Use it to keep track of what we've done and where we're going.
See also the schedule of topics for an overview.
W Jan 11
- Covered: Introduction to the course [outline]
- Reading:
- FR&H Ch 1, except pp 23-6 -- reviews class discussion
- LM Ch 1 (no discussion assignment this time)
F Jan 13
- Covered: A biological basis for mental grammar [outline]
- Assignment: HW #1, due W Jan 18
- Reading: FR&H Ch 3:
- pp 69-82, overview of morphology and morpheme types
- pp 105-106, "Morphological analysis" [update, W 1/18]
M Jan 16
-
Holiday -- no class
W Jan 18
- Covered: Identifying and classifying morphemes -- minimal units of meaning [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 3:
- pp 82-91 "Rules of word formation"
- pp 93-95 "Compounds"
F Jan 20
- Covered: English WFRs; word-internal structure [outline]
- Assignment: HW #2, due M Jan 23
- Reading: FR&H Ch 3:
- pp 99-105, "Grammatical morphemes"
- pp 92-99 (except "Compounds") -- other types of word coinage
M Jan 23
- Covered: Inflectional morphology; irregular morphology; the lexicon; productivity of WFRs [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 8:
- pp 341-347 (optional -- review)
- pp 360-363, "The acquisition of morphology"
- Also have a look at this handout and try to analyze the morphological patterns in the languages shown
W Jan 25
- Covered:
- Rest of the discussion of morphological categories,
the lexicon, and productivity
- Outline from last time, parts (3) and (4)
- Handout provided in class
- Acquisition of morphology; other morpheme types [outline]
- Rest of the discussion of morphological categories,
the lexicon, and productivity
- Reading: LM Ch 7, "Whose speech is better?"
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
F Jan 27
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 7, "Whose speech is better?" and the associated discussion assignment
- Reading: FR&H Ch 4, pp 117-137 (introduction to syntactic structure)
- Plan: On Monday, we will:
- finish the discussion of "language decline"
- look at the non-English morpheme types on the PDF handout (see entry for M Jan 23)
- wrap up our discussion of morphology
- ...and maybe start talking about syntax!
M Jan 30
- Covered:
[outline]
- Discussion of "language decline"
- Morphological processes not found in English: reduplication, infixation
- Wrap-up of morphology [study guide]
- Reading: No new reading today
W Feb 1
- Covered: Grammaticality; constituency; syntactic tree structures [outline] | [tree diagrams from class (PDF)]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 4, pp 137-151, "Phrase structure rules"
F Feb 3
M Feb 6
- Covered: Phrase-structure rules for English and other languages [outline]
- Reading: LM Ch 5, "Do animals have language?"
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
W Feb 8
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 5, "Do animals have language?" and the associated discussion assignment
- Prepare: Friday will be your chance to ask questions
and review for EXAM #1 (M Feb 13)
- Morphology study guide
- Syntax (part I) study guide
- Also, be prepared for short-answer or essay questions based on the LM readings/discussions (Ch 1, 7, 5)
F Feb 10
- Covered: Review for exam [outline]
M Feb 13
- Covered: EXAM #1
W Feb 15
- Covered: Structure-based explanations in syntax -- Anaphors and pronouns [outline]
- Reading: LM Ch 6, "Can computers learn language?"
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
F Feb 17
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 6, "Can computers learn language?" and the associated discussion assignment
- Reading: FR&H Ch 4, pp 152-165, "Sentence relatedness"
M Feb 20
- Covered: Transformational rules; questions [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 8 excerpts on child acquisition of syntax
- pp 348-351, "The Innateness Hypothesis"
- pp 351-352, "Stages in language acquisition"
- pp 363-367, "The acquisition of syntax" (note: holophrastic is defined on p 355)
- pp 371-2, "Setting parameters" (review Head Parameter from Ch 4)
- Optional: pp 368-371, "The development of auxiliaries"
- Assignment: HW #4, due W Feb 22
W Feb 22
- Covered: Children's acquisition of syntax [outline] (available after class)
- Reading: LM Ch 3, "Does language equal thought?"
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
F Feb 24
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 3, "Does language equal thought?" and the associated discussion assignment
- Reading: FR&H Ch 5 sections on lexical semantics, pp 173-187
- Read pp 173-178, introduction and "Semantic properties"
- Read pp 182-184, "Antonyms"
- Skim the rest of the "-Nyms" section, pp 178-185
- Read pp 185-187, "Proper names"
M Feb 27
- Covered: Lexical semantics [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 5, pp 187-201, "Phrase and sentence meaning"
- Pay particular attention to the concepts of compositionality, sense vs. reference, and entailment
W Mar 1
- Covered: Phrase and sentence semantics [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 5, pp 207-219, "Pragmatics"
- Focus on "Maxims of Conversation" (213-214) and "Presuppositions" (216-17)
- Assignment: HW #5 (part 1), due F Mar 3
F Mar 3
- Covered: Pragmatics [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 6, pp 231-240/top (Introduction to phonetics and speech sounds)
- Assignment: HW #5 (part 2), due M Mar 6
M Mar 6
- Covered: Introduction to speech sounds; phonetic symbols [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 6, pp 240-251, "Airstream mechanisms" and "Consonants"
- Prepare: Memorize the consonant symbols on p 239 and the speech sounds they stand for
W Mar 8
- Covered: Consonant symbols and properties [outline]
- Reading: LM Ch 4, "Are sign languages real languages?" -- also FR&H, p 266
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
F Mar 10
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 4, "Are sign languages real languages?" and the associated discussion assignment
- Reading: FR&H Ch 6, pp 252-258, "Vowels" and "Major classes"
- Prepare: Memorize the vowel and diphthong symbols on p 239 and the speech sounds they stand for
M Mar 13 - F Mar 17
-
Spring Break -- no class
M Mar 20
- Covered: Vowel symbols and properties [outline] (available after class)
- Assignment: HW #6, due W Mar 22
W Mar 22
- Covered: More practice with phonetic transcription and phonetic properties [no outline today -- see Phonetics links page]
- Reading: LM Ch 10, "English spelling is hard..."
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
F Mar 24
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 10, "English spelling is hard..." and the associated discussion assignment
- Prepare: Monday will be your chance to ask questions
and review for EXAM #2 (W Mar 29)
- Syntax (part II) study guide
- Semantics/pragmatics study guide
- Phonetics study guide
- Also, be prepared for short-answer or essay questions based on the LM readings/discussions (Ch 6, 3, 4, 10)
M Mar 27
- Covered: Review for exam [outline]
- Event: Armchair Linguistics talk (fun/informal discussion) on "Cryptolects, Secret Languages, and Language Games" -- W Mar 29, 7pm, Dey 304. (Refreshments.)
W Mar 29
- Covered: EXAM #2
F Mar 31
- Covered: Phonology: Phonemes and allophones [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 7:
- pp 273-275 (top): overview of phonology
- pp 283-287 (review of today's discussion)
- pp 287-290, "Complementary Distribution" (don't worry too much about the "alphabet" and "handwriting" analogies)
- pp 291-292, section intro. and "Feature Values"
- pp 297-299, "Natural classes"
- Event: The UNC Linguistics Spring Colloquium is tomorrow, Sat Apr 1 (Student Union 2518). The Underling Invited Talk by Prof. Walt Wolfram is 11:30-12:30.
M Apr 3
- Covered: Phonology: Phonemes and allophones [outline]
- Reading: On phonological rules and child phonology:
- FR&H Ch 7, pp 301-305, section intro. and "Assimilation Rules"
- FR&H Ch 7, pp 324-326, "Phonological analysis"
- FR&H Ch 8, pp 352-358 on aspects of phonological acquisition
- Practice: Greek problem from today's data sets for discussion in class next time
W Apr 5
- Covered: Solving phonology problems (Greek) [outline]
- Reading: LM Ch 9, "Do men and women talk differently? And who cares?"
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
- Assignment: HW #7 (PDF), due M Apr 10
F Apr 7
- Covered: Discussion based on LM Ch 9, "Do men and women talk differently?..." and the associated discussion assignment
- Reading: Review: FR&H Ch 8, pp 352-358, on aspects of phonological acquisition
- Assignment: HW #7 (PDF), due M Apr 10
M Apr 10
- Covered: Child acquisition of phonology [outline]
- Reading: On language varieties and regional dialects
- FR&H Ch 10: Read pp 445-459; skim pp 460-468
- Also browse these web sites on Southern American English and African American English
- W lecture outline -- prepare for section 3 discussion
W Apr 12
- Covered: Language, dialect, idiolect; some linguistic characteristics of dialects found in the southeastern US [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 10, pp 472-487, on style, social-group, and gender in language
- Assignment: HW #8, due M Apr 17
M Apr 17
- Covered: Language variation and factors such as gender, ethnicity, and social group; discussion of dialect survey [outline]
- Reading: Eckert (2005)
- Prepare: Discussion assignment
W Apr 19
- Covered: Discussion based on Eckert (2005), "Variation, convention, and social meaning," and the associated discussion assignment
- Reading: FR&H Ch 11, pp 499-516, on ways in which languages change
F Apr 21
- Covered: Types of language change [outline]
- Reading: FR&H Ch 11, pp 516-536; focus on
- pp 516-524 (reconstructing languages)
- pp 526-531 (genetic classification)
- Assignment: HW #9, due M Apr 24 [last HW!]
M Apr 24
- Covered: Genetic classification of languages; reconstructing proto-languages [outline]
- Prepare: Discussion assignment on arguments for and against Universal Grammar
W Apr 26
- Covered: Discussion based on arguments for and against Universal Grammar, and the associated discussion assignment; see also the links that everyone found
- Prepare: Review for final exam, which will be
M May 1 at 12:00 pm in our usual classroom
Study guides for new material:- Phonology study guide
- Language variation/language change study guide
- Also, be prepared for short-answer or essay questions based on discussions (LM Ch 9; Eckert 2005; UG discussion; and discussion topics from previous exams)
F Apr 28
- Covered: Course wrap-up; review for final exam
Upcoming readings: Provisional schedule, subject to change
| For class on: | Reading assignment: |
| F Apr 28 | Review for final exam |