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Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:39:27 -0400

This is the (tentative) class-by-class schedule that I envisage for this course. As usual, there will be slight changes here and there as the term unfolds, but it should you give you a clear idea on what we intend to cover over the semester. This is also where a lot of the course materials will be uploaded (readings, assignments, exams). It's a convenient way of grouping (almost) everything in one table on a single page. So, check here often.

Date	Topics	Readings	Assignments
Sept 12	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	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.
Sept 14	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.	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
Sept 19	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
Sept 21	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	Baker Chapters 2 and 3
Sept 26	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	Baker Chapter 3 cont.	HW#1 assigned
Sept 28	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	Baker Chapter 5: Alloys and compounds: pp. 123-140
Oct 3	VOS/OVS/OSV languages: Malagasy/Hixkarayana/Nadëb Baker's parameter hierarchy Lecture slides in .pdf	Baker Chapter 5	HW#1due HW#1 suggested solutions
Oct 5	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	Baker Chapter 5 pp. 140-143 Baker Chapter 4: Baking a polysynthetic language Whaley Chapters 7/8
Oct 10	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.	HW#2 assigned
Oct 12	Optional polysynthesis: Chichewa, Slave, and absence of Reverse Chichewa "The Agreement Principle": Animacy and definiteness effects in Swahili Lecture slides in .pdf	Baker Chapter 5 (section on optional polysynthesis pp. 143-156)
Oct 13			HW#2 due by 5pm HW#2 suggested solutions
Oct 17	MIDTERM RECESS
Oct 19	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	Baker Chapter 6 Whaley Chapter 9 on "Case and agreement systems"	Take-home midterm exam assigned
Oct 24	Setting parameters: Acquisition issues Wrap-up: Why parameters? Any questions, anybody? Lecture slides in .pdf	Baker Chapter 7	Language Adoption Project (LAP) assigned, and LAP pairs formed Click here for LAP guideline questions
Oct 26	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	Whaley Chapters 10 to 13	Midterm exam due Midterm exam suggested solutions
Oct 31	PART III: Diversity over time and space Language change: Lexical, semantic and morphological change Lecture slides in .pdf	An LSA article by Thompson Fromkin et al's chapter 11 on language change: Part 1
Nov 2	Syntacitc change Phonological change Lexical diffusion Lecture slides in .pdf	Fromkin et al chapter 11 cont.
Nov 7	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
Nov 9	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		HW#3 assigned by Saturday Nov 11
Nov 14	Sociolinguistic diveristy: Language, dialect, idiolect, accent Dialectal variation of English: lexical, phonological, morphological, and syntactic Lecture slides in .pdf	Fromkin et al's chapter 10 on "Language in Society"
Nov 16	Sociolinguistic diveristy cont. So, what's a "Standard" dialect exactly? African American English Lecture slides in .pdf	Fromkin et al's chapter 10 cont.
Nov 21	Chicano Englsh Sytles, slang, and jargon Language and gender Lecture slides in .pdf		HW#3 due HW#3 suggested solutions
Nov 23	THANKSGIVING	EAT TURKEY!
Nov 28	Language emergence: The case of pidgins and creoles Nicaraguan sign language Lecture slides in .pdf	David Crystal's Encyclopedia: chapter on pidgins and creoles, pp. 334-339. Jackendoff 1993: Patterns in the Mind, Chap 10, pp. 130-139
Nov 30	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.	HW#4 assigned
Dec 5	Language death: endangered languages Lecture slides in .pdf	LSA article on endangered languages Articles from the journal Language in 1992 on endangered languages.	This class will be held on Wednesday Dec 6 at 7pm in the same 201 Library room where we weekly meet.
Dec 7	SUMMARY AND REVIEW Lecture slides in .pdf	Read everything! Come to class with questions.
Dec 11			HW#4 due HW#4 suggested solutions LAP DUE BY 5PM
Dec 12			Take-home final exam assigned: .pdf and .doc
Dec 19			FINAL EXAM DUE BY 5PM Final Exam suggested solutions

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