DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES, LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

ALE B401: ADVANCED THEORETICAL STUDIES IN GRAMMAR

Prerequisite: None Contact Hours: 35 Hours Credit Hours: 3

Contact Time: Tuesday 6.00am-7.00am Thursday 4.00pm-6.00pm
Course Instructor Dr Charles Nyiro Contact: 0722333028

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

a) To trace the study of language from the earliest concepts to the recent developments
b) To help the learner gain proper skills in theoretical studies in English and apply
them for higher quality teaching and learning.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, the learner should be able to:

a) Determine important phases of growth in the development of the study of language

and their significance for modern linguistic study
b) Define and explain the meaning of terms used in Linguistic theory and their
relationship
c) Explain the importance of theoretical studies in English.
d) Define and explain linguistics and linguistic theory.

COURSE CONTENT

1. PRELIMINARIES
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 WHAT IS LINGUISTICS
1.3 WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
1.4 WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC ABOUT THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE?
1.5 WHAT IS LINGUISTIC THEORY?

2. TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR
2.1 THE RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR
2.2 STRENGHS OF TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR
2.3 WEAKNESSES OF TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR

3.0 STRUCTURALISM
3.1 PROPONENTS OF STRUCTURALISM
3.2 HIGHLIGHTS OF STRUCTURALISM
3.3 IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT ANALYSIS (ICA)
4.0 TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR
4.1 OVERVIEW OF TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR
4.2 THE PHRASE STRUCTURE COMPONENT
4.3 WEAKNESSES OF PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR

5.0 THE TRANSFORMATIONAL COMPONENT

5.1 THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATIONAL RULES
5.2 THE AFFIX HOPPING TRANSFORMATION
5.3 THE PASSIVE TRANSFORMATION

6.0 THE INTERROGATIVE TRANSFORMATION

6.1 YES-NO INTERROGATIVES
6.2 WH- INTERROGATIVES

7.0 THE NEGATIVE TRANSFORMATION

8.0 FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

8.1 FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR: THE PRAGUE SCHOOL
8.2 SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR: HALLIDAY
8.3 A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE CLAUSE

9.0 CLAUSE AS EXCHANGE AND CLAUSE AS REPRESENTATION

9.1 CLAUSE AS EXCHANGE/ INTERPERSONAL
9.2 CLAUSE AS REPRESENTATION/ IDEATIONAL FUNCTION
9.3 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL GRAMMARS

10.0 GENERATIVE MORPHOLOGY

10.1 DEFINING ‘WORD’
10.2 PRODUCTIVITY

11.0 BRANCHES OF MORPHOLOGY AND WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

11.1 DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN DERIVATIONAL AND INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES.
11.2 IDENTIFYING MORPHEMES
11.3 WORD FORMATION PROCESSES

12.0 LEXICAL MORPHOLOGY

12.1 THE STRATA OF MORPHEMES
12.2 HEADS AND FEATURES PERCOLATION PRINCIPLE
12.3 PROBLEMS WITH MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

MODE OF DELIVERY
Lectures, group discussions &presentations and library& archival research
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL/ EQUIPMENT
White board, handouts and internet resources

2
COURSE ASSESSMENT
Two Continuous Assessment Tests accounting for 30% of the overall course assessment and
a final exam, at the end of the semester, accounting for 70% of the overall course
assessment.

CORE TEXTBOOKS

Chomsky, Noam, 1965 Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT
Press.

Barlow, Michael, and Suzanne Kemmer (eds.) 2000 Usage-based Models of Language.
Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.

Cinque, Guglielmo, 2007 A note on linguistic theory and typology. Linguistic Typology 11:
93−106.

Raymond Chapman, 1973: Linguistics and Literature: An Introduction to Literary Stylistics.

Lanham.Rowman and Littlefield Pub Inc

Michael Toolam, 1998: Language in Literature: An Introduction to Stylistics. Philadelphia.Trans-

Atlantic Publications Inc.

P. Stockwell& M. Lombra, 2010: Contemporary Stylistics. New York. Continuum

Katie Wales, 1992: A Dictionary of Stylistics. London. Longman Publishing Group