Paper guidelines for LIN 510 – Linguistics
Elly van Gelderen
Paper/project writing – LIN 510 –Elly van Gelderen
I will give feedback on the outline you hand in after week 8 and am happy to look at a draft of the paper if done at least a week before the deadline.
A paper outline could look like:
1.Thesis statement: `Mandarin has 25 tones’ (I am joking of course)
2.Short review of the relevant literature: `Previous research (e.g. Wonderland 2009) has shown that Mandarin ….’
3.The data: these can be new (e.g. that you found) or reinterpreted.
4.Your account.
5.Conclusion and References used in the text.
Possible Paper Topics
I have added some references to start you off, both on theoretical and empirical topics. These are not necessarily the only relevant ones. Some are cryptic so don't hesitate to ask. If you would like to write a paper on a different topic, that is PERFECT. Just check with EvG please.
1.Use SIL's speech analysis tools ( or PRAAT ( to show e.g. the different length of vowels before voiced and voiceless vowels; or differences in speech between native and non-native speakers of a language. There is an archive of sounds at archive.phonetics.ucla.edu.
2.Provide a linguistic description/typology of a relatively unknown language, using the grammars available (and possibly online resources).
3.Discuss the lateral (brain) asymmetry in humans in relationship to language. Start with: Bradshaw, J & L. Rogers 1993. The Evolution of Lateral Asymmetries, Language, Tool Use, and Intellect. New York: Academic Press; Penfield, W. & L. Roberts 1959. Speech and Brain Mechanisms. Princeton UP. Josse, Goulven; Nathalie Tzourio-Mazoyer (2003). "Review: Hemispheric specialization for language". Brain Research Reviews 44. 1: 1–12.
4.Double modals such as in `He will can do it' occur in certain dialects and stages of English. Describe an aspect of this problem and account for the difference between the double modal variety and `standard' English. Reading: K. Brown (1991), in Trudgill and Chambers Dialects of English; and Di Paola (1989) in American Speech 64; van Gelderen (2003) "ASP(ect) in English Modal Complements", Studia Linguistica 57.1: 27-44.
5.The syntax of Code switching. For instance, CS is ungrammatical between subject and the verb if the subject is a pronoun. Test this out either by taping people who CS or by asking grammaticality judgment. E.g. Jake, J 1994 (in Linguistics); Belazi, Heidi, Edward Rubin, and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio. (1994) “Code Switching and X-Bar Theory: The Functional Head Constraint”. Linguistic Inquiry 25(2), pp.221–37; MacSwan, Jeff 1999
6.Genetic linguistics involvesfinding similarities among languages to ascribe these to a common ancestor language, rather than to borrowing. The aim is to find language families. There are some links here Discuss one such attempt and evaluate the arguments put forwards. For instance, Semitic has been argued to be related to Native American Languages. What are the arguments and are they valid? Joseph Greenberg: various publications; Key, M.R. 1989, "A World map of hypothesized Language Affiliations", in Studies in language Origins II. Amsterdam: Benjamins; Ruhlen, M. 1994. The Origin of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Nichols, J. 1995? Dene-Yenisean:
7.If you are interested in L1 acquisition, explore the CHILDES database ( See what languages have data and how they are transcribed. Then do a small research project, e.g. look at the two-word sentences of a child between 20 months and 24 months…
8.Do push-chains and/or drag-chains exist in sound change (Great Vowel Shift; Grimm's Law; Northern Cities' Shift)? Reading: Martinet (1955), Vincent (1978), Bynon, 1977: 82-86, Aitchison (1981: 160 ff.).
9.Auxiliaries. In Sign Language, for instance S. Fischer & P. Siple (eds) Theoretical Issues in Sign Language research 1. University of Chicago Press. S. Fischer in Lingua 98, 1-3 1996: 103-119; Shaffer, Barbara 2002. CAN'T: The Negation of Modal Notions in ASL. Sign Language Studies 3.1: 34-53.
10.The phonology behind Vowel Harmony. For instance in Turkish. Start with
11.Writing systems and phonological systems. How well do they match? Japanese CV in a syllabic system; the Hebrew alphabet adapted for Yiddish; Arabic for Persian and Urdu, etc. Henry Rogers Writing Systems 2005. Blackwell; Florian Coulmas 2003. Writing Systems: An introduction to their linguistic analysis. Cambridge University Press
12.Northern Cities' Shift: I > E etc. Labov 1994 Principles of Linguistic Change; Gordon 2000. Small-Town values and Big-City vowels. A youtube video:
13.What do speech errors tell you? Collect some and then analyze these. Fromkin (ed) 1973; 1980; Shattuck-Hufnagel (various publications); Cutler, A. (ed) 1982 for English; Zwicky 1982 on spoonerisms.
14.How the brain learns to read and theorthographic system; see e.g.
15.`Wolf-children'. Curtiss, Susan (1977); PBS `Secret of the Wild Child'. Sorry, most research seems to be 1970s-based. There is P. Jones 1995 that’s later.
16.The history of our names for days of the week. Falk (1999, APLA 22).
17.The mental lexicon of the Multilingual: de Groot 1992 in The Bilingual Lexicon; de Bot 1992, in Applied Linguistics 13, 1-24; Grosjean, F. 1982 Life with two languages and 1989 in Brain and Language 36; Paradis, M. 1997 in Tuturials in Bilingualism; Kecskes (1998; in WORD 49.3).
18.English as an International Language. Pennycook 1994 The Cultural Politics of EIL; English and the discourse of Colonialism; Faircloth; Phillipson; Dendrinos 1992.
19.Compare two languages in terms of certain aspects of their sound systems. For instance, which features are distinct; how does their syllable structure differ?
20.Adolescents and Language Change. Eckert, P 1989.
21.Classifiers. Some languages can either say `book' or three pieces book'. You could describe a system e.g. that in Mandarin (Li & Thompson provide a start), or compare languages (see Greenberg's article on numeral classifiers), or look at the history of these systems.
22.Synesthesia.
23.L2 and dreams.
24.Simultaneous bilingualism. E.g. Dopke, S 2000 and references in that. de Houwer 1990. The Acquisition of two languages from birth.
25.Grammar Teaching. Hudson, R 1999, in Language Alive in the Classroom.
26.Teaching Linguistics as part of the Science Curriculum. Honda & O'Neil 1993.
27.Forensic Linguistcs
28.Take a word (or set of words) and try to understand the changes it has undergone and its etymology by using the OED.
29.Take a text in Navajo, O'odham or Hopi (there are lots with a translation on the one side and the text on the other), and explain certain features. There are lots of grammars to help you and we can look at the text together be
A more detailed paper/outline could look like the following. I really like to number the separate sections and will do so here. Note that the finished paper should have a 200-word abstract but your outline doesn’t need that yet.
Title, your name, and affiliation (i.e. ASU)
(A title is very important because it helps you focus)
1. Introduction. Say something about imperatives in general and then narrow your focus and say what you are going to be working on. If possible provide a thesis statement such as `Imperatives in Khmer and Thai can be analyzed as having a CP but no TP’ (I don’t know this at all about Khmer and Thai so don’t take this for truth). Also give an outline/road map for the rest of the paper and, if needed, your methodology (e.g. use of a native speaker or a corpus).
2. Short review of the relevant literature. In the list, I gave one reference to a relatively recent book, namely van der Wurff (2007). That is the starting point for you. Look at it and its list of references; it has a `state of the art’ article that is very long and complex, however. If that’s too hard, try to see what other people have said about the structure of imperatives in general and, if anything, about the structure of the languages you have selected.
3. The data: these can be new (e.g. that you found from a native speaker or from corpora) or reinterpreted (from a paper that was already published). If the picture is complicated, it is ok if you focus on one aspect of the imperative.
4. Your account. This would minimally involve a tree for imperatives. Go through all the data of section 3 and show how your account/tree accounts for them and where some problems might be.
5. Conclusion and References used in the text. Rephrase what you have found and say how this is relevant. If possible, indicate limitations and areas for future research.
If you weren’t doing a traditional paper but a handout for a conference/workshop, you’d have the same division in sections and you’d list your references but you wouldn’t have as much text. You would focus on the examples and your analysis. You would include an abstract and also have your name and e-mail listed at the top.
Things to keep in mind:
Take something that interests you!
As mentioned, the title is important! Do not use a title like `The Syntax of English’ or `Modals’. In a short paper, everything you write has to be relevant to the thesis of your paper.
Audience: for a paper Elly is the audience; for a conference handout, think of the participants.
IRB: for research using human subjects
Keep it narrow (and doable) without losing sight of the broader issues (why are you doing this).
Give lots of examples; if sentences, gloss them well!
If you don’t understand a sentence you have written, I won’t either.
When you cite/paraphrase anything, it is really helpful to give the author, year, and page, even when the APA/MLA doesn’t explicitly say!
Use the LLBA, Scholar Google, ASU’s One Search, etc wisely:
The point to the paper is to:
- find out something new and to relate it to what you have learned in the class thereby consolidating both.
- present ideas in a clear manner to a particular audience.
- using linguistic resources
And remember: it needs to be your own work!