Syntax I

Code:

CL022

Acronym:

SINT1

Instance: 2014/2015 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Portuguese and Romance Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Language Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
CL	18	CL - Study Plan	2	-	6	4
LLC	5	Plano Oficial do ano letivo 2013_2014	2	-	6	4

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

1. Strengthen the knowledge of the essential syntactic concepts already taught in Basics of Grammatical Analysis; 2. Acquire the theoretical and methodological basis to analyse the various syntactic aspects of the affirmative and declarative sentence, taking as its starting point not only Portuguese but also other Romance and German languages, and to discuss the relationship between lexicon and syntax.

Learning outcomes and competences

 

At the end of the curricular unit, students should 1. have strengthened the knowledge of the essential syntactic concepts already taught in Basics of Grammatical Analysis; 2. acquired the theoretical and methodological basis to analyse the various syntactic aspects of the affirmative and declarative sentence; 3. obtained the capacity to analyse data from Portuguese and from other Romance and German languages.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. Preliminary reflections 1.1. Language, grammar, levels of linguistic knowledge. 1.2. The object of Syntax. 2. Basic concepts in Syntax 2.1. Word classes: from Morphosyntax to Syntax. 2.2. Phrase structure and syntactic categories. 2.3. Head and phrase categories. 2.4. The principle of endocentricity. 2.5. Syntactic functions: main syntactic functions in Portuguese and their properties. 2.6. Patterns in word order. 2.7. Portuguese as a SVO language. 3. From lexicon to syntax 3.1. Categorial selection or subcategorisation. 3.2. Thematic selection; thematic roles. 3.3. Verbal predicates and argument structure: 3.3.1. Verbs with no external argument or “impersonal verbs”. 3.3.2. Verbs with external argument or “personal verbs”. 3.3.3. Direct and indirect transitive verbs. 3.3.4. Complements and adjuncts. 3.3.5. The syntax of the Indirect Object in Portuguese and in other languages; the double object construction in English. 3.3.6. Intransitive verbs. 4. Aspects of syntax of the affirmative and declarative sentence 4.1. Null subject languages; non-null subject languages. 4.2. Empty categories in argument positions: 4.2.1. Null subject in inflected sentences. 4.2.2. Objects incorporated in V; the construction of null object. 4.3. Some constructions involving the change of position or number of arguments in null subject languages and in non-null subject languages 4.3.1. The “inversion” of the subject. 4.3.2. The impersonal or “nominative “ “se”. 4.3.3. The passive: “classic” passive; the "se” passive; personal and impersonal passives. 4.3.4. The causative/anticausative alternance and the “ergative “se”. 4.3.5. Unaccusative verbs. 4.3.6. Predicative clauses. 4.3.7. Clauses with "parecer" ("to seem"). Subject raising.

Mandatory literature

Brito, Ana Maria; "Portugiesisch: Morphosyntax. Morfo-sintaxe" in HOLTUS, G., METZELTIN, M. & SCHMITT, C. (orgs.) Lexikon der Romanistishen Linguistik (LRL), vol. VI, 2, pp. 233-240. , Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen , 1994
CUNHA, C. & CINTRA, L. F. ; Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo, João Sá da Costa, Lisboa, 1984. ISBN: nao tem
Duarte, I.; Língua Portuguesa, Instrumentos de Análise, Lisboa, U. Aberta, 2000., Universidade Aberta, 2000. ISBN: 972-674-322-2
DUARTE, I. e BRITO, A.M. ; “Sintaxe” in FARIA, I. H.; PEDRO, E. R.; DUARTE, I.; GOUVEIA, C. (orgs.) – Introdução à Linguística Geral e Portuguesa, Lisboa, Caminho, 1996, pp.247- 302., Caminho, 1996. ISBN: 972-21-1048-9
Eliseu, André; Sintaxe do Português, Col. O Essencial sobre Língua Portuguesa, Caminho, Lisboa, 2008
Mateus, M. H. et alii ; Gramática da Língua Portuguesa, 5ª ed., Caminho, Lisboa, 2003. ISBN: 972-21-0445-4
Raposo, E. P. et al; Gramática do Português , Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2013. ISBN: ISBN 978-972-31-1457-7

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theory classes; practical classes; tutorials.

keywords

Humanities > language sciences > Linguistics > Grammar

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	50,00
Teste	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	108,00
Frequência das aulas	54,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Attending 75% of classes, unless established otherwise by law.

Calculation formula of final grade

Two tests throughout the semester counting for 50% and a final exam counting for 50%.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable

Classification improvement

In accordance with course regulations and other applicable rules.

Observations

Not applicable