Cultures of the USA and the UK

Course title: Cultures of the USA and the UK (EN 1 J08)
ECTS: 5 credits
Language of instruction: English
Duration: one semester – 5th (winter, from 2018/19))
Instructor: Dr Kristijan Nikolić, Dr Alexander D. Hoyt
Status: obligatory
Form of tuition: 1 hour of lecture and 3 hours of seminar
Enrolment requirements: CEL 3 and Analysis of English Texts
Exam: continuous assessment
Content: This course deals with customs, institutions and values of the UK and the USA. The readers will enable students to get to know various aspects of these two societies, such as politics, multiculturalism, education and art. Students will prepare their own presentations of various topic concerning UK and US culture and present them during the seminar
Attendance:
All students must attend the first lecture  and one of the seminar groups (you may choose the group you wish to attend). Please wait for the schedule to be announced.
The classes start in October. There will be no “upisivanje u grupe”, you will choose one of the three seminar groups, once the schedule is announced.

Obligatory literature: (The Reader):

NOTE: please do not copy the reader from the copy shop before the first lecture,
the first lecture is obligatory for all students, when you will be given instructions.
The old reader is out of date.

1) Mauk, David and Oakland, John. 2009 (Sixth edition). American Civilization:
An Introduction . Routledge. London and New York.
2) Oakland, John. 2011. (Eighth edition). British Civilization: An Introduction.. Routledge. London and New York.
Way of instruction: The course is a combination of lectures and seminars. Students must attend the classes regularly (have no more than three absences). They must prepare for classes and write assignments as instructed. Instructors and students will also communicate through Omega and e-mail.

Table of contents (topics to be covered in class):

United States    
1. The people: settlement and immigration
2. The people: women and minorities
3. Political institutions: the federal government and elections
4. Political institutions: state and local government
5. The legal system
6. Education
7. International relations

Continuous Assessment
The United  Kingdom
1. The British context and Brexit
2. The people and geography
3. Politics and government
4. The legal system
5. The economy and London
6. Media
7. Education

Continuous assessment

 _______________________________________________________________________________

  • Former course title: Societies and Cultures of the English-speaking World

 

Cultures of the USA and the UK (2015/16)

Course title: Cultures of the USA and the UK (EN 1 J08)
ECTS: 5 credits

Language of instruction: English
Duration: one semester – 5th (winter)
Instructor: dr. sc. Kristijan Nikolić, Tea Raše
Status: obligatory
Form of tuition: 1 hour of lecture and 3 hours of seminar
Enrolment requirements: CEL 3 and Analiza engleskih tekstova
Exam: written (two continuous assessment or exam)
Content: This course deals with customs, institutions and values of the UK and the USA. Two readers will enable students to get to know various aspects of these two societies, such as politics, multiculturalism, education and art. Students will prepare their own presentations of various topics concerning UK and US cultures and present them in the seminar.

Obligatory literature:
1) Mauk, David and Oakland, John. 2009 (Fifth edition). American Civilization:
An Introduction
. Routlege. London and New York.

3) Oakland, John. 2011. (Seventh edition). British Civilization: An
Introduction.. Routledge. London and New York.

Additional literature:
1) Giles, Mick, ed. 1993. Modern American Culture: An Introduction. London and New York. Longman.
2) An Outline of American Government. 1989. Washington DC. US Information Agency.
3) Luedtke, Luther S. ed. Making America. 1987. The Society and Culture of the United States. Washington. US Information Agency.
4) Campbell, Neil and Kean, Alasdair. 1997. American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture. London and New York. Routledge.

Way of instruction: The course is a combination of a lecture and a seminar. Students must attend the classes regularly (have no more than three absences during the semester). They must prepare for classes and write assignments as instructed. The instructor and students will also communicate through Omega and e-mail.

Table of contents (chapters to be covered in class):

The United Kingdom
1. The British context

2. The people
3. Politics and government
4. International relations

5. The legal system
6. The economy
7. Media
8. Education

Continuous assessment 1

The United States
1. The people: settlement and immigration

2. The people: women and minorities
3. Political institutions: the federal government / state and local government
4. Economy
5. Foreign policy

6. The legal system
7. Education
8. The media

Continuous Assessment 2

 _______________________________________________________________________________

  • Former course title: Societies and Cultures of the English-speaking World

Semantics of the English language

Course title: Semantics of the English language
Name of course coordinator
: Professor Irena Zovko Dinković
Name of lecturer:
Dr. Janja Čulig Suknaić, postdoc
Number of credits: 
6
Language of instruction:
English
Semester:
  5 (autumn)
Status:
  obligatory
Type of course:
4 periods, lecture
Prerequisites:
  a pass mark in English Syntax 2: The Sentence
Assessment method:
Written
Course objectives and contents:
The objective of the course is to introduce students to the complexities of meaning phenomena, as well as to different theoretical frameworks, both traditional and contemporary. The course introduces students to the complex issues of meaning 1) on the level of lexemes or words, 2) on the paradigmatic level, or the vocabulary structure and 3) to the relationship between semantics and syntax, or the relationships on the syntagmatic level. Basic traditional semantic concepts are discussed, such as homonymy, synonymy, polisemy, antonymy, metaphor and metonymy, and paradigmatic and sintagmatic relations that arise from the construction grammar approach to meaning in language.

Course schedule:

  Week

  Topic

1.

 Introduction to semantics.

2.

 The development of semantics as a scientific discipline.

3.

 Research topics and methods.

4.

 Paradigmatic relations: synonymy.

5.

 Paradigmatic relations: antonymy.

6.

 Paradigmatic relations: polysemy and homonymy.

7.

 Paradigmatic relations: hyponymy.

8.

 First preliminary exam.

9.

 Metaphor and metonymy.

10.

 Multimodality.

11.

 Categorization.

12.

 Syntagmatic relations: construction grammars and meaning.

13.

 Syntagmatic relations: construction grammars and cognitive grammar.

14.

 Second preliminary exam.

15.

 Results and discussion.

Student obligations and evaluation elements::
Students should attend class regularly and participate in in-class discussions. Students will be able to revise the course material in class and will get reading assignments several times during the semester. The course material is taught systematically according to the topic. Students sit for two preliminary exams during the semester and, if they pass both, can finish the course. If not, they must sit for the full exam.

Recommended reading (obligatory):
Cruse, Alan D. (1986). Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Cruse, Alan D. (2004). Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Goldberg, Adele (1995). Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
Jones, Steven, M. Lynn Murphy, Carita Paradis, Caroline Willners (2012). Antonyms in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Lakoff, George (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, What Categories Reveal about the Mind, Chicago – London: The Univeristy of Chicago Press
Murphy, M. Lynne (2003). Semantic Relations and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Žic Fuchs, Milena (1991a). Znanje o jeziku i znanje o svijetu. Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Biblioteka SOL

Recommended reading (optional):
Lyons, J. (1977),
Semantics. Vol. 1 i Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press
Langacker, Ronald W. (1987).
Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Theoretical Prerequisites, Vol. 1, Stanford: Stanford University Press
Žic Fuchs, Milena (2009).
Kognitivna lingvistika i jezične strukture: engleski present perfect. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Globus

 


Continue reading Semantics of the English language

Societies and Cultures of the USA and UK – archive

Course title: Societies and Cultures of the USA and UK (EN 1 J08)
Course title changed to: Cultures of the USA and UK
ECTS: 5 credits
Language of instruction: English
Duration: one semester – 5th (winter)

Instructors: mr. sc. Vesna Beli, dr. sc. Kristijan Nikolić
Status: obligatory
Form of tuition: 4 hours of workshop (excercies) a week
Enrolment requirements: CEL 3 and Analiza engleskih tekstova
Exam: written
Content: This course deals with customs, institutions and values of the UK and the USA. The readers will enable students to get to know various aspects of these two societies, such as politics, multiculturalism, education and art.

Obligatory literature: (Reader 1, US, i Reader 2, UK made of):
1) Giles, Judy and Middleton, Tim. 1999. Studying Culture – A Practical Introduction. Oxford. Blackwell. (Poglavlje What is Culture?).
2) Mauk, David and Oakland, John. 2009 (Fifth edition). American Civilization:
An Introduction
. Routlege. London and New York.

3) Oakland, John. 2011. (Seventh edition). British Civilization: An
Introduction.. Routledge. London and New York.

Additional literature:
1) Giles, Mick, ed. 1993. Modern American Culture: An Introduction. London and New York. Longman.
2) An Outline of American Government. 1989. Washington DC. US Information Agency.
3) Luedtke, Luther S. ed. Making America. 1987. The Society and Culture of the United States. Washington. US Information Agency.
4) Campbell, Neil and Kean, Alasdair. 1997. American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture. London and New York. Routledge.

Way of instruction: The course is of a seminar type. Groups are made of up to 15 students. Students must attend the classes regularly (have no more than three absences). They must prepare for classes and write assignments as instructed. Instructors and students will also communicate through Omega and e-mail.

Table of contents (chapters to be covered in class):
The United States (Reader 1)
1. The American context
3. The people: settlement and immigration
4. The people: women and minorities
5. Political institutions: the federal government
6. Political institutions: state and local government
8. The legal system
11. Education
13. Religion
Continuous Assessment

The United  Kingdom (Reader 2)
1. The British context
3. The people
4. Politics and government
6. The legal system
7. The economy
8. Social services
9. Education
11. Religion
Continuous assessment