English Linguistics - Assignment 1

James Madison University

[This assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.]

  1. What are Professor Cote's currently scheduled office hours?
  2. 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 good English but doesn't make sense.
    4. A sentence that is understandable but also ungrammatical.
  3. 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?
  4. Answer the following question and explain your answer: How likely is it that all human languages have sentences?












Syllabus for ENG418/512E Linguistics Resources Oxford English Dictionary Send email to Prof. Cote

GENG418/512E, fall 2007, © JMU