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Date
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Topics
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Readings
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Assignments
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Sept 12
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Administrivia (i.e., boring stuff)
Part I: Introduction to linguistic typology
How many languages are there?
The language-dialect distinction: linguistic or sociopolitical?
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Anderson on "How many languages are there in the world": An LSA online article
Optional:
Birner: Why do some people have an accent? Another LSA online article |
Open the INTD0111_questionnaire file either by clicking on the link here, or in the "shared" directory of the course folder, and follow the instructions there.
Visit ETHONOLOGUE online and learn more about the range of linguistic diversity in the world.
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Sept 14
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Introduction to linguistic typology cont.
Classifying languages: genetic, areal, and typological classifications
What is a "possible human language"?
Language universals (absolute and implicational).
Lecture Slides in .pdf
You can see N. Y. Falk's language classification diagrams here.
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Winford on language contact: An LSA article.
O’Grady et al: Chapter 8 on the classification of languages
Read 347-49 and 365-81.
Whaley Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 3-29
Optional:
Comrie on linguistic diversity: An LSA online article
Song pp. 1-45
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Sept 19
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Variation in basic word order
Explaining language universals: A brief look at the functionalist-formalist debate
Language as a biological system: Chomsky's "Plato's problem"
Lecutre Slides in .pdf |
Baker Chapters 1 and 2
Whaley Chapter 3 pp. 30-53
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Sept 21
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Evidence for language as a biological system
Universal principles of grammar
Baker's "Code talker’s paradox"
Baker's "atoms" of language: Introducing parameters
Lecture Slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapters 2 and 3
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Sept 26
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Part II: Aspects of syntactic and morphological typology
Principles and parameters cont.: structure-dependency; the null subject parameter: (English/ French vs. Italian/Spanish)
Introduction to syntax: constituency, phrase structure rules, and structural “trees”
Word order variation revisited: The head directionality parameter
SOV vs. SVO languages: English/Edo vs. Japanese/Navajo
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapter 3 cont.
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HW#1 assigned
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Sept 28
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Syntax and head directionality cont.
VSO languages: Irish/Welsh
Verb placement in English vs. French.
Verb placement in German/Scandinavian: V2 effect
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapter 5: Alloys and compounds: pp. 123-140
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Oct 3
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VOS/OVS/OSV languages: Malagasy/Hixkarayana/Nadëb
Baker's parameter hierarchy
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapter 5 |
HW#1due
HW#1 suggested solutions |
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Oct 5
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Verb serialization: Edo
Languages with freedom of word order (aka nonconfigurational languages): Mohawk
A quick introduction to morphology: morphemes (bound vs. free/ inflectional vs. derivational)
Morphological typology:
Synthesis and fusion continua/ head-marking vs dependent-marking
Polysynthetic languages: complex word structure, noun and verb incorporation, freedom of word order, subject and object drop
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapter 5 pp. 140-143
Baker Chapter 4: Baking a polysynthetic language
Whaley Chapters 7/8
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Oct 10
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More on polysynthesis: Mohawk
Incorporation
The null subject parameter revisited
The dislocation analysis of free word order languages (aka as "The pronominal Argument Hypothesis")
Lecture slides in .pdf |
Baker Chapter 4 cont.
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HW#2 assigned |
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Oct 12
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Optional polysynthesis: Chichewa, Slave, and absence of Reverse Chichewa
"The Agreement Principle": Animacy and definiteness effects in Swahili
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapter 5 (section on optional polysynthesis pp. 143-156)
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| Oct 13 |
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HW#2 due by 5pm
HW#2 suggested solutions
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Oct 17
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MIDTERM RECESS
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Oct 19
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Toward a periodic table of human languages: A few more parameters
The Adjective Neutralization Parameter: Mohawk vs. Mayali
The Ergative Case parameter: Nominative-accusative vs. ergative-absolutive languages
The Topic-prominet Parameter: Japanese vs. English (again)
The wh-parameter: Japanese vs. English (yet again)
The Anaphor Domain Parameter: Japanese vs. English (it's true; again)
Implications of the parameter hierarchy for language acquisition
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Baker Chapter 6
Whaley Chapter 9 on "Case and agreement systems"
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Take-home midterm exam assigned
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Oct 24
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Setting parameters: Acquisition issues
Wrap-up: Why parameters?
Any questions, anybody?
Lecture slides in .pdf |
Baker Chapter 7
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Language Adoption
Project (LAP) assigned, and LAP pairs formed
Click here for LAP guideline questions |
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Oct 26
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Wrap-up cont.
Issues of language and culture
Language and evolutionary biology
A few more aspects of morphological typology
"Split" systems of case and agreement
Animacy, definiteness, and gender
Tense and aspect
Mood and modality
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Whaley Chapters 10 to 13
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Midterm exam due
Midterm exam suggested solutions
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Oct 31
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PART III: Diversity over time and space
Language change:
Lexical, semantic and morphological change
Lecture slides in .pdf
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An LSA article by Thompson
Fromkin et al's chapter 11 on language change: Part 1
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Nov 2
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Syntacitc change
Phonological change
Lexical diffusion
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Fromkin et al chapter 11 cont. |
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Nov 7
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Reconstruction, the comparative method, cognates.
Why do languages change?
Lecture slides in .pdf
Link to the second Germanic consonant shift |
Fromkin et al's chapter 11 on language change: Part 2 |
LAP proposal due, specifying language of project, and typological aspects of syntactic and morphological diversity of interest
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Nov 9
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Explanining language change under the parametric approach
- Baker: OV to VO in the history of English
- Lightfoot: Loss of verb-second in English
- Kroch: The competition model for language change
Lecture slides in .pdf |
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HW#3 assigned by Saturday Nov 11
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Nov 14
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Sociolinguistic diveristy:
Language, dialect, idiolect, accent
Dialectal variation of English: lexical, phonological, morphological, and syntactic
Lecture slides in .pdf
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Fromkin et al's chapter 10 on "Language in Society"
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Nov 16
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Sociolinguistic diveristy cont.
So, what's a "Standard" dialect exactly?
African American English
Lecture slides in .pdf |
Fromkin et al's chapter 10 cont.
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Nov 21
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Chicano Englsh
Sytles, slang, and jargon
Language and gender
Lecture slides in .pdf
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HW#3 due
HW#3 suggested solutions
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Nov 23
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THANKSGIVING
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EAT TURKEY!
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Nov 28
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Language emergence: The case of pidgins and creoles
Nicaraguan sign language
Lecture slides in .pdf
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David Crystal's Encyclopedia: chapter on pidgins and creoles, pp. 334-339.
Jackendoff 1993: Patterns in the Mind, Chap 10, pp. 130-139
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Nov 30
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Minority languages: Sign languages
American Sign Language (ASL): phonology, morphology, syntax, acquisition, historical change, and dialectal variation.
Lecture slides in .pdf |
Jackendoff 1993: Patterns in the Mind, Chap 7, pp. 83-98
Chapter on sign languages from David Crystal's Encyclopedia.
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HW#4 assigned
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| Dec 5 |
Language death: endangered languages
Lecture slides in .pdf |
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This class will be held on Wednesday Dec 6 at 7pm in the same 201 Library room where we weekly meet. |
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Dec 7
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SUMMARY AND REVIEW
Lecture slides in .pdf |
Read everything!
Come to class with questions.
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Dec 11
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HW#4 due
HW#4 suggested solutions
LAP DUE BY 5PM
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Dec 12
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Take-home final exam assigned: .pdf and .doc
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Dec 19
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FINAL EXAM DUE BY 5PM
Final Exam suggested solutions
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