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.
Note: Whenever ‘Chapter X’ is used in the syllabus table, it refers to a chapter from the main textbook, An Introduction to Language, unless otherwise specified.
| Date | Topics | Readings and relevant links | Assignments, events & relevant links |
| Sept 8 | Introduction — Some linguistic puzzles — What is linguistics about? — Lecture slides 1 — Lecture slides 2 | ||
| Sept 10 | The nature of human language and linguistic knowledge: “Design features” — Human language vs. animal communication systems — Lecture Slides | – Chapter 1, pp. 1-27 | Questionnaire: Please fill in the questionnaire and send it me to via e-mail, preferably before Wednesday’s class. |
| Sept 15 | Design features cont. — What is grammar? — Prescriptivism vs. descriptivism — Lecture slides | – Finish reading chapter 1. — Read Myth 12 (Bad grammar is slovenly) | HW1 assigned |
| Sept 17 | More on prescriptivism vs. descrptivism — The biological basis of language — Lecture slides | Read Myth 16 (You shouldn’t say ‘It is me” because ‘me’ is accusative) — Also read Chapter 10, pp. 461-482 on ‘Brain and Language’ — Read Nunberg and Wasow’s overview of the field of linguistics | |
| Sept 18-19 | Clifford Symposium on “Transforming the Academy in the Digital Era” | ||
| Sept 22 | Language and the brain — Main questions of linguistic theory — Main subfields of linguistics — Introducing Morphology: Morphemes — Lecture slides | Chapter 2 pp. 33-49 | HW1 due |
| Sept 24 | Morphology cont., — Morphological analysis — Lecture slides | Chapter 2 cont. pp. 33-49 cont — Also, take a look at the exercises on Zulu (pp. 67-68), Swedish (pp. 68), Cebuano (p. 69), and Turkish (p. 73). | |
| Sept 29 | Rules of word formation — Morphological typology — Lecture slides |
Chapter 2 cont., pp. 49-66 —- Also, Read this chapter from the Language Files
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HW2 assigned |
| Oct 1 | Presentation and discussion of Myth 10: Some languages have no grammar — Lecture slides | Read Myth 10 (Some languages have no grammar) — Chapter 3, pp. 76-87 | |
| Oct 6 | Intro. to Syntax: Constituency — Lecture slides | Continue to read Chapter 3 through p. 108 | HW2 due |
| Oct 8 | Syntax cont.: Phrase structure grammar — Lecture slides | Chapter 3 cont., pp. 109-129 | |
| Oct 13-14 | Midterm Recess | Have fun! | |
| Oct 15 | Syntax cont.: Transformational rules — Universals and variation — Lecture slides | Finish reading Chapter 3 if you haven’t already |
Talk by Toni Cook on Zulu sociolinguistic variation at 4:30 (Hillcrest 103) HW3 assigned |
| Oct 20 | Articulatory phonetics: Consonants —- Lecture slides | Chapter 5, pp. 189-204 | |
| Oct 22 | Consonants and Vowels — Lecture slides |
Myth 5: English spelling is kattastroffik — Chapter 5 cont., pp. 205-208 —- Also read the section on prosodic features in Chapter 6, pp. 252-255.
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HW3 due on Friday Oct 24 by 2pm |
| Oct 27 | Transcription — Coarticulation — Syllable structure — Lecture slides |
Chapter 6, pp. 224-235
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Midterm exam assigned |
| Oct 29 | Suprasegmentals — Phonology: Phonemes and allophones — Lecture slides | Finish reading Chapter 6, pp. 224-235 and 241-252, and the section on phonological analysis on pp. 260-264. | |
| Thursday Oct 30 | Deborah Cameron’s talk on Oct 30 at 4:30pm @ RAJ conference room (You are required to attend) | ||
| Nov 3 | Phonology problems and Phonological rules — Language acquisition by children — Lecture slides | Read the section on phonological analysis on pp. 260-264 — Chapter 9, pp. 394-424 | |
| Nov 5 | Sociolinguistics: Language and society — Regional dialects of American English — Language attitudes — The standard vs. nonstandard distinction — Lecture slides | Read Myth 20: ‘Everyone has an accent except me’ —Take this dialect quiz — Read Chapter 7, pp. 279-287 | MIDTERM due at the beginnig of class in hard copy |
| Nov 10 | Discussion of Readings from Language Myths and other articles — Lecture slides | Read Myth 17: “They Speak Really Bad English Down South and in New York City” — Read Myth 9: ‘In the Appalachians they speak like Shakespeare.’ — Read this article: Is there a DC dialect? — Read this article: America’s ugliest accent? |
250-word paper proposal due HW4 assigned |
| Nov 12 | Language and ethnicity (African American English) — Lecture slides |
Chapter 7, pp. 287-301, and pp. 318-326 Readings on the ‘Ebonics debate’: At least read these three short links The Linguistic Society of America resolution To read more, follow these links: More views 1 — More views 2 |
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| Nov 17 | Language and gender — Language change: Lexical and semantic change — Lecture slides |
Read Myth 9: Women talk too much! Chapter 8, pp. 337-361 |
HW4 due HW5 assigned |
| Nov 19 | Language change cont: morphological, syntactic, and phonological Lecture slides | Read Myth 1: The Meanings of words should not be allowed to change | |
| Nov 24 | Historical linguistics: reconstruction and the comparative method — Lecture slides | Finish reading Chapter 8, Chapter 8, pp. 362-371 and pp. 375-378 — Read the section in chapter 7 on Languages in contact, pp. 301-312 | HW5 due |
| Nov 26-30 | Thanksgiving Break | Eat Turkey! | |
| Dec 1 | Creating language out of thin air: Pidgins and Creoles — Lecture slides |
Read Jackendoff’s chapter on language creation — Also, have a look at David Crystal’s Encyclopedia chapter on pidgins and creoles, pp. 334-339 Chapter 1 of the textbook, pp. 21-25 — Also Crystal’s discussion of “Language and thought”, pp. 14-15 in the Encyclopedia |
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| Dec 3 | Language and thought — Language death and endangerment — Lecture slides | Chapter 8, pp. 371-374 | |
| Dec 11 | Final Paper due by 1pm |