Elective course: Swedish in the context of world languages 3200-L2-PF-JSZ
The aim of the course is to familiarize the students with the basic concepts of linguistic typology. Based on the topics below, the students typologically classify Swedish and other languages they know and learn to typologically classify languages previously unknown to them, based on the description of their grammar.
List of topics:
1. General Linguistics
- hierarchical structure of linguistic systems
- diachronic linguistics vs. synchronic linguistics
- classification of languages: historical-comparative linguistics vs. linguistic typology
- linguistic universals
- the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis: linguistic determinism and relativism
- linguistic worldview
- diglossia in the languages of the world
2. Phonetics and Phonology
- minimal pair factors in languages of the world: gemination, voicing, aspiration, tone, duration
- phonetic assimilations in languages of the world, vowel harmony
- phonetic adaptations of loanwords
- differences in the phonetic repertoire of languages of the world, common and rare sounds
- consonantal and vowel-based languages
- phonotactic constraints in languages of the world
- the phonetic sieve, the influence of L2 on pronunciation in L3
3. Graphology
- writing systems in the world’s languages (alphabet, abjad, syllabary, semisyllabary, ideographic script, mixed systems) and their orientation
- strong and weak orthography
4. Word formation
- etymological roots of languages: the role of Latin and Greek in European languages and Classical Chinese in East Asian languages
- differences in number of items in the lexicon between the world's languages
- polystems
- trends in the assimilation of loanwords in the world’s languages
5. Morphology
- inflectional, agglutinative, root-based, and isolating languages
- verb categories in the world’s languages: negation; aspect; tense; mood; voice; conjugation by person, number, and gender; verbal periphrases; participles
- nouns in the world’s languages: definiteness, number, case, gender, class, possessivity, constructus status
- adjectives in the world’s languages: inflection, predicative potential
- numeral systems in the world’s languages: inflection, multiple systems, classifiers
- grammaticalization of pragmatic categories in the world’s languages: honorifics (respect, conversational context), forms of admiration, explanation, and gratitude, exclamatory particles
- alternation vs. suppletion
6. Syntax
- word order in the world’s languages, positional languages
- the position of the determiner relative to the referent
- word order and the subject-predicate structure in the world’s languages
- ergative languages
- syntactic patterns in the world’s languages, including ACI syntax in European languages
Course coordinators
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites
Prerequisites (description)
Assessment criteria
Grade Components:
assignments during the semester (50%)
final exam (50%)
Grading Criteria:
0–59% (2.0)
60–66% (3.0)
67–73% (3.5)
74–80% (4.0)
81–87% (4.5)
88–96% (5.0)
97–100% (5.0!)
It is possible to complete an additional assignment to raise the final grade by half a grade.
Two unexcused absences are permitted. If there are more absences, students must complete the additional assignment to make up for them, but then the assignment does not increase the final grade. To pass the course, a minimum of 50% attendance and active participation in class are required.
If a students fail the course in the first term, they must sit a written exam during the make-up exam period.
Bibliography
Andersson, E. (2003). Modality in Swedish. Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 81(3), 845–865.
Andersson, E., Hellberg, S., & Teleman, U. (1999a). Svenska Akademien grammatik 4 Satser och meningar. Svenska Akademien.
Andersson, E., Hellberg, S., & Teleman, U. (1999b). Svenska Akademiens grammatik 1 Inlednings Register. Svenska Akademien.
Andersson, E., Hellberg, S., & Teleman, U. (1999c). Svenska Akademiens grammatik 2 Ord. Svenska Akademien.
Bilbie, G., & Mardale, A. (2018). The Romanian subjunctive in a Balkan perspective.
Bosque, I., & Demonte, V. (1999). Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española. Espasa.
Czopek, N. (2010). Algumas observações sobre o futuro do conjuntivo português e futuro de subjuntivo espanhol. Studia Iberystyczne, 9.
Diringer, D. (1972). Alfabet, czyli klucz do dziejów ludzkości. PIW.
Donhauser, K. (1987). Mood and morphology: An alternative approach to the syntax and semantics of German moods. Lingua, 73(1), 53–77.
Ewerth, S. (1993). Har vi konjunktiv i svenskan? Språkvård. Tidskrift utgiven av svenska språknämnden, 4, 9–13.
Greeberg, J.
Grzegorczykowa, R. (2008). Wstęp do Językoznawstwa. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Haan, F. (2012). Irrealis: Fact or fiction? Language Sciences, 34(2), 107–130.
Harmo, N. (2016). Vore i finlandssvenskt och sverigesvenskt tidningsspråk. Helsingfors universitet.
Holmes, P., & Hinchliffe, I. (2008). Swedish: An Essential Grammar (2:a uppl.). Routledge.
Huszcza, R. (1996). Honoryfikatywność – Gramatyka. Pragmatyka. Typologia. Wydawnictwo naukowe DIALOG.
Kibort, Anna. 2008. Grammatical Features Inventory. University of Surrey.
Kropf, A. S. (2011). Der deutsche Konjunktiv II und seine schwedischen Umschreibungen als Strategien sprachlicher Höflichkeit. Göteborgs universitet.
Majewicz, A. (1989). Języki świata i ich klasyfikowanie. PWN.
Maciejewski, W. (1986). O przestrzeni w języku. Studium typologiczne z językiem polskim w centrum. Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
Milewski, T. (2006). Językoznawstwo. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN
Sadalska, G. (1993). Tidskategorin i svenskan. Krak: UJ.
Szulc, A. (1992). Gramatyka dydaktyczna języka szwedzkiego. Instytut Filologii Germańskiej UJ.
Tallerman, M, (2020). Understanding Syntax. Routledge.
Other materials indicated throughout the course.