Date
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Topics
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Readings and relevant links
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Assignments and events
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Sept 7
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What is linguistics about?
The nature of human language
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Chapter 1
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Questionnaire: Please fill in the questionnaire and send it to me by e-mail before Wednesday's class.
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Sept 9
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The nature of human language cont.
"Design features"
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Sept 14
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The nature of human language cont.
The biological basis of language
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Chapters 1 and 10 cont.
Jackendoff's chapters cont.
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Sept 16
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More on the biological basis for language
Prescriptivism vs. descriptivism
Goals of linguistic theory
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Sept 21
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Phonetics: Consonants
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Chapter 2
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HW1 due
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Sept 23
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Sept 28
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Syllable structure
Prosodies (aka Suprasegmentals)
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Chapter 2
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Sept 30
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Phonology: Phonemes and allophones
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Chapter 2
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HW2 due (deadline extended till 12:30pm on Friday Oct 2)
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Oct 5
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Phonology cont.: Phonological rules
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Chapter 2
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Oct 7
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Morphology
Morphemes and Allomorphs
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Chapter 3
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First talk in the Linguistics series this Fall
“Study Abroad in China: Do Students Become More Fluent?”
by Hang Du (Chinese Dept)
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Oct 12
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Fall Break
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Have fun!
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Oct 14
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The Lexicon
Processes of word formation
Morphological typology
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Chapter 4
Chapter 11, pp. 255-265
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HW3 due
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Oct 19
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English plural allomorphy
Turkish Vowel Harmony
Morphological typology cont.
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Oct 21
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Chapter 5
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Oct 26
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Syntax cont.: Phrase structure grammar
Lecture slides |
Chapter 5
Also make sure to read Chapter 5 from O'grady et al's book on reserve in the library
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Oct 28
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Syntax cont.: Transfomrations
UG: Principles and Parameters
Head directionality
Lecture slides
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Chapter 5
Chapter 11: Section on syntactic typology
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Second talk in the Linguistics series this Fall
“Applied Linguistics 101: Language Matters in the Worlds of Education, Geopolitics, and Social Justice”
by Shawna Shapiro (Writing)
MIDTERM DUE
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Nov 2
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UG: Principles and Parameters cont.
First language acquisition
Lecture slides
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LAP one-page proposal due
HW4 assigned: pdf
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Nov 4
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More on first language acquisition: Evidence from Binding
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Chapter 9
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Nov 9
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Sociolinguistics: Language in social contexts
The language-dialect distinction (or lack thereof)
Regional dialects of American English
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HW4 due
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Nov 11
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Sociolinguistics: Language in social contexts cont.
Language and ethnicity (African American English)
Language attitudes
The standard vs. nonstandard
Styles
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Nov 16
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Language Change: Lexical, semantic, and morphological change
Lecture slides
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Chapter 12
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Nov 18
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Syntactic change
Phonological change
Historical linguistics: reconstruction
Lecture slides
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Chapters 12 and 13
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HW5 due
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Nov 23
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Explaining language change
Creating language out of thin air: Pidgins and Creoles
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Nov 25
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Thanksgiving Break
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Eat Turkey!
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Nov 30
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LAP Presentations
Click HERE to see the presentations order
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Read McGregor's discussion of language and cognition and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Chapter 8)
Read Crystal's discussion of "Language and thought", pp. 14-15 in the Encyclopedia
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Dec 2
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Third talk in the Linguistics series this Fall
“Raising Bilingual Children in Monolingual Environments: A Case Study”
by Ana Martinez-Lage (Spanish)
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Dec 4
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LAP due by 1pm
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Dec 8
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Final Exam assigned
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Dec 10
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Final Exam due
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