems and sonnets (selected fragments). Phonology, grammar and lexis of 16-17th century English.
175	History of Linguistics I	T/K
	Introduction to the history of linguistics: the origins and development of structuralism; from classical theories of structuralism to generative grammar.
179	Old English	T/K
	A succinct presentation of Old English phonology and grammar. A linguistic analysis of selected fragments of Anglo-Saxon prose works (A-S Chronicle, King Alfred, Old English Bible, etc.).
184	Introduction to Pragmatics	E
	This course provides an introduction to the basics of pragmatic description, its goals and methods. The course will examine various sentential inferences (e.g. presupposition, implicature) and linguistic phenomena (e.g. referentiality, politeness). Topics to be covered include influential pragmatic theories such as the theory of implicature and speech act theory.
189	Sociolinguistics	T
	Problems of language and speech in social environment. Analysis of variables like social class, gender, age, education level, ethnicity, etc.
1600	Introduction to Syntax - Phonology Interface	K
	The course offers an introduction to the issues regarding the interplay of syntax and phonology.
1601	Introduction to the Minimalist Theory of Syntax	K
	The course discusses the major aspects of the Government-and-Binding Theory and its evolution towards the Minimalist Program.
1602	Issues in the Minimalist Theory of Syntax	K
	The primary focus of this course is the early version of Minimalism as discussed in The Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory (1993) by Noam Chomsky, as well as the major lines of development of the model. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 1601.
1603	Introduction to Generative Morphology	K
	The course presents an overview of the current issues of generative morphology that lie at the foundation of phonological as well as syntactic theories.
1605	Introduction to Computational Linguistics (1p)	PS
	This course presents an overview of the field of computational linguistics. It covers key concepts and techniques used in a variety of natural language processing applications and presents computational tools employed in linguistic research, lexicography and language pedagogy.
1610	Introduction to Generative Syntax	K
	The course is an introduction to the basic issues of syntactic analysis in the models of Principles-and-Parameters, Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar or Optimality Theory, mainly on the basis of English data.
1611	Introduction to Corpus Linguistics	K lub PS
	The course introduces the student to the methodology and practical applications of corpus linguistics. Participants should have access to computers and the Internet for the purpose of solving home assignments.
1612	Contrastive American-British Phonology	ES
	Focus on the major American and British accents. A comparison of the vowel and consonant systems of General American and Received Pronunciation. Transcription in both accents. A phonological account of selected processes in General American and Received Pronunciation. The course is intended for students of both British and American phonetics.
1630	Language and Culture in Aboriginal Australia	PS
	This is an introductory course providing basic anthropological/linguistic information about indigenous Australian languages and their users.
1631	Introduction to Tok Pisin	PS
	This is an introductory course, which familiarizes participants with the essential sociolinguistic and structural facts about Tok Pisin, the major English-based creole language of Papua New Guinea.
1632	Models of Politeness	PS
	This course will explore ways in which people use language to express politeness, reflecting their social relationships. The course seeks to describe and compare two approaches to politeness phenomena - G. Leech's theory of politeness (based on the Politeness Principle and its attendant maxims) and P. Brown and S. Levinson's model, in which the pivotal element is the notion of "face" (one's public self-image).
260	Generative Phonology	T/K
	Standard generative theory: phonological analysis of English.
261	Formal Syntax 1	K
	Aspects of English formal syntax in the generative framework (Government and Binding/ The Minimalist Program).
262	Contrastive English - Polish Syntax	PS
	A comparison of selected syntactic structures in Polish and English and an analysis of typical mistakes made by Polish students of English which result from the differences between the two languages .
264	Middle English	T
	A succinct presentation of Old English phonology and grammar. A linguistic analysis of selected fragments of literary works (William Langland, Sir Gawain, The Owl and the Nightingale, Cursor Mundi, etc.).
265	Models of Verbal Communication	PS
	An overview of two models of verbal communication: the code model and the inferential model.
266	Historical and comparative phonology	E
	General theory of phonological changes; methods of linguistic reconstruction; elements of analysis of Proto-Indo-European, Germanic and Slavic languages in diachronic perspective.
269	Lexicon and Morphology in Cognitive Linguistics	PS lub K
	Description of lexicon and morphology within the framework of cognitive linguistics.
272	Modern Phonological Theories	K
	An overview of selected issues in contemporary phonological theories: autosegmental phonology, lexical phonology, underspecification theory; based on data from English, Polish and other languages.
274	Relations between Meaning and Form in Morphology	E
	Detailed analyses of the relationship between meaning and form in morphological systems (data from word formation and inflection).
276	The family resemblance approach to Polysemy	PS
	An approach to the phenomenon of polysemy based on the theory of "family resemblance". An analysis of specific examples from Polish and English.
277	Grammar as image	PS
	The cognitive theory of grammatical resources of a language as incorporating the mechanisms of imagery, that is as means of conveying alternate construal of the same conceived scene. Dimensions of construal such as schematicity, perspective, and all those which are manifestations of a basic cognitive ability of figure/ground organization.
278	Chaucer's Language	T
	A linguistic analysis of selected fragments of works by Geoffrey Chaucer, with special consideration of The Canterbury Tales. The analysis involves problems of pronunciation, metrics, and lexis (poetical works) and morphology and syntax (prose works).
279	Linguistic Analysis of Old English Literature	T
	A linguistic analysis of selected fragments of Old English poetical works. The analysis involves problems of metrics, syntax and lexis.
281	Issues in Pragmatics	PS
	An overview of selected issues in pragmatics and semantics/pragmatics interface. Sociocultural aspects of pragmatic research.
286	Semantics of Emotion Concepts	PS
	Semantic analysis of selected emotion words in various languages. The issue of universal emotions. Natural Semantic Metalanguage as a tool for a crosslinguistic analysis of emotion vocabularies.
2600	Theoretical insights into pedagogical grammar	PS
	The course explores the relations between theoretical linguistics (generative as well as functional) and pedagogical grammar. New guidelines for constructing contrastive pedagogical grammars are proposed.
2601	Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory I	K
	Introduction to the most recent version of the Principles-and-Parameters model, postulating reduction of the descriptive tools to the minimum that is necessary to account for the properties of Universal Grammar.
2602	Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory II	PS
	In-depth discussion of the selected issues of the theoretical model described in course #2601; description of selected constructions of a natural language by means of this theory. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 2601.
2606	Generative Phonology of Polish	E
	An analysis of the morphophonemic system of Polish in the framework of classical generative theory.
2607	Introduction to Computational Morphology	K lub PS
	The course discusses the basic theories and methods of computational morphology, on the basis of data drawn from English and Polish. Participants should be able to perform some of the exercises and home assignments on their own computers. Warunek: zaliczony jeden kurs ze składni, morfologii bądź fonologii generatywnej.
2608	Modern Theories of Generative Morphology	K lub PS
	The course offers a systematic overview of the modern generative morphological theories in the context of the recent developments in syntax and phonology. Warunek: Zaliczenie kursu ze skłądni, fonologii lub morfologii generatywnej.
2609	Issues in the Cognitive Approach to Lexicon and Morphology	K
	Selected lexical and morphological issues discussed within the framework of cognitive linguistics.
2610	Distributed Morphology	K lub PS
	The course is an introduction to the theory of Distributed Morphology, created by Morris Halle and Alec Marantz of MIT and often adopted in Minimalist theories of syntax. Warunek: Zaliczenie kursu ze składni lub fonologii generatywnej albo zgoda prowadzącego.
2611	Modern Syntactic Theories	K
	Selected aspects of modern syntactic theories such as Government-and-Binding Theory, Optimality Theory, HPSG or the Minimalist Program. Analyses of Polish and English data.
2612	Syntactic Language Typology	PS
	Syntactic typology of languages in terms of modern syntactic theories. Theoretical issues of syntactic typology; description of English, Polish and other languages. Warunek: zaliczenie jednego z kursów: # 262, # 2601, # 2611.
2613	Historical Phonology of Germanic Languages	T/K
	Introduction to the phonology of Germanic languages with special reference to Old English. Phonological analysis in the framework of contemporary theories of representation.
2614	Syllable Structure in Current Phonological Theories	ES
	The course is devoted to syllable structure in the generative approach. The course deals with syllable structure in the light of skeletal theories: CV-theory, X-theory and moraic theory. We analyze the Syllable Structure Algorithm, extrasyllabic consonants as well as voice assimilation. Reference is made to Lexical Phonology and Optimality Theory, however, in-depth knowledge of these theories is not required. We work on the data compiled from various world languages.
2615	Phonological Acquisition and Phonological Theory	K
	An overview of the major tendencies in children's phonological development and an analysis of child speech phenomena in current phonological theories, in particular, autosegmental theory and Optimality Theory.
2616	Issues in Generative Morphology	PS
	The course concentrates on one selected issue or a theory of generative morphology and investigates it on the basis of data drawn from English and possibly also Polish.
2630	Notional Approach to Grammatical Categories	E
	Grammatical categories (such as: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition) as phenomena which reveal not only fundamental cognitive abilities of humans, but also ways of experiencing and understanding the world. Analyses of English within the theory of cognitive grammar.
2631	Cross-Cultural Communication	PS
	Analyzing and discussing cross-cultural differences in the ways of speaking. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics.
2632	Historical Sociolinguistics	T
	Elements of the external history of English and its variants in the British Isles and beyond in a sociolinguistic context. Also analysed are problems like language contact, language standard, variety and style.
2634	Cross-Cultural Semantics	PS
	Introduction to the Natural Semantic Metalanguage project. Current research on linguistic relativity &semantic universals. Current work at the Max Plank Institute for Psycholinguistics (Language and Cognition Group).
2636	The Dynamics of Communication	K
	This course will explore ways in which a formal structure of a speech event (a casual conversation or an institutional act) interacts with the dynamics of meaning generation. The course will deal with conversational phenomena resulting from the structure of a speech event as well as conscious (or unconscious) ways of generating meanings. The course will also analyse contextual, socio-cultural and psychological aspects of the communication process.
2637	The Semantics and Pragmatics of Negation	PS
	This course will investigate the meaning and use of negation in English. The course will deal with relations between negation and various sentential inferences and explore its role in everyday conversation (e.g. rejection, denial, non-acceptance).
2638	Phonological Change	T
	Elements of the external history of English and its variants in the British Isles and beyond in a sociolinguistic context. Also discussed are problems like language contact, language standard, variety and style.
2639	Grammaticalisation	T
	Discussed are changes of words and phrases, from lexical to grammatical, which leads to the transformation of purely lexical units, like nouns, adjectives and verbs, to pronouns, adverbs and auxiliaries.
2641	Iconicity in Language - I	K
	Relationships between conceptual and linguistic structures; analyses of linguistic expressions and constructions based on the so-called "iconic motivation".
2642	Iconicity in Language - II	K
	Further discussion of iconic motivation in language.Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 2641.
2643	Verbal Communication: games, rituals, pastimes	PS
	The aim of the course is to analyse verbal exponents of games, rituals and pastimes in everyday conversation with the tools of conversational analysis.
2644	Mental spaces - I	K
	The theory of mental spaces and blending; its application to an analysis of phenomena such as reference, metaphor, compositionality of meaning, and others.
2645	Metonymy in Language and Thought. Case Studies	K
	Metonymy as a conceptual mechanism; description of metonymic expressions within the framework of cognitive linguistics.
2646	Time in Cognitive Perspective	K
	Metaphorical and metonymic understanding of time in different cultures; description within the framework of cognitive linguistics.
2647	Tense in Cognitive Perspective	K
	Tense within the framework of cognitive linguistics; analyses focus on English, and occasionally on some other languages.
2648	Universal and Cultural Aspects of Lexicalization	K
	Universal and cultural aspects of lexicalization (e.g.: lexicalization patterns of verbs of motion and verbs of perception); description within the framework of cognitive linguistics.
2653	Issues in Corpus Linguistics (2p)	PS
	This course introduces the theoretical basics of corpus linguistics and practical applications of corpus research. Students will explore different types of corpora and gain hands-on experience with various tools for corpus analysis. Practical assignments will involve corpus compilation and investigation of English phraseology.
2700	Contrastive Phonology II	E
	Selected issues in English-Polish contrastive phonology within one of the current generative phonological theories. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 161.
2701	Syntax-Phonology Interface - I	K lub PS
	The course discusses the interplay of syntax and phonology on the basis of data from English and Polish. Warunek: Zaliczenie kursu ze skladni, morfologii bądź fonologii generatywnej lub zgoda prowadzącego.
2704	Introduction to Optimality Theory	E
	An introduction to the most current phonological theory, which has been widely in use in the U.S. since 1993. The focus is mainly on syllable structure and the theory of syllabification. The topic is continued in further courses in Optimality Theory.
2710	Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar II	K
	The course is a continuation of the introduction to HPSG offered by course #1610, examining the same linguistic material with additional stress placed on the practical applications of the theory in describing the grammatical structures of English. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 1610.
360	Lexical Phonology	E
	The model; types of rules; phonological and morphological relations; an analysis of English and Polish.
361	Formal syntax 2	E
	Formal syntax 1 continued, with emphasis on the question of autonomy and generative-functional interface. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 261.
362	The Concept of Redundancy in Modern Linguistics	PS
	The concept of redundancy in modern linguistics; description of selected examples from phonology, morphology, syntax.
365	Sentence and Utterance Meaning	PS
	A semantico-pragmatic theory of sentential implications and implicatures, an analysis of the meaning of sentences like I've managed to wreck my brother's car. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 165.
370	Optimality Theory I	E
	An overview of the most current phonological theory, which has been widely in use in the U.S. since 1993. The focus is mainly on syllable structure and the theory of syllabification. Warunek: zaliczenie jednego z kursów: # 260, # 360 lub # 3600.
371	Optimality Theory II	E lub PS
	A continuation of the discussion about Optimality Theory: a segmental analysis. Warunek: zaliczeniu kursu # 370.
373	Grammaticalization in Cognitive Perspective	PS
	Grammaticalization (i.e. a process of changing lexical units and structures into conventionalized grammatical morphemes) within the framework of cognitive linguistics; analyses of English; examples of grammaticalization from other language families. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu z językoznawstwa kognitywnego za 2 pkt.
374	Lexicon and Grammar in Cognitive Linguistics	E
	Lexicon and grammar in cognitive linguistics; motivation for the proposed theoretical solutions and data analyses based on general cognitive abilities of humans. Warunek:zaliczenie kursu z językoznawstwa kognitywnego za 2 pkt.
3600	Issues in Phonological Representation	PS
	Recent theoretical approaches to the problem of the structure of phonological representation: skeletal and moraic representation, and feature geometry. Warunek: zaliczenie jednego z kursów: # 260, # 270, # 272 lub # 360.
3601	Syntax Phonology Interface II	K lub PS
	Issues concerning the interplay of syntactic and phonological modules of the language faculty. Analysis of the selected fragments of Polish and English in terms of the theories of Principles and Parameters and Lexical Phonology. Warunek: 1) zaliczenie kursu ze składni generatywnej za 2 punkty; 2) zaliczenie kursu z fonologii generatywnej za 2 punkty.
3602	Minimalist Theory of Syntax	K
	The course introduces the most recent developments in the theories of generative syntax. Warunek: jakikolwiek kurs generatywny ze składni lub semantyki za 2 punkty.
3603	Issues in the Theory of Syntax - I	K lub PS
	Investigation of selected syntactic issues from the perspective of the consecutive versions of the Principles and Parameters model. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu ze składni generatywnej za 2 punkty.
3604	Issues in the Theory of Syntax - II	PS
	Investigation of selected syntactic issues from the perspective of the consecutive versions of the Principles and Parameters model. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 3603.
3635	Issues in the Cognitive Approach to Lexicon and Grammar	K
	Selected issues in the study of lexicon, morphology, and syntax discussed from the perspective of cognitive linguistics; analyses of English, and occasionally of some other languages; the course is a continuation of #2630. Warunek: zaliczenie kursu # 2630.
3702	Formal Semantics: Introduction to Montague Grammar - Part I	PS
	An introduction to Montague Grammar, a formal description of syntax and semantics of natural language. The course is based on the handbook by R. Cann Formal Semantics (1991). Part 1.
3703	Formal Semantics: Introduction to Montague Grammar - Part II	PS
	An introduction to Montague Grammar, a formal description of syntax and semantics of natural language. The course is based on the handbook by R. Cann Formal Semantics (1991). Part 2.
21/J/2003	COMPUTATIONAL SYNTAX	E
	During the course, we will be developing grammars of artificial languages and of toy (very restricted) versions of natural languages. We will implement those grammars, i.e., for each grammar, we will construct a computer program which, when given an input string (e.g., an English sentence), will determine whether this input string is generated by this grammar; if it is generated, the program will provide the syntactic structure of this input string according to this grammar.

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