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Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:29:14 -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 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, do check here often.

Date	Topics	Readings and relevant links	Assignments and events
Sept 7	What is linguistics about? The nature of human language Lecture slides	Chapter 1 Read Nunberg and Wasow's overview of the field of linguistics	Questionnaire: Please fill in the questionnaire and send it to me by e-mail before Wednesday's class.
Sept 9	The nature of human language cont. "Design features" Lecture Slides	Chapter 1 cont. Chapter 10 Jackendoff's Patterns in the mind: Chapters 1-3	Spiders courtship gesturing Fiddler crabs claw-waving Bees dancing Conversations with KOKO
Sept 14	The nature of human language cont. The biological basis of language Lecture Slides	Chapters 1 and 10 cont. Jackendoff's chapters cont.	HW1 assigned: .pdf
Sept 16	More on the biological basis for language Prescriptivism vs. descriptivism Goals of linguistic theory Lecture Slides	Chapter 8 (section on language and the brain) Broca's aphasia Wernicke's aphasia PET scan experiment
Sept 21	Phonetics: Consonants Lecture Slides	Chapter 2 The IPA chart Some phonetics fun! International Dialects of English Archive Interactive saggital Section website	HW1 due
Sept 23	Phonetics cont. Vowels Coarticulation Lecture Slides	Link to some phonetics resrouces A video of some English phonetic transcriptions Chapter 2	HW2 assigned: .pdf
Sept 28	Syllable structure Prosodies (aka Suprasegmentals) Lecture Slides	Chapter 2
Sept 30	Phonology: Phonemes and allophones Lecture slides	Chapter 2	HW2 due (deadline extended till 12:30pm on Friday Oct 2)
Oct 5	Phonology cont.: Phonological rules Lecture slides	Chapter 2	HW3 assigned: .pdf
Oct 7	Morphology Morphemes and Allomorphs Lecture slides	Chapter 3	First talk in the Linguistics series this Fall “Study Abroad in China: Do Students Become More Fluent?” by Hang Du (Chinese Dept)
Oct 12	Fall Break	Have fun!
Oct 14	The Lexicon Processes of word formation Morphological typology Lecture slides	Chapter 4 Chapter 11, pp. 255-265	HW3 due
Oct 19	English plural allomorphy Turkish Vowel Harmony Morphological typology cont. Lecture slides	Section on Turkish vowel harmony from Isac and Reiss' book "I-language" Chapter 4
Oct 21	Syntax: Constituency Lecture slides	Chapter 5	Midterm assigned: pdf
Oct 26	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
Oct 28	Syntax cont.: Transfomrations UG: Principles and Parameters Head directionality Lecture slides	Chapter 5 Chapter 11: Section on syntactic typology	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
Nov 2	UG: Principles and Parameters cont. First language acquisition Lecture slides	Language acquisition movie clips: Clip 1: Wh-doubling in child language Clip 2: Negation in child langauge Chapter 9	LAP one-page proposal due HW4 assigned: pdf
Nov 4	More on first language acquisition: Evidence from Binding Lecture slides	Chapter 9
Nov 9	Sociolinguistics: Language in social contexts The language-dialect distinction (or lack thereof) Regional dialects of American English Lecture slides	Chapter 7 Do you speak American? Northern Cities Vowel shift clip with Labov American English dialect map clip Bert Vaux' dialect survey and maps	HW4 due
Nov 11	Sociolinguistics: Language in social contexts cont. Language and ethnicity (African American English) Language attitudes The standard vs. nonstandard Styles Lecture slides	Chapter 7 Linguistic profiling study Linguistic profiling ad Jeopardy with a new twist An excerpt about linguistic discrimination against AAE speaking students History of AAE	HW5 assigned: .pdf
Nov 16	Language Change: Lexical, semantic, and morphological change Lecture slides	Chapter 12
Nov 18	Syntactic change Phonological change Historical linguistics: reconstruction Lecture slides	Chapters 12 and 13	HW5 due
Nov 23	Explaining language change Creating language out of thin air: Pidgins and Creoles Lecture slides	David Crystal's Encyclopedia: chapter on pidgins and creoles, pp. 334-339. Jackendoff 1993: Patterns in the Mind, Chap 10, pp. 130-139
Nov 25	Thanksgiving Break	Eat Turkey!
Nov 30	LAP Presentations Click HERE to see the presentations order	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
Dec 2	LAP Presentations Finale: List of topics covered Course response forms	LSA article on endangered languages Articles from the journal Language in 1992 on endangered languages. (Focus primarily on Ken Hale's final essay on the human value of linguistic diversity)	Third talk in the Linguistics series this Fall “Raising Bilingual Children in Monolingual Environments: A Case Study” by Ana Martinez-Lage (Spanish)
Dec 4	LAP due by 1pm
Dec 8	Final Exam assigned
Dec 10	Final Exam due

Class schedule - Content

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