| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | ||
| 1 |
What's it all about? Branches of linguistics. Language acquisition: what's innate, what's learned? | |
| Morphology | ||
| 2 |
The notion "lexicon" No word or morpheme boundaries in the speech signal | |
| 3 |
Affixes: prefixes, suffixes The rule "Merge" How structure interacts with sound and with meaning Syntactic category | |
| 4 |
Affixes: reduplication, infixes Solving morphology problems Subcategorization Derivational vs. inflectional morphology | Problem set 1 due |
| Phonetics (Sounds of Speech: Production and Perception) | ||
| 5 |
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Articulatory phonetics / distinctive features Consonants: place, manner, aspiration, nasality Vowels | |
| 6 |
Articulatory phonetics (cont.) Acoustic phonetics, categorical perception The McGurk effect |
Problem set 2 due Writing assignment 1 due |
| 7 | Finish phonetics, start phonology | |
| Phonology (Sounds of Speech: Their Grammar) | ||
| 8 |
Phonology vs. phonetics Phonological rules Underlying form | Problem set 3 due |
| 9 | Quiz #1: IPA, phonetics, perhaps some phonology | Problem set 4 due |
| 10 - 12 |
Complementary distribution Phoneme and allophone How to determine the phonemes of a language Rule ordering Syllable structure |
Problem set 5 due Writing assignment 2 due |
| Writing Systems | ||
| 13 |
Writing systems as a technology for representing speech Types of systems: pictographic, syllabary, alphabet Origins of the Roman alphabet Phonemic vs. phonetic alphabetic writing systems | Problem set 6 due |
| Syntax (Sentence Structure) | ||
| 14 |
Syntactic categories (noun, verb, etc.) Phrase structure Subcategorization in syntax Chomsky's Locality Condition on subcategorization The notion "head" | |
| 15 |
Complements and adjuncts Head-initial vs. head-final languages | |
| 16 |
Quiz #2: Syntax basics Movement | |
| 17 |
Movement as "internal merge" wh-movement Topicalization V-to-C movement Patterns of pronunciation (overt, covert, split) Verb-second | Problem set 7 due |
| 18 |
The notion "parameter" Movement and word-order variation A language universal: the Final-over-Final Constraint (FOFC) | Problem set 8 due |
| Acquisition of Syntax | ||
| 19 |
Stages of acquisition Learning vs. innateness vs. maturation | |
| Semantics (Grammar of Meaning) / Semantics and Pragmatics | ||
| 20 - 21 |
Pronouns and binding Quantifier scope Negative polarity items |
Problem set 9 due Writing assignment 3 due |
| Controversies, Myths and Crazy Rumors about Language | ||
| 22 |
Selected from such issues as... Does the language of the Pirahã disprove theories about language? Why did Stalin write articles about linguistics? What does teaching children to read have to do with right-wing vs. left-wing politics? How many words for snow does Eskimo have? Should we care? | |
| Historical Change | ||
| 23 |
Synchronic vs. diachronic linguistics Internalist vs. externalist views of change Pidgins, Creoles, Creolization | |
| 24 |
Language families The Indo-European language family: language and culture Linguistics and the Romantic movement History of English |
Problem sets 10 and 11 due Writing assignment 4 due |
| Dialects: Facts and Controversies | ||
| 25–26 |
What is a dialect? The politics of languages and dialects Dialects of North American English The "Ebonics" controversy | |
| 27 | Final exam | |
