VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI (VNU)

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (ULIS)

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General Linguistics

1. Lecturers profile

No.1: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Lm Quang ng

Office of Science and Technology, ULIS
Office: 312 A1
Telephone: 0913323447
E-mail: lamquangdong@vnu.edu.vn
Academic expertise: Linguistics, Translation Theory, Cognitive Linguistics, Semantics

No.2: Prof.Dr. Nguyn Ha

Telephone: 0912311569
Email: hoadoe@yahoo.com
Academic expertise: Linguistics, Discourse Analysis

Teaching Assistant (TA)

Full name: Dr. Trn Thi Thu Hin

Telephone: 0989314446
Email: hienesp@gmail.com
Academic expertise: Linguistics

2. General information of the course

Course title: General Linguistics

Code: ENG6020
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: None

3. Objectives

The course provides graduate students with general linguistic knowledge, methodology and skills
needed for subsequent specialized courses and linguistic studies, including phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, amongst others. By the end of the course, students
will be able to:
- Demonstrate their understanding of the nature, functions, properties and general
principles of language and linguistic knowledge;
- Demonstrate their understanding of fundamental principles and methods in linguistic
studies, e.g. phonetics and phonology, lexicology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, etc.
- Demonstrate their understanding of major traditional and recent approaches to linguistic
studies;

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 - Apply such knowledge and methods to the analyses of common phenomena and specific
cases in English and Vietnamese in their teaching and research contexts.

4. Description

The course provides students with fundamentals of general linguistics so that they gain essential
understanding of the nature, functions and properties of language. This is a pre-requisite course
for all subsequent ones. Lectures in the course cover major subfields of linguistics, including
Phonetics and Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics as well as issues in
linguistic studies and language teaching of current interest. Each lecture discusses universals in
linguistics, their instantiations in Vietnamese and the foreign languages delivered by ULIS,
especially English. The logical transgression in the course is from more conventional structuralist
to more recent views in linguistics.

5. Detailed content

The course covers, but is not limited to, the following:

Fundamentals in language and linguistics
Language families, the English and Vietnamese languages
Traditional and modern methods and approaches in linguistic studies
Hierarchy of the language system
Sub-fields of linguistic studies: phonetics, phonology, lexicology, syntax, semantics,
pragmatics, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, systemic functional linguistics, etc.
Language evolution
Other issues of interest and inquiries from participants of the course.

6. Course materials

Required coursebooks
1. Akmajian, Adrian; Demers, Richard A.; Farmer, Ann K.; Harnish, Robert M. (2001)
An Introduction to Language and Communication, 5th edition, Cambridge: the MIT Press
2. de Saussure, Ferdinand (1959) Course in General Linguistics, translated by Wade
Baskin, New York: Columbia University Press
3. Fromkin, V.; Rodman, R.; Hyams, N. (2003) An Introduction to Language, 7th edition,
Boston: Thomson Wadsworth
4. Halliday, M.A.K (2014) Hallidays Introduction to Functional Grammar. 4th edition,
revised by Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen, New York: Routledge
5. Lee, David (2002) Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. New York: OUP

Further reading

Crystal, D. (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 4th ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
Finegan, E. (2004) Language: Its structure and Use. USA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Fromkin, V. A, Curtis, S., Hayes, B.T. et al. (2000) Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic
Theory. USA: Blackwell Publisher Inc.

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 Jackendoff, Ray (2002) The Foundations of Language Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution,
Cambridge: the MIT Press.
Nguyn Vn Khang (1999) Ngn ng hoc xa h i Nhng vn c ban (Sociolinguistics
Major Issues). Ha N i: NXB KHXH
Ladefoged, P. (2000) A Course in Phonetics. 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth.
LoCastro, V. (2006) An Introduction to Pragmatics Social Action for Language Teachers.
USA: University of Michigan Press.
Lyon, J. (1996) Linguistics Semantics: An Introduction. CUP
Pinker, Steven (1994) The Language Instinct, New York: Morrow.
Potts, C. (2005) The Logic of Conventional Implicatures. Oxford: OUP
Rowe, Bruce M., Levine, Diane P. (2006) A Concise Introduction to Linguistics, London and
New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
Saeed, J. (2005) Semantics. UK: Blackwell.
L Toan Thng (2005) Ngn ng hoc tri nhn. T l thuyt i cng n thc tin ting Vit
(Cognitive Linguistics From Theory to Vietnamese Specifics). Ha N i: NXB KHXH
Nguyn c Tn (2008) c trng vn hoa dn t c cua ngn ng va t duy, Ha N i: NXB
KHXH
Yule, G. (2006) The Study of Language. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press.
and other relevant and up-to-date papers assigned by lecturer(s).

7. Detailed schedule

Week Content Reading

1 Fundamentals in languages and Akmajian et al (2001) Chapter 1
linguistics Fromkin et al. (2003) Chapter 1
2 Saussure (whole book)
3 Language, Culture and Thought Nguyn c Tn (2008)
4 Language families, the English Akmajian et al (2001) Chapter 8
and Vietnamese languages Fromkin et al. (2003) Chapter 2

5 Traditional and modern methods Akmajian et al (2001) Chapters 2 and 5

6 and approaches in linguistic Fromkin et al. (2003) Chapters 3 and 4
studies
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8 Hierarchy of the language system Akmajian et al (2001) Chapter 6
Fromkin et al. (2003) Chapter 5
9 Sub-fields of linguistic studies: Akmajian et al (2001) Chapters 7, 8, 9 & 10
10 phonetics, phonology, lexicology, Fromkin et al. (2003) Chapter 10
11 syntax, semantics, pragmatics, Nguyn Vn Khang (1999)
12 sociolinguistics, cognitive Lee (2002), L Toan Thng (2005),
13 linguistics, systemic functional Halliday (2014), Unsworths presentation on
linguistics, etc. multimodality (2014)
14 Language evolution Fromkin et al (2003) Chapters 2, 10 & 11
15 Revision, Q & A No reading

8. Mode of teaching
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 Lectures: 30 hours
Presentations and group discussions (TA-guided): 15 hours
Self-study/group work: 90 hours

9. Assessment

- A midterm take-home assignment: 30%. Responses to theoretical issues and answers to

practical questions/exercises. Due: Week 10.
- A final in-class test: 60%. 150 minutes, including responses to theoretical issues and
answers to practical questions/exercises based on course content covered.
- Attendance and participation: 10%

10. Policy
Students must attend at least 80% of classes and seminars. Failure of this requirement
results in students enrollment in the same course at the soonest time possible.
All required readings must be read.
Honesty above all. Plagiarism will result in serious penalty.
Participation in class is assessed on the basis of the following:
o Contributing interesting comments and arguments;
o Providing relevant illustrations for the concepts in question;
o Presenting valuable supplements to others arguements;
o Raising interesting questions;
o Etc.

Hanoi, July 1st, 2016

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Lm Quang ng