LS1SG: Sounds, Grammar and Meaning

Module code: LS1SG

Module provider: English Language and Applied Linguistics; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 1 (Certificate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1 / 2

Module convenor: Professor Jane Setter, email: J.E.Setter@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Natalia Kampakli, email: a.n.kampakli@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s): IN THE SAME YEAR AS TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE LS1ELS (Compulsory)

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded: IN TAKING THIS MODULE YOU CANNOT TAKE PL1PPH OR TAKE PL1GM (Compulsory)

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This foundational module aims to examine the nature of language as a communication system, and to introduce the individual components of the system which relate to sound production/perception, grammatical categorisation, and meaning. It underpins the linguistic analysis that students will undertake throughout their degree programme by equipping students with knowledge and skills relevant to analysing phonetic, grammatical, discourse and pragmatic aspects of written and spoken data.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Identify the articulatory organs and explain how they are involved in speech production
2. Analyse and transcribe aspects of spoken language and understand the basic principles of acoustic phonetics
3. Analyse sentences at clause, phrase and word level by applying a grammatical parsing system
4. Identify and illustrate the main categories of meaning in language, from units smaller than the word to discourse and context

Module content

The speech chain; segments - consonants, vowels; the International Phonetic Alphabet. Making speech sounds; speech and breathing; the larynx; the vocal tract. Classifying speech sounds; vowels - the cardinal vowels; consonants - place, manner and airstream mechanism. Tone and tone languages: lexical and grammatical use of tone; tone levels and tone contours; tone and context; tone and pitch-accents. Suprasegmentals: stress and accent; intonation; rhythm. Sounds in systems: phonology vs. phonetics - vowels, consonants. Groups of sounds. Connected speech and co-articulation: assimilation; co-articulation. Acoustics of speech sounds: acoustic wave-forms; spectral analysis; formants.
 
Language and symbol systems; sentence meaning and utterance meaning; grammatical meaning; types of grammar - prescriptive, descriptive, theoretical. Morphology (word structure): affixes and stems; inflection and derivation. Word-formation: affixation; compounding; other word-formation devices. Word classes: traditional definitions; grammatical definitions; major word classes; other word classes. Syntax: phrases; the structure of simple sentences; optional elements. Ambiguity: grammatical relations - subject, object; complex sentences. Meaning: lexical and sentence meaning; lexical relations - homonymy, polysemy, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy. Sentence meaning: rules for combining meanings; truth conditions, sense and reference; entailment; presupposition. Pragmatics: pragmatics and semantics; deixis; indirect speech acts; performative verbs; the co-operative principle. Discourse analysis: discourse meaning vs. sentence and word meaning.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Flipped lecture content, interactive quiz-based lectures and seminar-style discussion.

Study hours

At least 28 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Interactive, quiz-based lectures.

Semester 1: Online true/false questionnaire in Week 9 relevant to Sounds of Language.

Semester 2: Parsing practice relevant to Grammar and Meaning.

Reassessment

Additional costs