Course Description - Content

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:05:59 -0400

You have entered the fascinating world of human language. Enjoy the journey!

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:06:00 -0400

"It just so often happens that upon close scientific inquiry, what looks like an endless unconstrained realm of diversity on the surface is actually nothing but a finite set of principled manifestations of a common core of sameness."

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:06:00 -0400

Class meets twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 2:50 to 4:05pm, in Room 109 at Axinn!

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:06:00 -0400

This course is an introduction to the main issues in the study of cross-linguistic variation, particularly from a formalist perspective. We will be mainly concerned with characterizing the notion "possible human language", showing how linguistic diversity is actually constrained and that certain universal principles hold of all languages. We will also discuss the kind of explanations for linguistic diversity that are typically given by two major schools of linguistic thought. Linguistic data will be drawn from both familiar as well as the so-called “exotic” languages, and linguistic phenomena will relate primarily to aspects of word formation (morphology) and sentence structure (syntax). In the second half of the term, we will discuss diversity in human language across space (e.g., geographical and social dialects) and time (language change), as well as “language emergence” as in the case of pidgins and creoles, “language death” and the case of endangered languages, minority languages as in the case of sign languages.

If it helps, you may think of the course as having three major parts, all relating to the issue of language diversity (check the class schedule here). In Part I, we start with a general introduction to the study of linguistic typology and the major issues typically discussed in this regard. Then we move on to Part II, where we look in detail at several instances of variation in syntactic phenomena (i.e., those related to sentence structures) as well as morphological phenomena (i.e., those related to word structure). In Part III of the course, we spend most of the second half of the term discussing linguistic diversity in historical and sociological terms, as well as issues relating to language birth and language death. We will end the course with a discussion of another fascinating aspect of linguistic diversity, that is, sign language systems, where the manual-visual modality replaces the audio-oral modality of spoken languages, thus helping us further in our pursuit to answering the fundamental question: "What is a possible human language?"

Should be a fun course. Welcome Everyone!

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:06:00 -0400

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

Title: The atoms of language: The Mind's Hidden Rules Of Grammar.
Author: Baker, Mark.
Publisher: New York: Basic Books.
Year of publication: 2002.
ISBN 0465005225. Paperback.
URL: http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/basic/book_detail.jsp?isbn=0465005225
(This book is available in the college booksotre)

Title: Exploring language structure: A student's guide.
Author: Payne, Thomas.
Publisher: New York: Basic Books.
Year of publication: 2006.
ISBN 0465005225. Paperback.
URL: http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521671507
(This book is available in the college booksotre)

Both books are on 2-hour reserve in the main library.I also put David Crystal's "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language" on physical reserve. It's a good reference for some of the topics that we'll be covering in this class.

Readings will be assigned from the required textbooks (essentially all of Baker's book will be covered, and most chapters from Payne's work). More reading materials will be assigned for for more elaborate content or for content not covered in the textbooks. These will be all articles or chapters from books. Many of these will be made available through electronic reserve, and links to them will be listed here as well as on the syllabus page.

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:25:51 -0400

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This will be a reading-intensive course. Students are required to READ the textbooks as well as all materials on reserve or on the course website that are assigned in class every week.

There will be FOUR ASSIGNMENTS to test your understanding of the material covered in class and to help you work on aspects of cross-linguistic variation on your own, applying the same reasoning and analytical tools that we’ll be discussing in class. Each homework counts for 10% of your overall grade. So, take them seriously! While I do not mind you discussing assignment questions with your colleagues, bear in mind that the work you turn in has to be yours, and yours alone. Copying someone else’s work will be treated as cheating, will receive no credit, and will be subject the consequences of violating academic integrity, as described in the College’s Academic Honesty Statement given at the bottom of this page.Also, please do turn in the assignment on time. Here's my policy concerning delay in turning in assignments:
    5% off if turned in after the deadline on the day it’s due (that means prior to midnight via e-mail only).
    10% off if turned in on the next day after the deadline.
    20% off if turned in later than that.
    Not accepted after I post the solutions (I know this is self-evident, but just in case)

In addition, each student will be required to work on a LANGUAGE ADOPTION PROJECT (LAP) for an unfamiliar or endangered language, and turn in a 10-page report on this particular language. Details on this project will be posted here in due time. The LAP will be assigned on March 16 and is due on May 10 by 1pm. A brief project proposal is also required by April 6th. A list of suggested languages and resources for the project will be posted here soon. Please note that no two LAP projects can be on the same language. After all, this is a course about “diversity”.

ATTENDANCE and CLASS PARTICIPATION are important to do well in this course. It’s impossible to do well on homework problems or write a good project report without attending classes regularly. And by “impossible” I really mean “impossible”.

Finally, students are required to take TWO EXAMS: a midterm and a final. The midterm exam is tentatively scheduled for March 18th. The final exam, which will be comprehensive, is tentatively scheduled for May 12.

Here's how each course requirement contributes to your overall percentage in the course:

Class attendance and participation (including doing the readings)	5%
4 Assignments	40%
Language Adoption Project (LAP)	15%
Midterm Exam	20%
Final Exam	20%

Here's how your letter grade will be assigned:

A	95% plus
A-	90% plus to 95%
B+	87% plus to 90%
B	83% plus to 87%
B-	80% plus to 83%
C+	75% plus to 80%
C	70% plus to 75%
C-	65% plus to 70%
D	50% plus to 65%
F	Less than 50%

Honor code

I will follow the Middlebury College’s Academic Honesty Statement as described here:

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/acadinfo/honorcode/statement.htm

Please make sure to write the Honor Code Pledge "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment," on both exams as well as the LAP report (use “We” in this latter case, since you’ll be working in pairs). There’s no need to write the pledge on the assignments since I do not mind your discussing homework problems together. Make sure, however, to turn in your own work. Copying someone else’s work on assignments will still count as cheating, will receive no credit, not to mention the consequences of violating academic integrity.

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:06:00 -0400

Ethnologue: An encyclopedic reference work cataloging all of the world’s 6,912 known living languages

The Universals Archive of Universität Konstanz. : A huge list of linguistic universals that have been suggested in the relevant literature, in particular those of an implicational kind.

SIL

Endangered languages:The SIL webpage on endangered languages.

Software tools: Computer resources including an extensive library for language researchers and software tools and fonts.

Untitled

Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:06:01 -0400

Usama Soltan
Assistant Professor of Arabic
Farrell House, Room 206
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753

Email: usoltan@middlebury.edu
Office phone extension: x5869

Office Hours:
Monday 11:15am-12:45pm
Friday: 11:15am-12:45pm,
and by appointment (e-mail to make an appointment).