Second-year of study M.A. supplementary seminars (2MA SUP) for winter term 2023–2024 (Full-time programmes)

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Current issues in the syntactic theory

prof. UAM dr hab. Piotr Cegłowski

The aim of this seminar is to scrutinise a number of intriguing issues and problems that have been on the linguistic (syntactic) agenda for quite some time now (for example, the status of negation, discourse-driven movements (Topic / Focus), various aspects the syntax of wh-islands, recent findings in the field of the structure of noun phrases, etc.). The discussion will be couched in the cross-linguistic context, i.e. we will learn how the specific constructions fare in the respective languages and how they can be captured (parametrised) by means of a comparative analysis.

Students will be asked to read selected texts before each meeting and participate in the discussion.

Selected bibliography
  • Alexiadou, A., L. Haegeman and M. Starvou. 2007. Noun Phrase in the Generative Perspective. New York: Mouton de Gruyer.
  • Biberbauer, T., A. Holmberg, I. Roberts, M. Sheenan. 2010. Parametric variation. Null subjects in Minimalist Theory. Cambridge: CUP.
  • Cinque, G. and R. Kayne (eds). 2005. The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax. Oxford: OUP.
  • Cognola, F. and J. Casalicchio (eds). 2018. Null Subjects in Generative Grammar. A Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective. Oxford: OUP.
  • Franks, S. 1995. Parameters of Slavic Morphosyntax. Oxford: OUP.
  • Hornstein, N., J. Nunes, K. Grohmann. 2005. Understanding Minimalism. Cambridge: CUP.
  • Larson, R., V. Déprez and H. Yamakido. The Evolution of Human Language. Biolinguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: CUP.
  • Luraghi, S. and C. Parodi (eds). 2013. The Bloomsbury Companion to syntax. London: Bloomsbury.
  • Isac, D. and C. Reiss. 2008. I-Language. An Introduction to Linguistics as Cognitive Science.
  • Rizzi, L. (ed.). 2004. The Structure of CP and IP. Oxford: OUP.

Introduction to Canadian Literature in English

prof. UAM dr hab. Dagmara Drewniak

This course will be devoted to the study and discussion of a selection of texts written by the most important writers in Canada in a chronological order. The course comprises novels, short stories, autobiographical texts and poetry, the study of which is supposed to broaden your knowledge of the history of North American literature. We are going to look at the highlights of Canadian Literature throughout the centuries to supplement our knowledge of Anglophone literatures. Additionally, the seminar will cover issues linked to literary periodization and multiplicity of genres. The range of texts chosen for this seminar come from writers of diverse backgrounds including those coming from England as well as various diasporic and Indigenous authors. The credits will be offered on the basis of regular class attendance, active participation in discussions and presentations.

Language in selected (inter-/trans-)disciplinary perspectives

prof. UAM dr hab. Elżbieta Wąsik

During the seminar, the students will broaden and systematize their knowledge on the issues related to the multifariousness of approaches to language as an abstract system of arbitrary signs serving as a means of human signification and communication. Starting from recalling the traditionally distinguished aspects of linguistic research as resulting from the theoretical, descriptive, comparative and applied as well as synchronic and diachronic points of view, we will differentiate between the isolationist and integrationist positions in the study of language. Accordingly, we will pay attention to the forms of manifestation and modes of existence of language as an object of study of linguists and a relational property of objects of study of representatives of other disciplines. Understanding why, apart from linguistics, non-linguistic sciences are interested in particular languages in their social environments will be possible by defining language in terms of sets of extra-organismal and intra-organismal properties of its speakers and by recognizing the difference between systemic and non-systemic facts of language. For our discussions, we will also realize the distinction between interdisciplinarity (as the study of investigative objects from many disciplinary perspectives) and transdisciplinarity (as the application of one perspective to many investigative objects) for researching the complexity of language in its environmental conditions.