Course Description: This course will be an in-depth
examination of the fundamental theories and methods for studying
language and communicative phenomena that prevail within the
disciplinary discourse of contemporary linguistics. The course
will follow a dual-path approach: on the one hand, we will work through
two standard introductory textbooks 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 three tests and a final examination.
Textbooks:
Language Files, 10th ed. Bergmann, Hall, and Ross, eds. Ohio
State University Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-8142-5163-8.
How English Works. Curzan and
Adams. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. ISBN: 0-321-12188-0.
The Language Instinct. Steven
Pinker. New York: Perennial, 1994. ISBN: 0060958332. (not in bookstore)
Daily Schedule:
Jan, Mon, 21--Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, No Class
Jan, Wed, 23--Course Introduction. Image: Linguistics
as as Discipline; HW: Linguistic Autobiography
Jan, Mon, 28--Files Ch1; C&A Ch1
Jan, Wed, 30--C&A Ch2; Pinker Ch1
Feb, Mon, 04--Mardi Gras Holiday, No
Class
Feb, Wed, 06--Ash Wednesday, No
Class
Feb, Mon, 11--Phonetics: Anatomy, Consonants; Files 2.0-2.2; C&A
64-74
Feb, Wed, 13--Phonetics: Vowels; Files 2.3; C&A 75-79; Pinker Ch2
Feb, Mon, 18--Phonetics: Other sounds, Suprasegmentals; Files 2.4-2.8;
Pinker Ch3
Feb, Wed, 20--Phonetics Test;
Feb, Mon, 25--Phonology: allophones, phonemes, and rules; Files
3.0-3.2; C&A 79-85. HW: File 3.6, 134-6
Feb, Wed, 27--Phonology: rules, constraints, and problems; Files
3.3-3.6; C&A 85-100; Pinker Ch4-6. HW: File 3.6, 139-143
Mar, Mon, 03--Phonology: syllabification. HW: practice problems; Pinker
Ch7-8
Mar, Wed, 05--Phonology Test
Mar, Mon, 10--AAVE Dialect Phonology; Their
Eyes are Watching God; C&A 392-425; File 10.4
Mar, Wed, 12--Morphology: words and morphemes; Files 4.0-4.2; C&A
101-110 HW: Problems; Pinker 9-10
Mar, Mon, 17--Morphology: Making new words; Files 4.3-4.6; C&A
111-128.
Mar, Wed, 19--FUDGE factors
Mar, Mon, 24--Spring Break
Mar, Wed, 26--Spring Break
Mar, Mon, 31--Morphology Problems
Apr, Wed, 02--Syntax: Lexical Categories; Files 5.0-5.3; C&A Ch5;
Pinker 11-13
Apr, Mon, 07--Syntax:
Constituency and Rules; Files 5.4-5.7 C&A Ch6
Apr, Wed, 09--Syntax: Dependency and Universals; (Sag, Wasow, Bender
Ch2 or Jackendoff Ch1)
Apr, Mon, 14--Test
Apr, Wed, 16--Semantics: Lexical Semantics; Files 6.0-6.3; C&A
207-223
Apr, Mon, 21--Semantics: Compositional Semantics; Files 6.4-6.6;
C&A 224-233
Apr, Wed, 23--Narrative Structure: C&A 296-304; Their Eyes are Watching God
Apr, Mon, 28--Pragmatics: Speech Act Theory C&A 242-254
Apr, Wed, 30--Pragmatics: Politeness, Face, Style Shifting
C&A255-274
May, Mon, 05--Literary Stylistics; C&A Ch9
May, Wed, 07--Language Variation and Contact; Files 9, 10;
May, Mon, 12--Final Exam
May, Wed,14
Points for Each Assignment: (600 points total)
| Tests (3) |
100 |
| Homeworks (5) |
10 |
| Class Participation (quizzes, attendance,
discussion) |
50 |
| Project |
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
Bell Labs
text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer demo
Phthong
-- practice your IPA reading and transcription skills; use the LIN 228
link for more precise style.
Another IPA
practice page
Summer Institute of Linguistics Speech
Analysis software
Praat--speech analysis
software
International Phonetic Alphabet chart
U. Iowa's Phonetics
Flash Animations
Wikipedia has a nice section
on
phonetics
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:
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
New! The Linguist's Search
Engine searches the web and parses, too!
MLA's Language Map of the USA
Language
Myths from U. Penn
Various Text and Author Links:
Some short
texts of concrete poetry
Heather McHugh Links
Gertrude Stein's Tender
Buttons
Text of Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll Home
Page
The Emily
Dickinson International Society
