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ENG418/512: English Linguistics |
| Professor: EMAIL: Office: |
Dr. Sharon Cote cotesa@jmu.edu Keezell 209, Ext. 82510 |
Availability: | I am available during my office hours and by appointment. |
Description: Language is an essential part of who we are as human beings. It has been described as a biological imperative, as a communicative tool, and as an art. We all have very extensive and subtle language skills and, indeed, we all have opinions about what is good or bad language. Few of us, however, really understand what language is. This course is a broad survey of the theoretical, the historical, the psychological, the biological, and the sociocultural issues related to human language in general and English in particular. Objectives for this course include the following: for students to become aware of how important language is to
understanding human cognition, behavior, and society; for students to learn that knowing the "structure" or grammar of a language requires much more than just knowing a set of rules
for good and bad sentences and to understand that the study of language is more than just the
study of grammar; for students to recognize some general types of variation in different human languages; for students to recognize syntax, semantics, phonetics, language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and other subfields of linguistics and to understand basic concepts and issues in these subfields; for students to gain some perpective both on how much has been learned about language and on how many more questions there still are to be answered; for students to be able to apply general linguistic concepts and vocabulary to particular examples and to related fields of research; and for students to have gained a novice ability to read additional linguistic sources and apply the information in these sources to language as they find it in the real world.
Required Materials: Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams (2003). An Introduction to
Language, Eighth Edition. Other readings may be distributed.
Work and Grading: (Graduate Students in ENG512E click here for additional information)
Class Participation (5%), Assignments (20%), Midterm (25%), Research Project(s) (25%), Final Exam (25%).
All work must be turned in on time unless I give explicit you permission otherwise, and all graded work except for group assignments, if permitted, should be done independently.
You may skip one "ungraded" assignment without affecting your overall grade for assignments. (I
suggest you save this option for emergencies or sicknesses, but the choice is yours!) If an assignment is described as "ungraded", this means that you must
make an acceptable effort on all parts of the assignment, but you won't be penalized for incorrect answers.
A good participation grade requires regular advance reading of materials
before the first day on which they are scheduled to be covered, and overall preparation and willingness to ask and answer questions and to contribute to class discussions.
Of course, all your work for this course is subject to the JMU Honor Code.
If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism or about other aspects of the honor code,see me for clarification.
Daily Schedule: (Note that this is a tentative schedule of what will be discussed
in each class period. Changes are possible. Check for revisions.) You should have readings
done before the first class date on which they will be discussed.
| Date | Topic | Text Readings |
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| 8/27 | The Animal that Talks - An introduction to the course | |
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8/29 |
Characterizing Human Language |
Chapter 1 |
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8/31 |
Do Cats Do It? - Comparing Human Language and Animal Communication, Words and Thought |
Chapter 1 |
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9/3 |
Brain and Language |
Chapter 2 |
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9/5 |
The advantages of being a child |
Chapter 2 |
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9/7 |
Did they tell ghost stories around the first campfire? |
Chapter 2 |
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9/10 |
"Cheating at Scrabble" -- Intro. Morphology |
Chapter 3 |
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9/12 |
Befores and Afters |
Chapter 3 |
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9/14 |
Hey, we need a word for that! |
Chapter 3 |
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9/17 |
"Look Mom, I made a sentence!" - Intro. to Syntax |
Chapter 4 |
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9/19 |
That's one twisted tree ... - More Syntax |
Chapter 4 |
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9/21 |
What if you're Not a Gardener? -- other approaches to and representations of syntax |
TBA |
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9/24 |
"Do You See What I Mean?" --Semantics |
Chapter 5 |
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9/26 |
Let the "truth" be told --Semantics |
Chapter 5 |
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9/28 |
Semantics practice (and catch-up if needed) |
Chapter 5 |
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10/1 |
"It was all out of context" -- Pragmatics and Discourse |
Chapter 5 |
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10/3 |
"I hereby have a million dollars" - More Pragmatics |
Chapter 5 |
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10/5 |
A bit more discourse on discourse |
TBA |
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10/8 |
"Listen Up"-- Phonetics |
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10/10 |
"Sounds okay to me!" |
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10/12 |
"It's all in the tone" |
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10/15 |
catch-up and Review |
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10/17 |
MIDTERM |
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10/19 |
NO CLASS |
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10/22 |
Midterm results plus what your ear knows - a start on Phonology |
Chapter 7 |
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10/24 |
"Not another sound!" -- more Phonology |
Chapter 7 |
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10/26 |
Patterns and Possibilities -- Phonology Conclusion |
Chapter 7 |
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10/29 |
"He said 'Mama'!" -- Language Acquisition |
Chapter 8 |
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10/31 |
"It's all Greek to me." -- second language acquisition |
Chapter 8 |
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11/2 |
"My dog understands me" |
Chapter 8 |
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11/5 |
"You say PotAYto" - Sociolinguistics |
Chapter 10 |
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11/7 |
"Groovy, Man" - A bit more Sociolinguistics |
Chapters 10 |
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11/9 |
Boys, Girls, and ig-pay atin-lay |
Chapters 10 |
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11/12 |
Tops and Bottoms - a look at language processing |
Chapter 9 |
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11/14 |
Project Discussions |
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11/16 |
"Are you real or are you a computer?" -- Processing by man and machine |
Chapter 9 |
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11/19 |
Everything Changes -- Historical Linguistics |
Chapter 11 |
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11/21 |
THANKSGIVING -- CLASS NO, TURKEY YES |
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11/23 |
THANKSGIVING -- CLASS NO, TURKEY YES |
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11/26 |
First cousins and other relations - more historical linguistics |
Chapter 11 |
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11/28 |
"Would you put that in writing?" - Written Language |
Chapter 12 |
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11/30 |
Reading into it -- More on Written Language |
Chapter 12 |
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12/3 |
Presentation Day (Anthony, Marcus, Niko, Erin, Bobby, Kevin) |
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12/5 |
More Presentations (Kimberly, Asia, Nina, Jared, Jenny, Laura) |
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12/7 |
Some Final Perspective[** note change ** FINAL DATE TO TURN IN PROJECT PAPERS] |
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12/12 (WEDNESDAY - |
FINAL EXAM: 3:30-5:30, usual classroom |
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"The English language is the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Look here for assignments:
ENG418/512E, FALL 2007, © JMU