English Language and Linguistics I

Code: LLT14403L

6 ECTS

Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours

Scientific Area: Linguistics

Teaching languages: Portuguese, English

Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English

Regime de Frequência: Presencial

Presentation

This curricular unit aims at demonstrating the theoretical and practical bases of English linguistics (phonetics and phonology). Students will be able to describe speech sounds, and to perceive the phonological variation and social relevance of standard and nonstandard varieties of English.

Sustainable Development Goals

Erradicação da pobreza - Acabar com a pobreza em todas as suas formas, em todos os lugares

Educação de qualidade - Assegurar a educação inclusiva, e equitativa e de qualidade, e promover oportunidades de aprendizagem ao longo da vida para todos.

Igualdade de género - Alcançar a igualdade de gênero e empoderar todas as mulheres e meninas.

Redução das desigualdades - Reduzir as desigualdades dentro dos países e entre eles.

Learning Goals

To enable students to express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations; to equip students with some tools and techniques for linguistic analysis and the identification of organizing principles of the English language; to demonstrate the theoretical and practical bases of English linguistics in the areas of phonetics and phonology. To describe speech sounds, to know what an individual sound is and how each sound differs from all others; to identify, describe and produce the sounds of standard English (BrE and AmE) and how they may be strung together to form meaningful units; to recognize the social dimension of Standard English, namely the phonological markers of regional and social variation; to identify the phonological markers of native and non-native English varieties; to comprehend the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)-based approach to conceptualize the current use of English worldwide.

1. Introduction to Phonetics:
1.1. Spelling vs. sounds
1.2. Articulatory Phonetics
1.3. Places of articulation of English consonants
1.4. Manners of articulation of English consonants
1.5. Articulation and description of English vowels
1.6. The phonetic alphabet

2. The Phonology of Standard English:
2.1. Phonemes, minimal pairs/sets
2.2. Distinctive vs. redundant features
2.3. Phones, phonemes, allophones
2.4. Complementary vs. contrastive distribution
2.5. Homonyms, homophones, contrastive stress

3.a. Geographical varieties of Standard English: dialects and accents (variation in grammar, vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation)
3.a.1. British English/RP
3.a.2. American English/GA

3.b International varieties of English:
3.b.1. Endonormative varieties;
3.b.2. Nativized/standardizing varieties;
3.b.3. Performance/EFL varieties;
3.b.4. English as a Lingua Franca (ELF).

Teaching Methods

This course is designed to be a broad-based overview of the scientific study of the English language. The topics to be covered during the course include two of the "core" areas of linguistic theory (phonetics and phonology). Students will be given reading assignments on each of the topics of the syllabus and will be expected to engage in discussion. Success in the course demands as much attention to the work covered in as the work done outside of class. Students should be ready to ask questions, discuss, and solve problems based on the materials. Besides the weekly classroom sessions, students and teacher will meet during office hours and in tutorial sessions to be arranged. Assessment modes: (1) Continuous assessment: three end-of-unit quizzes (35% + 35% + 30%); (2) Exam (normal and recurso): written (9,5/20 or above, passing grade) (100%) and oral (only for students with a grade between 8,0 and 9,4 in the written exam) (100%).