Courses I offer this autumn

I offer 4 courses in our linguistics department this term:

(1) Discourse Analysis,
(2) Schools of Modern Linguistics,
(3) Fundamentals of Grammatical Analysis, and
(4) Transformational Grammar.

I post the syllabuses of the courses below for your information:

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IAU, First Term of 1388-1389 (2009-2010)
An MA course in:
Discourse Analysis
Instructor: A. R. Lotfi, Ph.D.

Course Description and Objectives

This course is intended to introduce the participants (the MA students of linguistics) to the basics of pragmatics, text linguistics, and discourse analysis. It is intended to offer insights into functional linguistics in general, how functional accounts of language depart from formal ones, and perhaps more importantly, how a more unified picture of language emerges via the convergence of insights from these two major camps of linguistic studies.
Attendance is strongly recommended for all classes. Weekly readings should be completed prior to the class in which they are to be discussed. Your final score will include: (a) final exam (80 percent) (b) a term project (20 percent).

Bibliography

Ariel, M. 2008. Pragmatics and Grammar. CUP.

Blakemore, D. 2002. Relevance and Linguistic meaning. CUP.

Bybee J, and P. Hopper. 2002. Frequency and the Emergence of Linguistic
Structure. Benjamins.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1977). Text and Context: Explorations in the Semantics and
Pragmatics of Discourse. Longman.

Fairclough, N. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language.
Longman.

Hedberg, N. and R. Zacharski. 2007. The Grammar-Pragmatics Interface. Benjamins.

Horn, L. and G. Ward. 2005. The Handbook of Pragmatics. Blackwell.

Jaworski, A. and N. Coupland. 1999. The Discourse Reader. Routledge.

Levinson, S. C. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge university Press.

Schiffrin, D, D. Tannen, and H. Hamilton. 2001. The Handbook of Discourse
Analysis. Blackwell.

Sperber, D. and D. Wilson. 1986. Relevance: Communication and Cognition.
Blackwell.

Wichmann, A. 2000. Intonation in Text and Discourse. Longman.

Themes:
Theories of meaning
Speech acts
Grice’s theory
Relevance theory
Text linguistics
Critical Discourse Analysis
Information structure
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An MA course in:
Schools of Modern Linguistics
Instructor: A. R. Lotfi, Ph.D.

Themes

Formalism v. Functionalism
Structuralism
(de Saussure, Bloomfield, and Chomsky)
Functional linguistics
(Firth, Halliday, van Dijk and Kintsch)
Optimality Theory
(Prince and Smolensky)

Required Texts:

Beaugrande, R. D. (1991). Linguistic Theory: the discourse of fundamental works.
Longman.

Darnell, M., E. Moravcsik, F. Newmeyer, M. Noonan, and K. wheatley (1999).
Functionalism and Formalism in Linguistics Vol 1 (General papers). John Benjamins.

Kager, R. (1999). Optimality Theory. Cambridge University Press.

Prince, A. and P. Smolensky (2004). Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in Generative Grammar. Blackwell.

Course Requirements:
Final exam 80%
Classroom presentations/papers 20%


Ahmad Reza Lotfi, Ph. D
Faculty member of Islamic Azad University at Khorasgan (Esfahan)
Member of the Advisory Board of LINGUIST list (http://www.linguistlist.org/)
Mail: arlotfi@yahoo.com
Page: http://lotfi-ahmadreza.blogspot.com/

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An MA course in:
Fundamentals of Grammatical Analysis
Instructor: A. R. Lotfi, Ph.D.

Course Description and Objectives

Grammarians today are hugely divided among themselves both in theory and practice. Even within generative linguistics as a relatively coherent enterprise of constructing generative grammars, and/or universal principles, they have trodden such different paths in their enquiries of language that practitioners of P&P, GPSG, LFG, and (more recently) OT cannot communicate easily with each other anymore.
This course is intended to introduce the participants (MA students of linguistics at Azad University) to the basic concepts involved in syntactic analysis, and the common terminology recurring in different theories of grammar. At the end of the course, the students are expected to be able to read on their own about different theories of grammar especially those generically categorized as generative.
Attendance is strongly recommended for all classes. Weekly readings should be completed prior to the class in which they are to be discussed. Your final score will include: (a) final exam (90 percent), and (b) weekly chapter summaries (10 percent).

Bibliography

Van Valin, Robert Jr. (2004). An Introduction to Syntax. Cambridge University Press.

Kroeger, Paul R. (2005). Analyzing Grammar: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.

Course Outline:

Week 1 Grammar: A system of rules
Week 2 Word structure
Weeks 3-4 Syntactic categories and relations
Weeks 5-6 Syntactic dependencies
Weeks 7-9 Constituent analysis
Weeks 10-11 Argument structure and subcategorisation
Weeks 12-13 Case and agreement
Weeks 14-16 Conclusion: Theories of syntax

Ahmad R. Lotfi
Faculty Member of English Dept. (Graduate Studies)
Azad University at Khorasgan
MailTo: arlotfi@yahoo.com
http://lotfi-ahmadreza.blogspot.com/

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An MA course in:
Transformational Grammar
Instructor: A. R. Lotfi, Ph.D.

Themes

Transformational grammar: Basic concepts
Government and Binding Theory (The P & P approach)
Phrase structure
Lexicon
Interface levels
Movement
Minimalist syntax
Phases
Unitarianist Grammar

Required Texts:

Carnie, A. (2002). Syntax: A generative introduction. Blackwell.

Chomsky, N. (1995). The Minimalist Program. MIT Press.

Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.

Hornstein, N. (1995). Logical Form: From GB to Minimalism. Blackwell.

Lasnik, H., and J. Uriagereka with C. Boeckx (2005). A Course in Minimalist Syntax:
Foundations and prospects. Blackwell.

Radford, A. (2004). English Syntax: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press.

Course Requirements:
Final exam 80%
Term project (thesis summaries) 20%


Ahmad Reza Lotfi, Ph. D
Faculty member of Islamic Azad University at Khorasgan (Esfahan)
Member of the Advisory Board of LINGUIST list (http://www.linguistlist.org/)
Mail: arlotfi@yahoo.com
Page: http://lotfi-ahmadreza.blogspot.com/

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Please send your comments yo either of my email addresses.

Ahmad R. Lotfi