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English Linguistics - Assignment 1

James Madison University
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[This assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.]
- What are Professor Cote's currently scheduled office hours?
- Write down one example of each type of sentence below.
- A sentence never before heard in the English language.
- A sentence you usually say at least once a day.
- A sentence that sounds like good English but doesn't make sense.
- A sentence that is understandable but also ungrammatical.
- Listen closely to a conversation or conversations, perhaps by your friends, at the bookstore,
on television, or wherever, and write down at least three examples of people speaking perfectly
naturally in less than a full sentence. (Example: "Nice pants.") Also find one additional
written example. What are your intuitions about why these utterances were okay?
- Answer the following question and explain your answer: How likely is it that all human languages have sentences?
GENG418/512E, fall 2007, © JMU