Analysis of Contemporary English I (Phonology and Lexical Studies) ENGL560
Compulsory/Elective:
Hours assigned:
Method of assessment:
Number of credits:
Compulsory
42
Coursework 100%
3
PRONUNICATION / PHONOLOGY (21 hours)
Objectives
Analysis of Contemporary English addresses the questions "What is English?" and
"How does English work?" In Analysis of Contemporary English I, students are
expected to: become familiar with the major sound-systems of English and their use in
discourse; become familiar with English lexical studies and apply this knowledge and
understanding to the systematic improvement of their own English.
Syllabus
The Pronunciation of English
How many sounds are there in an English word such as ‘money’? What are the
organs involved in producing each of the above sounds? How does the vowel in
‘word’ differ from that in ‘work’? How to ‘decipher’ the phonetic symbols used in
dictionaries? Where should word stress be placed in ‘informative’ and ‘mechanism’?
These are some of the issues that we will explore in this course. Guidance will be
given to help students

identify their pronunciation needs

communicate more clearly with their peers

speak accurately and with effectiveness
Content
Whenever possible, the examples/data used during the course will be drawn from the
students and their places of work in order to underline the relevance and applicability of
what is being studied. Analysis of Contemporary English is intended to provide a useful
background for studying other subjects on the course and subject teachers will work
closely together to ensure that such integration takes place.
The Pronunciation of English

English speech sounds (vowels and consonants)

Rules governing
- syllable length
- the pronunciation of ‘-ed’ & ‘-s’ suffixes

Stress (word and sentence), intonation

Features in connected speech (e.g., assimilation, linking)
Reading List
English Pronunciation:
Suggested

Brazil, David. (1994). Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English. CUP.

Dauer, Rebecca. (1993). Accurate English: A Complete Course in
Pronunciation.

Prentice Hall.

Gilbert, Judy. (1993). Clear Speech : Pronunciation and Listening
Comprehension in

North American English. CUP.

Roach, P. (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology (3rd ed). Cambridge:
Cambridge

University Press.
Assessment
Continuous Assessment will be based on a minimum of three assignments – one at the
end of each section of the course.
LEXICAL STUDIES
Objectives
The second half of this subject aims to help students to critically understand what
constitutes semantic meaning and how English forms new words. It also helps
student to critically understand and apply the various aspects of the meaning relations
between words/lexical items and the contexts in which they are used. Lastly, itt aims
to provide students with the skills to conduct corpus-driven studies of lexical items.
Indicative Content
1.
Introduction to Lexicology
2.
Word formation and word meaning
3.
Words versus lexical items
4.
Corpus-driven lexical studies
5.
Collocation, colligation, semantic preference and semantic prosody
6.
Lexical patterns and meaning
7.
Lexical priming
Teaching pattern
Interactive lectures/seminars.
Assessment
Assessment is by means of continuous assessment. Students write two assignments
(each approx. 1,000 words).
Reading List
Aston, G. (ed.) 2001. Learning with Corpora, Houston: Athelstan
Ayto, J. 1999. Twentieth Century Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carter, R. 1998. Vocabulary: applied linguistic perspectives. Second edition,
London: Routledge.
Hatch E and Brown C. 1995. Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language
Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoey, M. 1991. Patterns of Lexis in Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hoey, M. 2005. Lexical Priming: A new theory of language. London:
Routledge.
Hudson, R. 1995. Word Meaning. New York and London: Routledge.
Hunston, S. 2002. Corpora in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Hurford J. R. and Heasley B. 1983. Semantics: a Coursebook. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Jackson H. and Amvela E. Z. 2000. Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An
Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. London: Cassell.
Lyons, J. 1977. Semantics. Volumes 1&2. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Moon, R. 1998. Fixed Expressions and Idioms in English: A Corpus-Based
Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Partington, A. 1998. Patterns and Meanings: using corpora for English
language research and teaching. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Sinclair, J. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Sinclair, J. 2003. Reading Concordances. London: Longman.
Sinclair, J. 2004. Trust the Text. London; Routledge:.
Thomas, J and M. Short 1996. Using Corpora for Language Research. New
York: Longman.
Tognini Bonelli, E. 2001. Corpus linguistics at work. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
Prepared by: Ms Vicky Man and Prof Martin Warren