Communication and the Structure of Language, 7.5 credits

On completion of the course, the student is expected to be able to:

• define, discuss and apply selected concepts to describe linguistic structure in speech, conversation and writing
• account for the units of language and how language is constructed from these units
• carry out linguistic analyses such as basic phonetic transcription, morphemic analysis and classification of words into lexical categories, syntactic and grammatical analysis as well as turn-taking structure

The course highlights the need for tools and concepts to describe linguistic structure in speech, conversation and writing. An overview is given over tools and concepts for the analysis of speech sounds (phonemes, allophones), sound sequences (syllables, morphemes, words), morpheme sequences (words, phrases), phrase sequences (clauses), sentence sequences (complex constructions), statements, prosodic features, turns, turn construction units and adjacency pairs. Differences are highlighted between linguistic structure (e g grammar) and linguistic meaning (e g semantics), as well as between speech, conversation and writing. The course also describes linguistic variation in different levels and sources to such variation e g geographic, social and individual factors.

The teaching consists of lectures, group work and laboratory sessions. Group work and laboratory sessions are compulsory teaching activities that not are examined. Attendance on group work and laboratory sessions is compulsory. Compulsory teaching activities must be completed before students can participate in the examination.

In case of absence from compulsory teaching activities, the student is responsible to contact the course coordinator for complementary assignment. The course coordinator decides whether, and if so how, absence from compulsory course elements can be made up. Study results cannot be reported until the student has participated in compulsory course elements or compensated for any absence in accordance with instructions from the course coordinator. Absence from a compulsory course element could mean that the student can not retake the element until the next time the course is offered.

The course is examined through a written examination. Students must complete compulsory teaching components before taking the examination.

The written examination is graded anonymously (using a identification code number for each student). Students who do not pass the written examination are entitled to five more examination occasions, the first within fourteen days of the notification of the exam result. The third examination is the following regular examination in the course. Each occasion the student participates in the same test counts as an examination. Submission of a blank exam paper is regarded as an examination. In case a student is registered for an examination but does not attend, this is not regarded as an examination.

Examination can be carried out according to an earlier literature list during a period of one year after the date of a renewal of the literature list. Examination will be provided during a period of one year after a close-down of the course.

The course is carried out in full of The Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, where all teaching in the course is also given. Course evaluation will be carried out according to the guidelines that are established by the Board of education and is mainly web-based.