Daily syllabus

This syllabus is updated after each day's class.
Use it to keep track of what we've done and where we're going.
See also the schedule of topics for a general overview.

• Jump to the most recent date

[01] Tu Aug 23

• Covered:
  • Introduction to the course
    • Handout - "Course information and policies"
  • What is phonology?
    • Handout - "How is phonology different from phonetics?"
    • Handout - "Why study phonology?"
• Reading: Hayes (2009), Ch 1 (see Sakai under Resources > Readings)
• Upcoming: Prepare for phonetics exam on Tu Aug 30 -- we will review phonetics material next class
  • Study this handout - "Basic phonetics review"
  • For extra practice, use these phonetics review links
• Discussion exercise (preparation optional but recommended): Finnish segment inventory -- on Thursday, we will use this data set to practice identifying and analyzing consonants and vowels

[02] Th Aug 25

• Covered: Review of Ling 101-level phonetics material
• Prepare: Short exam #1 (Phonetics review) on Tu Aug 30
  • For more practice, see links above and this Ling 101 page on sounds and symbols of American English vowels
  • Before the exam, we will discuss the Finnish data set

[03] Tu Aug 30

• Covered: Properties of sounds (Finnish)
• Short exam #1 (Phonetics review)
• Discussion exercises: There are two discussion exercises to prepare for Thursday's class, Arabic consonants and Turkish suffixes
  • Main question: To what extent do the traditional phonetic properties we have been working with help us explain the patterns that we see in these data sets?

[04] Th Sept 1

• Covered: Introduction to feature theory (Arabic, Turkish)
• Reading: Handout - "Phonological features: Basic model"
• Discussion exercises: English plurals and Segment inventories
  • Use the features from the features handout to describe the relevant natural classes
• FYI: This IPA chart (modified for phonology) might come in handy

[05] Tu Sept 6

• Covered: Working with feature theory (English plurals, Segment inventories)
  • Handout - Feature charts (for extra practice with features, try filling this in)
• Assignment: HW #1, due Th Sept 8 | Japanese segments in loanwords from English

[06] Th Sept 8

• Covered:
  • Describing phonological processes in terms of features (Japanese loanwords)
  • Discussion of feature chart
    • A filled-in version is available on Sakai (Resources > Handouts)
    • Scottish English Vowel Length Rule
  • Introduction to morphological alternations - Lamba
• Reading: Two resources about morphological analysis and morphological alternations in phonology
  • Odden (2004), Ch 4, excerpt on URs (see Sakai under Resources > Readings)
  • Handout - "Morphological alternations"
• Discussion exercise: With the Odden reading in mind, propose URs and rules for the alternating verb roots in the Lamba data set
• Extra practice: Extra practice problems for stating natural classes and using features to formalize them have been posted to Sakai (Resources > Handouts > Natural class and features practice)...but please note the following warnings:
  • These problems are taken from a book that uses the American Phonetic Alphabet instead of the IPA. So I have also posted a symbol chart, which shows what the unfamiliar symbols are meant to represent.
  • I haven't gone through these examples one by one, and some of the natural classes may be harder than others to state. If one example is giving you a really tough time, check in with your classmates or with me -- it may turn out that it is, in fact, hard to formalize.

[07] Tu Sept 13

• Covered: Morphology vs. phonology; Odden (2004) on URs
  • Odden reading discussion outline
  • Lamba, continued -- Alternations in suffixes
• Discussion exercises: More practice with morphological alternations
  • Lamba, continued -- Alternations in roots (we'll finally get to that part!)
  • Cree -- This data set has an easy pattern to find, but how should we propose URs and rules to account for it?

[08] Th Sept 15

• Covered: More practice with morphological alternations
  • Odden reading review: Some points to remember
  • Lamba, continued -- Alternations in roots
  • Cree
• Discussion exercise: Greek -- See what you can do on your own in diagnosing complementary versus contrastive distribution
• Assignment: HW #2, due Th Sept 22 | Biblical Hebrew verbs

[09] Tu Sept 20

• Covered:
  • More practice with morphological alternations
    • Cree (wrap-up)
    • Kerewe (from Odden reading)
  • Discussion of HW #1/questions on HW #2 in the context of what we're doing now -- features, rules
  • Complementary vs. contrastive distribution (Greek) -- discussion to be continuted next time
• Assignment: HW #2, due Th Sept 22 | Biblical Hebrew verbs
• Upcoming: Short exam #2 (Segmental phonology) will be on Th Sept 29
  • Reminder -- Are you downloading and/or printing all the handouts? Are you preparing material before class and reviewing it after class? Are you practicing with features and natural classes?

[10] Th Sept 22

• Covered:
  • Morphological alternation (Biblical Hebrew verbs)
  • Complementary vs. contrastive distribution: (Greek, continued)
• Reading:
  • Handout - Determining the distribution of segments in a language
  • Handout - Formalizing a phonological rule
• Discussion exercises: Two cases to practice determining the distribution of segments
  • Italian - This is an easy one that you should be able to do on your own
  • Thai obstruents - This one is tricky; prepare to spend significant time working it out in order to prepare for Tuesday's class discussion
• Upcoming: Short exam #2 (Segmental phonology) will be on Th Sept 29
  • Study guide -- you will have a chance to ask review questions in Tuesday's class

[11] Tu Sept 27

• Covered: Patterns of distribution (Italian, Thai obstruents)
• Upcoming: Short exam #2 (Segmental phonology) will be on Th Sept 29
  • Study guide
  • It would be useful to review readings, handouts, and past problem sets
  • Here are some extra data sets (Ganda liquids, Icelandic) if you are looking for more practice; we will discuss at least Ganda in class on Thursday
• FYI: This material is not assigned for the exam, but I have posted a handout, Redundancy rules, as a follow-up to our discussion of this topic

[12] Th Sept 29

• Covered: Discussion of Ganda liquids, Icelandic
• Short exam #2 (Segmental phonology)

[13] Tu Oct 4

• Covered:
  • Discussion: What are the goals of phonology? What does it buy us?
    • Handout - Reminder: Goals of the study of phonology
  • Introduction to syllable structure (English aspiration)
• Discussion exercises:
  • Two phenomena in Cairene Arabic
  • Tibetan numerals [be sure to do the morpheme segmentation ahead of time!]

[14] Th Oct 6

• Covered: Discussion of Cairene Arabic, Tibetan
  • Making arguments for syllable structure
    • Handout - Syllables: Argumentation
  • Universal and language-specific aspects of syllable structure
  • Rules that are sensitive to syllable structure
    • Handout - Syllable structure: Overview
• Assignment: HW #3, due Tu Oct 11 | Turkish syllable structure

[15] Tu Oct 11

• Covered:
  • Discussion of HW #3 (Turkish)
  • Syllables and literacy development: English letter names and sounds (data from Treiman et al. 1998)
  • Patterns in possible English onset clusters (to be continued)
• Discussion exercises: Swahili prefixes, Kihehe prefixes
  • Can you find any common patterns in these two data sets?

[16] Th Oct 13

• Covered:
  • Sonority and English onset clusters (continued from last time)
    • Data set - Deriving the sonority scale
    • Handout - Sonority
  • Alternations involving glides and high vowels (Swahili prefixes, Kihehe prefixes)
    • Handout - Representing glides and high vowels
• Assignment: HW #4, due Tu Oct 25 | Italian vowel length
• Discussion exercise: Consonant patterns in child phonology

[17] Tu Oct 18

• Covered:
  • A formal analysis of child phonology; how is a developing child's grammar different from an adult's?
  • Evidence for an atypical syllabification pattern: Brazilian Portuguese
• Assignment: HW #4, due Tu Oct 25 | Italian vowel length

Th Oct 20

No class -- Fall Break

[18] Tu Oct 25

• Covered:
  • Discussion of HW #4 (Italian)
  • Tone languages
• Discussion exercises: Try to write rules for the following cases of assimilation
  • Terena
  • The plural morpheme in the Swahili prefixes data set (for the cases where it remains a nasal but the place of articulation changes)
• Upcoming: Short exam #3 (syllable structure) will be on Tu Nov 1
  • Study guide; you will have a chance to ask review questions in Thursday's class

[19] Th Oct 27

• Covered: A new look at assimilation (Swahili prefixes, Terena)
  • Handout on assimilation available here soon
• Discussion exercise: Latin glides and high vowels
  • Optional, for people who would like one last chance to practice with syllable structure
  • We will discuss this briefly on Tuesday before the exam
• Upcoming: Short exam #3 (syllable structure) will be on Tu Nov 1
  • Study guide

[20] Tu Nov 1

• Covered: Discussion of Latin glides and high vowels
• Short exam #3 (syllable structure)
• Discussion exercise (optional to look at before Thursday's class): Onset-related "rules"

[21] Th Nov 3

• Covered: The Conspiracy Problem (Onset-related "rules")
  • Handout - Phonology with "goals"
• Discussion exercise: Try to develop a goal-based analysis of:
  • The consonant deletion process in Tibetan
  • The vowel epenthesis process in Cairene Arabic
  • Think about:
    • Do these two languages seem to have any goals in common?
    • What other goals could each of these languages have chosen to satisfy? What would the words in the language have looked like with other priorities among the goals?

[22] Tu Nov 8

• Covered: "Goals," constraints, and rankings in Tibetan and Cairene Arabic
  • Handout - Optimality Theory: Basic terminology
  • Handout - Constraint tableaus, Hasse diagrams, and ranking arguments
  • More practice with tableaus and ranking arguments - "Little Exercises" handout (on Sakai; see Resources > Handouts)
• Assignment: HW #5, due Th Nov 10 | English syllabification with constraints
• Discussion exercise: Constraint rankings and their predictions

[23] Th Nov 10

• Covered: Constraint rankings and their predictions
  • Handout - Factorial typology
• Discussion exercise: Greek (again)
  • This is a very basic complementary distribution problem that we have already looked at. (What are the allophones and their environments?) But this time, think about how we might be able to approach this kind of problem with constraints in OT. What kinds of constraints will we need? How will they be ranked? What other linds of language patterns does the factorial typology of those constraints predict?

[24] Tu Nov 15

• Covered: Complementary distribution in OT; enforcing the default allophone (Greek)
  • Handout - Segmental phonology in OT (part 1)
• Discussion exercise: What is the factorial typology of the three constraints we proposed in analyzing the Greek complementary distribution pattern? What do the other rankings in the factorial typology predict about the distribution of the consonants [k] and [c] in the languages of the world? Do these predicted patterns seem plausible?

[25] Th Nov 17

• Covered: Segmental phonology and distribution patterns in OT
  • Handout - Segmental phonology in OT (part 2)
• Assignment: HW #6, due Tu Nov 29 | Phonological analysis in OT

[26] Tu Nov 22

• Covered:
  • Position-specific phonological patterns and their implications for the constraint set
    • Positional patterns and Northern Salentino Italian
  • What is our theory of possible constraints?
    • Handout - Theories of the constraint set in OT
• Assignment: HW #6, due Tu Nov 29 | Phonological analysis in OT
• Upcoming: Short exam #4 (Optimality Theory) will be on Th Dec 1
  • Study guide -- you will have a chance to ask questions next class

Th Nov 24

No class -- Thanksgiving

[27] Tu Nov 29

• Covered: Discussion of HW #6 (Phonological analysis in OT)
• Upcoming: Short exam #4 (Optimality Theory) will be on Th Dec 1
  • Study guide
  • Handout - Summary: Phonological analysis in OT

[28] Th Dec 1

• Covered: Review for exam
• Short exam #4 (Optimality Theory)

[29] Tu Dec 6

• Covered: Applications of OT; Course wrap-up and conclusions
  • What is our theory of possible constraints? (cont.)
    • Gaps in factorial typology dataset [not covered in class; FYI only]
  • OT and implications for child phonology
• Final take-home exam: Due at the beginning of our final exam period, Th Dec 15, 4:00pm
  • The exam [Minor error corrected, Sat Dec 10]

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