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Usama Soltan - nobody@example.net — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:24:23 -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, events & other links
Sept 12	What is linguistics about? The nature of human language and linguistic knowledge: "Design features" 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 14	"Design features" cont.: Human language vs. animal communication systems The innateness hypothesis. The poverty of the stimulus argument. Lecture Slides	Chapter 1 cont. pp. 3-27 Jackendoff's Patterns in the mind: Chapters 1-3	Spiders courtship gesturing Fiddler crabs claw-waving Bees dancing Conversations with KOKO
Sept 19	The biological basis of language Language and the brain Lecture slides	Chapter 2 Jackendoff's chapters cont. Language and the brain clips Aphasia Broca's aphasia Wernicke's aphasia PET scan experiment	Read the general Guidelines for answering questions on homework assignments HERE. HW1 assigned: .pdf
Sept 21	What is grammar? Prescriptivism vs. descriptivism The three main questions of linguistic theory Main subfields in linguistics Articulartory phonetics: Consonants Lecture slides	Chapter 6, pp. 230-245
Sept 26	Consonants cont. Vowels Lecture slides	Chapter 6 cont. pp. 246-251 Some useful links The IPA chart Interactive IPA: Some phonetics fun! The Phonetics Flash Animation Project: More Phonetics fun Interactive saggital Section website Interactive IPA from Peter Ladefoged's online Course in Phonetics Link to some phonetics resources A video of some English phonetic transcriptions	HW1 due
Sept 28	Coarticulation Syllable structure Prosodic features (aka Suprasegmentals) Lecture slides	Prosodic features (Chapter 6, pp. 252-255). Also the section on Prosodic Phonology in Chapter 7, pp. 296-302. Transcription. Have a look at the following exercises from the textbook (pp. 261-262): Exercises 1, 2, 3, and 5. Start reading Chapter 7, pp. 272-282	HW2 assigned: .pdf
Oct 3	Phonology: Phonemes and allophones Lecture slides	Chapter 7 cont., pp. 272-296 Link to Thai tones Thai tongue twisters
Oct 5	Phonology problems Phonological rules Lecture slides	Look at the phonology problems I gave out in class in preparation for in-class discussion. Finish Chapter 7 (read the section on phonological rules, if you haven't done that already)	HW2 due
Oct 10	Intro to Morphology: Morphemes and Allomorphs Lecture slides	Chapter 3 pp. 76-99
Oct 12	Morphological analysis: English, Swedish, Cebuano, Turkish Rules of word formation Morphological typology: Isolating vs. synthetic; agglutinative vs. fusional Lecture slides	Chapter 3 cont. pp. 100-107 Chapter on morphological typology from the Language Files Link about Borrowing in Middle English Link about Eponyms in English Start reading Chapter 4, pp. 117-129	HW3 assigned: .pdf
Oct 17	Morphological typology cont. Some visual and linguistics puzzles Lecture slides	Chapter 4, pp. 117-129
Oct 19	Syntax: Constituency Phrase structure grammar Lecture slides	Chapter 4 cont., pp. 129-148	HW3 due
Oct 24	Midterm Recess	Have fun!
Oct 26	Syntax cont.: Transformational rules Lecture slides	Chapter 4, pp. 149-167	Midterm Exam: .pdf
Oct 31	Syntax cont.: UG: Principles and Parameters Lecture slides	Stard reading Chapter 8
Nov 2	Universal principles of grammar: Islands and Binding Evidence from Language acquisition by children Lecture slides	Read the section on wh-movement in Chapter 4 Read the short section on pronouns in Chapter 5 Finish reading Chapter 8	MIDTERM due on Thursday Nov 3rd by 12noon
Nov 7	Discussion of Readings from Language Myths: - Myth 9: In the Appalachians they speak like Shakespeare - Myth 12: Bad grammar is slovenly - Myth 17: They speak really bad English down south and in NYC		LAP one-page proposal due HW4 assigned: .pdf
Tuesday Nov 8	*Screening of The Linguists* at the Davis Library, Room 230 at 7-8pm**
Nov 9	Sociolinguistics: Language and society The language-dialect distinction (or lack thereof) Regional dialects of American English Lecture slides	Chapter 10, pp. 430-452
Nov 14	Discussion of Readings from Language Myths: - Myth 2: Some languages are just not good enough - Myth 4: French is a logical language - Myth 11: Italian is beautiful; German is ugly - Myth 6: Women talk too much Lecture slides		HW4 due
Nov 16	Language and ethnicity (African American English) Language attitudes The standard vs. nonstandard Lecture slides	Chapter 10 cont. Reading from Language Myths: - Myth 1: The Meanings of words should not be allowed to change.	HW5 assigned: .pdf
Nov 21	Sociolinguistic variation cont. Language attitudes in educational systems: A case in Ann Arbor, MI The Academic English Mastery program in CA Lecture slides
Nov 23	Thanksgiving Break	Eat Turkey!
Nov 28	Language Change: Lexical, semantic, morphological change syntactic, and phonological Lecture slides	Chapter 11, pp. 488-509
Nov 30	Historical linguistics: reconstruction and the comparative method Lecture slides	Chapter 11 cont., pp. 510-518	HW5 due
Dec 5	Creating language out of thin air: Pidgins and Creoles Lecture slides	Section in chapter 10 on Languages in contact, pp. 453-460 Jackendoff's chapter on language creation Also, have a look at David Crystal's Encyclopedia: chapter on pidgins and creoles, pp. 334-339.
Dec 7	Revisiting language and thought Language death and endangerment Finale: Review Course response forms List of topics covered Lecture slides	Chapter 1, pp. 29-34 Also Crystal's discussion of "Language and thought", pp. 14-15 in the Encyclopedia An LSA article on endangered languages
Dec 10	Final Exam posted
Dec 12	LAP report due by 9am (extended deadline)
Dec 15	Final Exam due by 12noon (no extensions will be given)

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