LING 210Dr. C. Paraskevas

Fall 2009Office: HSS 303

Office hours: 9-11 and

2-3 T Th or by appointment Office number: 838-8477

E-mail:

TEXT: Cruzan and Adams, How English Works—a Linguistic Introduction, 2nd edition

Also, you need to visit the following site:

COURSE GOALS

The goal of this course is to give students a basic understanding of language as a system; we will be looking at the various components of language (sounds, morphemes, words, word arrangement, word meaning, language development) and their interrelationships. In addition, we will look at language relationships and language change as well as language use and language attitudes.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the term, students will be able to

Describe the phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic structure of

English;

Determine the phonological, morphological and syntactic structure of any language (given a set of data from that language) using appropriate linguistic methods;
Describe the regional and social dialects of English;
Describe the interrelation between historical events and linguistic changes for

English;

Reconstruct earlier forms of a language;
Understand the process and stages of first language acquisition

ATTENDANCE

Attendance is extremely important; you cannot learn how to apply the basic principles of linguistics simply by reading the book and memorizing definitions. I expect you to be in class and to participate actively in class discussions. You are allowed 2 absences—that’s a week—with no questions asked. After that, your grade will be reduced by 10 points for each absence.

Course Policies

ADA Accommodation: Any student who feels that she or he may need an accommodation for any type of disability should contact the Office of Disability Services (838-8250v/tty). during the first week of classes

Cell phones: Please turn your cell phones off during class; text-messaging is not conducive to learning.

Academic dishonesty: All assigned, graded work should be your own. Collaborating with your colleagues for out-of-class graded assignments and providing identical or nearly identical answers will result in a failing grade for the assignment in question.

Extra help: If you need additional help with the class, please feel free to set up an appointment so we can go over the material in my office. Alternatively, you may want to set up an appointment with a linguistics tutor at the Academic Advising and LearningCenter (APSC 401)

Extra credit: The only available extra credit work is the linguistics competition listed below.

ASSIGNMENTS/COURSEWORK

Readings: This course is not hard provided you keep up with the reading. You must spend time reading the material carefully and thoroughly. It is a lot easier to understand the lectures if you have done your reading and have specific questions; if you come unprepared to class, it will be hard for you to follow the lecture and discussion.

Language Logs: Throughout the term, I want to see you engage with language issues; to that end, I’d like you to have a ‘language log.’ Every day, in the beginning of class, we will spend 5-10 minutes exploring an issue that was brought up in the reading for the day, or it is a question-for-discussion in your textbook, or a topic that is currently important in the field and/or in the public’s mind. At the end of each class, we will usually ‘revisit’ these entries in order to record our changing understanding of language. I will often ask you to share a small part of your entry—and I will share mine.

Sometimes, I will ask you to use the language log to do homework/exercises from your book.

Since these entries are focused freewrites rather than formal, polished papers, you should not be concerned with spelling and mechanics but with the richness of ideas presented.

Please date and number your entries on the upper righthand corner; I will selectively collect them after class.

Average length: one page

These logs are part of the participation grade for class; you may miss up to 2 logs for the term. If you are absent, please let me know before class and I will email you the prompt.

Longer assignments: In order to develop the skills necessary for linguistic analysis, you will need to complete two longer assignments throughout the term. Your assignments don’t need to be typed—but they do need to be legible!

Collaborative projects: As a way to work with each other on language issues, you will need to complete a collaborative project. The choices are the following: 2.3, 5.1 , 7.4 or 8.3.4. More details TBA.

Linguistics competition:Throughout the term, look for the longest string of the following constructions:

Longest string of noun modifiers

Longest string of determiners

Longest string of auxiliaries

At the end of the term, the winners (one in each category) will receive 5 extra points. THIS IS AN OPTIONAL ELEMENT OF THE COURSE.

Please see the schedule of assignments for due dates. NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE MADE PRIOR ARRANGEMENTS WITH ME.

GRADING. There are 215 points possible:

Reading logs/Participation30 points

Longer assignments60 points (30 each)

Collaborative project15 points

Midterm 50 points

Final60 points

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

Sept. 28Introduction; Chapter 1.

30Ch 1 continued; Ch. 2—Language and Authority. Bring linguistic

autobiography to class (log entry)

Oct.5Chapter 3—Phonology (pgs. 67-82); bring 1.1 pg. 33 to class (log entry)

7Ch. 3 continued (pgs. 82-95); visit Try for yourselves the McGurk effect and write an entry to bring to class on Oct. 12

12Ch. 3 continued; at the MICASE website, read sections “About MICASE”

and “Using MICASE”

14Ch. 4—Morphology (pgs.104-116);Assignment #1 due

19Ch. 4 continued (pgs. 116-128); ch. 5—Syntax (pgs. 134-161)

21Ch. 5 continued

26Midterm, chs. 1-5

28Ch. 6 –Syntax (pgs. 171-187 & 194-203)

Nov.2Ch. 6—Syntax continued; Ch. 7--Semantics

9Ch 7 continued; Ch. 8—Spoken Discourse;Assignment #2 due

16No class—work on collaborative project

18No class—work on collaborative project

23Ch. 10—Language Acquisition;

25Ch. 11—Language Variation; Ch. 12 American dialects; linguistics

competition data due

30Chs.13& 14—History of English;Collaborative project due

Dec. 2 Chs. 13-14 continued; Review

Dec 7FINAL EXAM 8-9:50 (8 a.m. class)

Dec.9FINAL EXAM 10-11:50 (10 a.m. class)