PREREQUISITES:

• Úvod do obecné lingvistiky (Panevová) or
• Teorie jazyka (Starý)
• for a more thourough introduction into formal methods in linguistics Úvodní seminář matematické lingvistiky (Petkevič)
• suggestion for those interested in formal linguistic theories in the winter semester: Úvod do formální lingvistiky - nové směry v lingvistice (Hajičová)
• and in the summer semester: Syntax bez transformací (Rosen) (Syntax without transformations - HPSG from a more formal viewpoint, more stress on the formal metalanguage, comparison with other theories and the issues of implementation)

SYLLABUS:

1. levels of linguistic description, language as a collection of (linguistic) phenomena, description of language as an account of the interaction of linguistic phenomena
2. formal means for describing a language, grammar as a set of conditions on the existence of language expressions and rules of their interpretation
3. linguistic categories as a hierarchy of types
4. lexicon and rules of grammar
5. basic structure of a simple Czech sentence (description of basic word order and valency)
6. description of subject-predicate agreement in a simple sentence
7. semantic interpretation of language expressions
8. description of a simple free modification (adverbial, congruent attribute)
9. abstract description of valency, tools for a general description of valency frames
10. case assignment