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Lecturer(s)
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Bednaříková Božena, doc. PhDr. Dr.
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Kosta Peter, prof. DR HAB
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Course content
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One of the key questions presented by Plato in his Kratylos deals with the origin and the nature of a natural language. Kratylos explains why and in what sense a language (understood as an internal grammar/ internal language model as described by Chomsky) is exclusively a human characteristics constituted as a complex recursive system of rules, principles and parameters that can be quite quickly mastered by anyone, regardless of their intelligence and learning conditions even if it is for instance the case of poverty of stimulus. In connection with the thesis ( Kosta 1992) and some recent studies cf. e.g. Kosta, Krivochen, Peters 2011, Kosta, Krivochen 2012) the course will be dealing with the following topics falling into the newly constituted discipline of biolinguistics cf. Sciullo / Boeckx 2011, cf. also Kosta, Krivochen, review 2012): and the research project focussed on innate language competence: (1) What characteristics does a language phenotype have? What genotype counterparts are there to the language phenotype? (2) How can the ability to speak be imagined with respect to its growth and maturing? (3) What does a cognitive representation and the cognitive map of a language in human brain look like? (4) What is the relation between the ?software? and ?hardware? how does the language competence participate what does it consist of? (5) What developmental and psychological processes result into language origination? (6) How can the anatomy of a language be explored? Which methods are available? ( e.g.: biolinguistics, neurolinguistics, evolutional biology, molecular genetics)
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture, Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook), Methods of Written Work
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Learning outcomes
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The seminar could be hedged by the following question: Has the language and language competence been developed as a result of direct selection a selection pressure of species humana or has the development resulted from developmental psychology of biological evolution?
Knowledge of developmental and psychological processes leading to the emergence of language, reading texts in the biolingvistics and neurolinguistics, critical thinking and discussion
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Prerequisites
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Basic knowledge of linguistic terminology, ability to read English Scientific texts
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Student performance, Seminar Work
Seminar paper on a given topic
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Recommended literature
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" Anna Maria Di Sciullo and Cedric Boeckx, Introduction: Contours of the Biolinguistic Research Agenda . IN: The Biolinguistic Enterprise. New Perspectives on the Evolution and Nature of Human Language Faculty. Edited by Anna Maria di Sciullo & Cedric Boeckx. 1-18.
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" Robert C. Berwick, Syntax Facit Saltum Redux: Biolinguistics and the Leap to Syntax, a.a.O. 65-99.
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" Robert G. Berwick and Noam Chomsky, The Biolinguistic Program: The Current State of its Development, a.a.O., 19-41.
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" W. Tecumseh Fitch. "Deep Homology" in the Biology and Evolution of Language, a.a.O., 135-168.
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