English  506
Principles of Linguistics
M 6:00 - 8:50 PM, HLG 204
Clai Rice
University of Louisiana at Lafayette		 the size of
Office: Griffin 357
Phone: 482-1327 
Email: crice at louisiana.edu
Office Hours: MW 11:00-1:00,
W 4:00-5:30,
and by appointment

UL Moodle

Course Description:  This course will be an examination of the fundamental theories and methods for studying language and communicative phenomena that prevail within the discipline of contemporary linguistics.  The course will follow a dual-path approach: on the one hand, we will work through a standard introductory textbook that presents linguistics as essentially a coherent set of practices to be applied to a definable data set.  At the same time, we will read essays that have been influential in constructing or challenging the perceived disciplinary consensus. No previous experience with linguistics will be assumed. In addition to reading assignments and practice sets, students will be complete two short research projects, two tests and a final examination.

Textbooks:
Language Files, 12th ed. Ohio State University Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-8142-5270-3.
The Language Myth. Vyvyan Evans. Cambridge UP, 2014. ISBN: 978-1-107-61975-3.
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes. Dan Everett, 2008. New York: Vintage. ISBN: 978-0307386120

Daily Schedule:
Aug, Mon, 26 -- Course Introduction. Image: Linguistics as as Discipline; Files 1.1-1.5; HW: Linguistic Autobiography
Sep, Mon, 02 -- Labor Day, No Class (Files 17.1-17.6)
Sep, Mon, 09 -- Phonetics: Anatomy, Consonants; Files 2.0-2.2; Vowels; Files 2.3
Sep, Mon, 16 -- Phonetics: Other sounds, Suprasegmentals; Files 2.4-2.8; Evans Chapters 1 & 2
Sep, Mon, 23 -- Phonology: Files 3.0-3.6; HW: File 3.6, 134-6, 139-143
Sep, Mon, 30 -- Phonology: syllabification. HW: practice problems; Everett, Part 1 (1-174)
Oct, Mon, 07 -- Phonetics & Phonology Test; AAVE Dialect Phonology; File 10.4; Language Profile items 6 & 7.
Oct, Mon, 14 -- Morphology: words and morphemes; Files 4.0-4.2; Evans Chapter 3
Oct, Mon, 21 -- Morphology: Making new words; Files 4.3-4.6; FUDGE factors; Morphology Problems; Evans Chapter 4
Oct, Mon, 28 -- Syntax: Lexical Categories; Files 5.0-5.3; Syntax: Constituency and Rules; Files 5.4-5.7; Language Profile items 8, 9, & 10.
Nov, Mon, 04 -- Syntax: Dependency and Universals; (Sag, Wasow, Bender 2003 Ch2 or Jackendoff 2010 Ch1); Everett, Parts 2 & 3 (177-279)
Nov, Mon, 11 -- Semantics: Lexical Semantics; Files 6.0-6.3; Semantics: Compositional Semantics; Files 6.4-6.6; Language Profile item 11. Evans Chapter 5
Nov, Mon, 18 -- Pragmatics: Speech Act Theory, Politeness, Face, Style Shifting; Evans Chapter 6
Nov, Mon, 25 -- Language Variation and Contact; Files 9, 10; Language Profile item 12; Evans Chapter 7
Dec, Mon, 02 -- Animal Communication; Evans Chapter 8
Dec, Mon, 09 -- Final Exam; Final Language Profile Due; Final Short Research paper due.


Points for Each Assignment: (600 points total)
 
Tests (1) 100
Homeworks, quizzes (10) 10
Research Projects (2) 100
Final Exam 100 

Attendance: University policy is that you may miss 10% of the class meetings without serious consequences.  Subsequent absences will cause your grade to suffer.  No make-up tests will be given unless you tell me in advance of class that you will be absent for some (important) reason.

Phonetics Links:
Sammy, the Interactive Saggital Section -- make sure your javascript is turned on.
Peter Ladefoged's A Course in Phonetics interactive IPA chart
IBM Watson Text-to-Speech demo
Summer Institute of Linguistics Speech Analysis software
Praat--speech analysis software

Online Linguistics Textbooks:
How Language Works: The Cognitive Science of Linguistics, by Michael Glasser
Linguistics 001, Mark Liberman's course at U. Penn
Fren 215: Introduction à la linguistique française (in French), by Greg Lessard
The Syntax of Natural Language, by Beatrice Santorini and Anthony Kroch

Various Linguistics Links:
Leipzig Glossing Rules -- Guidelines for formatting examples and translations in linguistics texts
The Linguist List -- Clearinghouse for linguistics information of all types
Ethnologue -- A database of the world's languages
Poetics and Linguistics Association -- Professional association for stylistics
Lots of fun stuff on John Lawler's Homepage
Language Log -- professional linguists meet the real world
The Web of Language--Dennis Baron's op-eds on linguistics issues in the press