Introduction to Linguistics - Assignment 1 James Madison University

[Your answers to this assignment should be written out clearly (or typed :) ) on full-sized sheets of paper with your name at the top. As an "ungraded" assignment, this work will be collected but will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.]

1. What are Professor Cote's currently scheduled office hours?
2. One of the quotes below the "Tentative Schedule" on our syllabus is by the famous American writer/poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Look carefully at this quote. In it there is one example of what many "prescriptivist" grammarians would call "improper/bad" English grammar. If you think you see this example write it down; otherwise, just say nothing stands out for you!
3. According to the discussion in Chapter One or our textbook, what are the two overall characteristics of the relationship between the forms of words and the meanings of words in language?
4. According to our textbook, what proves that language is not just "a set of learned responses to stimuli?"
5. In what ways would you say the quotes by James Kilpatrick and Henry David Thoreau on page 10 of Chapter One show disagreement with those who place high value on the enforcement of prescriptive grammar rules?
6. According to the characteristics of human language discussed in Chapter One and the discussion of Sign Language in that same chapter, is Sign Language really a full-fledged language or not?
7. According to our textbook, what's the difference between the idea of "linguistic determinism" and the idea of "linguistic relativity?"



Moving on to your own personal experience:


8. Give just one example of something you think would be quite hard to communicate without words (i.e., using just pictures, body language, etc).
9. Write down one example of each type of sentence below.
   1. A sentence never before heard in the English language.
   2. A sentence you usually say at least once a day.
   3. A sentence that sounds like grammatical English but doesn't make sense.
   4. A sentence that is quite understandable but also ungrammatical.
10. Listen closely to a conversation or conversations, perhaps by your friends, on line in the dining hall, on television, or wherever, and write down at least two examples of people speaking perfectly naturally in less than a full sentence. (Example: "Nice pants.") Also see if you can find one additional written example (hint -- ads and posters and such count!).
11. Write down an example of something in English that you have either spoken yourself to an animal or which you have heard someone else say to an animal.
12. Give your "gut" responses to examples a-k of exercise 2 at the end of Chapter 1 in your textbook. Then, for just examples a and b, see if you can explain why you do or don't see a difference in grammaticality. :)