Teaching

English Department

CS Varieties of English (BA3)

Thursday, 08-10, room B101

This class discusses different varieties of English. In order to consider a language a "variety" of English, we must agree on what counts as the features of a language. We will see that beyond the lexicon, many aspects of both the phonology and the morphosyntax of a language makes it a variety of what is referred to as "standard English". Our world trip will take us from the British Isles (Irish English, Welsh English, Scots), through the American Continent (Chicano English, African-American Vernalcular English) and Australia to India (Indian English).

SE The Syntax of Aspect and Mood: (MA 1-5)

Tuesday, 8-10, room B105

This class discusses the question of the aspectual and modal contributions of various elements from the syntactic point of view. English has distinct aspectual markers which exhibits specific constraints:
(1)a.     Babar has written his memoirs/ Babar is writing his memoirs.
    b.     Babar has been writing his memoirs /*Babar is had written his memoirs.
Moreover, some of the aspectual markers may appear either as bound or as distinct elements:
(2)a.     Babar reads a book every night.
    b.     Babar used to read books
    c.     Babar is going to read a book.
We will examine the contribution of markers of modality such as can/must/should and the restrictions on their distribution, as well as possible combinations with aspect:
(3)       *Babar can must go to Barcelona /*Babar must can go to Barcelona
(4)a.     Babar may be leaving/may have left.

  b.     Students should have been handing in all their papers during the semester.