Introduction to Linguistics

Calendar

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