Spring 2001
Undergraduate Course Listings and Descriptions
To reduce file size, listings for undergraduate and graduate courses may be viewed
separately. This document contains undergraduate courses only. Graduate
courses are in a separate document. Undergraduate lingustics courses
specifically geared toward non-majors are also listed in a separate document,
in addition to being listed below.
Click on the course name for the course description. Click on home icon 
to see the
home page for that course, if there is one. For more information on these courses
(including instructor, course time and course location), see the current
Linguistics course schedule (undergrad).
LIN 306: Introduction to the Study of Language (Hancock)
TBA
Prerequisites
TBA
Requirements
TBA
Texts
TBA
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 306: Introduction to the Study of Language (TBA)
This course is an introduction to the scientific study of language - the academic
discipline known as linguistics. What does it mean to say that you "know"
a language? How is language organized in the brain? What does it mean to a linguist
to "analyze" a language? How do languages resemble each other, how are
they different? Why and how do languages change? Do dolphins have language? Does
language control our view of reality? What role does language play in society and
in politics? What is the best way to learn a foreign language? What kind of language
should be taught in schools? Is English the World Language? What are the different
language families in the world?
In the first half of the course we survey formal linguistic theory: phonetics
(speech sounds), phonology (sound patterns), morphology (word formation),
syntax (sentence formation), and semantics (meaning). The rest of the
course is given over to sociolinguistics (language in society) and historical
linguistics (language change and language relationships).
See306 Home Page for prerequisites, requirements,
and texts.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 312: Culture and Communication (Keating)
[same as ANT
307]
The goals of this course are to introduce students to the study of language use
from a sociocultural perspective and to develop skills (through collecting language
data) in analyzing the role that language plays in the construction of culture and
in the interpretation of human interaction. Topics discussed in lectures and readings
include ethnicity, identity, power, status, and gender as these ideas are constructed
and negotiated through language.
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
There will be two mid-term exams (no final), and several short written
analytical exercises. Exams count 45% of the grade, and other assignments 45%. Class
participation counts 10%.
Texts
TBA
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 312: Language of Cartoons and Comics (Brody)
By means of examining the human voices of animated cartoons and the representations
of speech and sounds in comic books, this course will introduce some of the basic
concepts and tools of linguistics. In addition to English language materials, we
will use cartoons and comics in several other languages. Among the questions to be
explored will be: What are cartoons and comics, and what are they for? What is linguistics
and how can we use it to learn about ourselves and the world? How is cartoon speech
different from ordinary speech and why should it be so? What are some of the challenges
of translating sound and speech to writing? How do different kinds of comics take
that challenge? In addition, we will examine some wordsñsplash or plop, for exampleñwhose
sounds may suggest their meanings.
CARTOON SPEECH
Including: basic phonetics and phonology; speech features in the storytelling
customs of selected other cultures; speech analysis of selected cartoon characters;
regional/social dialects in cartoon speech; sound changes; language and gender; and
sound symbolism (speech sounds that suggest meaning).
PRINT COMICS
Including: survey of conventions for representing speech/dialogue in writing (punctuation
etc.); cross-linguistic material (speech balloons in Maya glyphs, etc.); basic Conversation
Analysis involving features such as affective characteristics represented in print
(italics, UPPER CASE, etc.) and representation of discourse features (pauses,
overlap, repair); visual organization of information; sound effects (BAM, PFFFFT,
OOF!, etc.), all with particular emphasis on sound symbolism, onomatopoeia, and cross-linguistic
data.
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
Course packet of readings and comic pages
Texts
Weekly homework, 2 short tests (2 papers for the Substantial Writing
Component section), 10-minute presentation, participation.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 312: Language, Gender, Ethnicity and Asian American Identities
(Chun)
In this course, we will examine various linguistic issues of importance to Asian
Americans, including bilingualism, code switching, stylization, and accent. We will
also address the relevance of these issues to personal and political identifications
of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. In our attempt to describe Asian American linguistic
practices, we will ask ourselves questions such as the following: How important is
it to be bilingual? Is language-mixing harmful? Do some Asian Americans speak withan
accent? Do some speak 'white'? Do any talk 'black'? In order to answer these and
other questions, basic concepts and approaches from various disciplines within the
social sciences will be introduced, but a special emphasis will be placed on applying
conceptual tools from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. Although the
topics of discussion will relate to Asian American experiences, students will have
the opportunity to discuss issues of social identity and language more generally:
What does it mean to be an ethnic American? What do Americans speak like? How are
ethnicity, gender, and sexuality related? In what specific ways can language be used
to represent a person's identity?
In addition, we will also discuss the social position of Asian Americans in popular
and academic discourses, in order to understand how language and representations
of language are used (and can be used) in the process of Asian American identity
construction. We will explore various images of Asians and Asian Americans ('the
model minority', 'the exotic Oriental', 'the inscrutable alien', 'the kung-fu master',
'the fob') and discuss the relevance of these images to Asian American linguistic
practices. Diversity within the 'Asian American community' will be explored, as well
as the relationship between Asian Americanness to a diverse range of social identities
in the US. Students will engage in hands-on data collection and incorporate their
personal experiences and observations in their academic discussions and writing.
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
Final paper, weekly response/journal, class participation
Texts
Proposed Readings:
Liang, A.C. 1997. The Creation of Coherence in Coming-Out Stories.
In Livia, Anna, Hall, Kira, Finegan, Edwards (eds.). Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender,
and Sexuality. New York: Oxford UP. 287-309.
Lo, Adrienne. 1997. Heteroglossia and the Construction of Asian American Identities.
Issues in Applied Linguistics, 8 (1), 47 ó 62.
Wu, Ellen Dionne. 1999. They Call Me Bruce, but They Wonít Call Me Bruce Jones: Asian
American Naming Preferences and Patterns. Names, 47 (1), 21 ó 50.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 312: Language and the Law (McCartney)
Have you ever wondered why lawyers and judges talk the way they do? Now you can
learn what they're trying to say, what they're really saying, and how to use both
of these to your advantage.
This course looks at the role natural language plays in a variety of legal contexts.
We will start with the nature of legal language, or legalese, and its purposeful
exclusivity. Then, we will examine legalese using linguistic tools to see what it's
supposed to mean, what it does mean, how to interpret it, and what we can do about
it.
We will do this by looking at the syntax (sentence structure), semantics (word meaning),
and pragmatics (situational context) of both written language, such as contracts
and statutes, as well as the oral language of interrogation, direct- and cross- examination,
jury instruction, and judicial decisions. This will help you understand legalese,
and may also help you to communicate more clearly.
We will also consider the reciprocal effect that the law and socio-linguistics have
on each other. This includes how child language and minority- language are treated
in the judicial process, and the effect of legal language on how justice is implemented
for children and minorities, in both written and oral contexts.
Linguistics skills, along with some understanding of the theory behind how language
is structured, can better arm anyone who deals in communicating with people.
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
Readings, homeworks, short written papers (1-2 pp.), presentation, final paper,
participation
Texts
Course packet
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 315: Speech Science (Davis)
[same as CSD 315S]
TBA
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
TBA
Texts
TBA
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 323L: English as a World Language (Blockley)
[same as E 323L]
English is presently spoken by 5.4% of the worldís population. It has no equal
at present for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been
the case and may not always be so. We will look at the steps that brought English
to this position over the last three centuries, at the role earlier English has played
in competition with other languages, and at what might be the core features of English
and what alters or preserves them, sometimes through the English-language media outside
this country. The focus in this course is on the description of the past and current
varieties of the language, not on the politics of ESL use and planning.
Topics will include a brief review of the history of English as a first language
since 1066; the history of English as a second or official language (including a
look at English loanwords in other languages); the distinctive features of English
over time and space: sounds, inflections, and grammar; the spoken and the written
varieties, with some attention to register and vocabulary; and brief case studies
from among the following environments: Australia, India, Tok Pisin and Sranan, West
and South Africa, Canada, Chicano English, and Estuary English.
Prerequisites
Rhetoric and Composition 306 and English 316K or the equivalents,
plus three additional semester hours of lower-division coursework in either English
or Rhetoric and Composition. No exceptions.
Requirements
Two in-class exams (25% each) and a final exam (25%)
Exercises and a weekly journal in which students independently formulate
answers to questions on the reading; quizzes will share the journal grade if they
become necessary to ensure timely reading of the assignments (total of 25%).
Texts
(May be revised before January:)
- David Crystal, English as a Global Language 1997 (Cambridge UP)
- David Crystal, Encyclopedia of the English Language 1995 (CUP)
- Peter Trudgill and Jean Hannah, International English, 3rd ed. 1994, with recordings
(Edward Arnold, 0-340-58654-1)
- Richard J. Bailey and Manfred Görlach, English as a World Language
new ed. U of Michigan Press
- possible coursepack including Foster, Romaine, Penfield, Burridge and Mulder.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 340: Automata Theory (Bhatt)
[meets with CS 341]
This course provides an introduction to the theoretical foundations of computation.
In particular, we discuss models of computation in the order of increasing complexity:
finite state automata, pushdown automata, and Turing machines. The language models
associated with these models of computation are discussed simultaneously: regular
grammars, context free grammars, and unrestricted grammars. We examine the role that
non-determinism plays in these different models of computation. The discussion of
different models of computation brings us to the Church-Turing hypothesis and the
Chomsky Hierarchy of languages, and along with that the proposition that not all
problems are solvable. The course ends with an introduction to the theory of undecidability.
Prerequisites
CS 336 or consent of the instructor.
Requirements
Regular in-class quizzes (20%), two mid-term exams (20% each), and
a final exam (40%).
Texts
- Required: Lewis and Papadimitriou, Elements of the Theory of Computation, Prentice
Hall
- Required: Sipser, Michael, Introduction to the Theory of Computation, PWS Publishing
Company
- Optional: Hopcroft and Ullman, Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and
Computation, Addison Wesley
- The lecture slides that I will use for this class are available at the University
Coop. Additional material will be made avaialble at the course web-site.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 344K: Phonetics (Myers)
This is an introduction to the study of speech sounds in human languages, including
the following topics.
- What sounds are there in the worldís languages?
- How do people produce them?
- How do people distinguish them?
- How do children learn to speak?
- How can computers produce and "understand" speech?
Students will explore their own speech, both through careful listening and through
acoustic analysis by computer.
Prerequisites
LIN 306 (or permission of the instructor)
Requirements
TBA
Texts
Ladefoged, A Course in Phonetics
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 345: Language Change and Language Variation (Harms)
An introduction to the phenomenon of language change, to the linguistic and social
phenomena which influence it, and to the principles which linguists have developed
to account for it. These principles have led to methods, to be examined in the second
half of the class, for reconstructing the vocabularies and grammars of the prehistoric
parent languages of languages which exist today, or which have been preserved in
writing.
Prerequisites
LIN 344K
Requirements
Classes will be a mix of lectures, discussion, and problem solving
using data from a wide range of languages. Grade is based on homework assignments
(50%), two in-class examinations (40%), and class participation (10%).
Texts
Crowley, Terry. An Introduction to Historical Linguistics
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 350: Comparative Celtic: Languages and Cultures (Southern)
This seminar aims to provide a comparative introduction to the languages and cultures
of Celtic Europe as they have interacted with their Germanic-speaking and Romance-speaking
neighbors, within the cultural-linguistic setting of the Celtic and Indo-European
language-family.
What are the dynamics underpinning the artistic and narrative outpourings of the
Celtic spirit, ancient and modern? Through selected readings from the rich literary
traditions of Irish, Welsh, Breton and Continental Celtic, we will concentrate on
tracing the linguistic, socio-cultural and literary evolution of the Celtic language-areas
from their beginnings to the present day. We will be using the panorama of the Indo-European
languages as a springboard for addressing wider issues of cultural evolution and
linguistic change.
Unbroken traditions of Celtic creativity and artistry forge direct links between
Irish lyric poetry, Welsh epic and storytelling, Breton and Scots Gaelic music, and
broader currents of the modern Celtic cultural world ñ including film, theater, and
English-speaking literary giants such as Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Seamus Heaney, and
Dylan Thomas. The comparative poetic, cultural, ethnohistorical, social and religious
traditions that underlie and connect the various branches of Celtic will be explored
in depth. Connections with modern Celtic successor-languages (from Gaulish, Celtiberian
and Old Irish through to the modern Celtic languages) and with the spectrum of Germanic
and Romance cross-fertilizations will be particularly emphasized, on the cultural,
poetic, mythological, musical, and linguistic levels.
NO MASTERY OF PARTICULAR CELTIC LANGUAGES IS REQUIRED.
Taking literary and poetic texts as documentary starting-points, linguistic reconstruction
will serve to illuminate the comparative method through case-studies. Considerations
of language acquisition and development will be set against the broader questions
of language diversity, change, social function, gender roles, and cultural and linguistic
divides.
Schedule
Week 1 Celtic origins
- SPAIN: Celtiberian ó Botorrita
- CENTRAL EUROPE: Hallstatt and La Tène cultures ó
- Kelts as the Central European superpower
- Keltoi, Galatai, Galli, Caledonii, Galicia/Galatia
- "furor Celticus", Brennos, and the sack of Rome and Greece
- CONTINENTAL vs. INSULAR Celtic:
- Prydein (Brittonic), Ériu (Goidelic), Keltia/Gallia/Gaul (Gaulish)
- languages, song, oral traditions (filí, bardd), writing (Ogham)
- social organization:
- tribes, beliefs, gods, arts, words, buildings, leaders, people
Week 2 Celtic heroines and heroes, and the warrior tradition: shame-culture vs. guilt-culture
- Lugh/Lleu/Lud, CúChulainn, Medb, Derdriu, Fionn mac Cumhaill;
- Vercingetorix, Boudicca, Arthur, Mórríghan / Morgan;
- Pádraig, Colum Cille, Amhairghin, Taliesin, Aneirin;
- Rhodri Fawr, Hywel Dda, Brían Bóru, Prince Llywelyn, Owain Glyndw^r
Week 3 Celtic word-magicians:
- holies, singers, druids, missionaries, philosophers, satirists
Week 4 Old Irish:
- lyric, legend, storytelling
- (the Túatha Dé Danann, Táin Bó Cuailnge, Magh
Túiredh)
Week 5 Middle Welsh:
- epic, love, the Other World
- (Dafydd ap Gwilym, Mabinogion)
Week 6 Scots Gaelic:
Week 7 Greater Cymru:
- Welsh, Breton, Cornish ó assimilation and identity
Week 8 Nationalism and language
Week 9 Ireland:
- Cromwellians, Wolfe Tone, O'Connell, Parnell, Sinn Féin,
- the Easter Rising, "the Troubles" (1 and 2 ó Civil War and Ulster)
Week 10 Celtic cultures, Medieval to Modern:
- invasion and occupation, words and song, religion and industrialization,
- famine and emigration
Week 11 20th century #1:
- Yeats, Synge, Joyce, Wilde, Sean O'Casey
Week 12 20th century #2:
- Beckett, Dylan Thomas, Brendan Behan, Seamus Heaney, Frank O'Connor
Week 13 Music, eisteddfods, the calendar, celebration, festivals
Week 14 Cultural survival, eclipse, and continuity
Prerequisites
An interest in language and culture; willingness to surprise yourself.
Requirements
Grades for the course will be distributed as follows:
50 % seminar participation;
50 % projects, essays, final paper.
The evaluation of your performance is mainly based on your oral participation
in activities, discussions, as well as individual and group projects and a final
paper. Identical levels of linguistic expertise among the whole group are not expected.
This means participation in discussions counts as much towards a grade as written
projects and papers.
Texts
Required course packet
- Available on 2-hour reserve at PCL
- Also available at I.T. Copies (M.L.K./19th St., 1 block east of Guadalupe); Hours:
M-F 8-6, Sat. 10-2
Thomas Cahill: How the Irish saved Civilization. New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Miranda Green: Celtic Myths. London: British Museum Press / Austin: UT Press,
1993.
William Trevor: Fools of Fortune. New York/London: Penguin, 1983.
R. F. Foster (ed.): The Oxford History of Ireland. New York/Oxford: Oxford
UP, 1992.
Lindsay Clarke: Essential Celtic Mythology. San Francisco/London: Thorsons
(HarperCollins), 1997.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 350: Language and Society in the Middle East-W (Zilkha)
This upper-division course will cover four important languages of the region Arabic,
Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish. The languages will be discussed from a socio-cultural
perspective.
Topics will include:
- The origins of Middle Eastern languages; a brief historical account
- Early writing and the development of the alphabet
- Main grammatical features
- The impact on other civilizations
- Language and religion
- Classical vs. modern
- Language reform and language planning
- Language in literature
- Language in education
- Languages in contact; linguistic and cultural borrowing
- Language in the media
- Language and politics
- Language in the arts
Prerequisites
TBA
Requirements
A midterm, a final, and a ten-minute oral presentation. Three short
papers are required for the substantial writing component.
Midterm: 20%
Final: 30%
Papers: 30%
Oral report: 10%
Class participation: 10%
Texts
Kia, Mehrdad, Persian Nationalism and the Campaign for Language Purification.
Middle Eastern Studies, April 1998, v34, n2
Haeri, Niloofar, The Reproduction of Symbolic Captial: Language, State, and
Class in Egypt. Current Anthropology. Dec, 1997, v38, n.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 350: Language and People (King)
LIN 350 "Language and People" is a topics course on those aspects of
sociolinguistics and historical linguistics which enjoy the greatest interest among
students of language and linguistics. Some of the topics covered this semester will
be: the origins of language and writing systems; the origins of proper names; political
conflicts in which language is a proximate cause (Quebec, Belgium, India); the Nostratic
Theory; accent and social stratification; animal communication; nonverbal communication;
language in diaspora; language, ethnicity, and nationalism. The course will consist
of lectures and class discussions. The grade in the course will be based on several
short tests and several short reports. Collaboration among sudents will be encouraged
in preparing the reports. A selection of readings will be the basic text in the course.
If a suitable published textbook becomes available, it too will be required.
Prerequisites
LIN 306
Requirements
Grades will be based on a couple of short essay-type tests and a couple
of short (2-3 pages) papers.
Texts
Either Clark, Escholz, and Rosa; Language: Introductory Readings
Or Bauth and Sherzer; Language in Use.
Also: set of readings available at Speedway Copy.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 350: Linguistics of Sign Language (Meier)
One of the most important findings of the last 25 years of research on human languages
is that the sign languages of the Deaf are natural languages with their own grammars.
Moreover, the grammars of these sign languages are independent of whatever spoken
language is used in the same community. The existence of sign languages provides
an important testing ground for many claims about the nature of human languages:
by comparing the structure of signed and spoken languages, we can gain insights into
how languages are shaped by the particular transmission modality in which they are
used. To what extent are spoken languages structured the way they are because they
are spoken and heard? To what extent are signed languages the way they are because
they are signed and seen? And, lastly, to what extent are all languagesósigned or
spokenóstructured similarly because they all draw on the same linguistic and cognitive
capacities?
Among the issues that we will discuss are: 1) How have sign languages been viewed
over the last 200 years? 2) How have sign languages developed? Interestingly, sign
languages may show some similarities to creole languages. 3) Non-signers are often
impressed by the pictorial quality (i.e., the iconicity) of many signs in American
Sign Language (ASL). Does iconicity have an important impact on the grammatical structure
of sign languages? 4) How are the grammars of ASL and other sign languages structured?
Do the structures of signed and spoken languages differ in interesting ways? 5) How
are sign languages acquired by deaf children who are being raised in signing households?
6) How do sign languages vary when used in different situations within the signing
community? 7) What are the auxiliary sign languages (e.g., Plains Indian Sign Language,
various Australian aboriginal sign languages) like that are used in many hearing
communities around the world?
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
Several short reaction papers, two midterm exams, and a final.
Texts
Klima & Bellugi. 1979. The Signs of Language.
Groce. 1988. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language.
Packet of readings
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 350.1: Language and the Brain (Sussman)
[same as CSD 350]
This course is designed to provide up-to-date information and theory regarding
language representation in the brain. No prior background is assumed as a complete
grounding in human neuroanatomy and neurophysiology is provided. Topics to be discussed
include: (1) localizationist vs. holistic arguments for language representation in
the brain; (2) brain scanning (PET, FMRI) studies; (3) the neuropathology of speech-language
disturbance following brain injury, i.e., aphasia, dysarthria; (4) left-right hemispheric
specializations.
The format is informal lecture-style with class participation encouraged. Note
packet available and essential.
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
Grading is based on four exams. No term paper.
Texts
None
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 360K: Introduction to English Grammar (Wechsler)
[meets with E 360K]
We will survey the syntax of English with the two goals of (i) understanding the
structure of English and (ii) acquiring the basic tools of syntactic analysis.
Note: E 360K and LIN 360K cannot both be counted
Prerequisites
Upper division standing
Requirements
Regular homework assignments, two mid-term exams, and a final.
Texts
C.L. Baker, English Syntax (2nd Edition)
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 360K: Introduction to English Grammar (Underwood)
[meets with E 360K]
The title of this course is misleading. Two-thirds of the course is devoted to
"grammar" (the study of the systems of inflection and syntax of the language),
the remaining one-third to "usage" (the study of how words and phrases
are actually used and attitudes toward those uses). The course does not include any
attention to "mechanics" (spelling, punctuation, and capitalization). The
purpose of the course is to teach students to analyze the structure of sentences
and to become more sophisticated in their understanding of language variation. It
does not presume to teach them skills in the use of English.
The course begins with the establishment of a theoretical framework for studying
the English language. Following a brief, but critical, review of the traditional,
Latinate description of English grammar to establish its numerous inadequacies, the
course progresses with the development of a phrase structure analysis of English
syntax. Students learn tests for constituents and for relationships between constituents
that are objectively verifiable, and they learn principles of categorization for
lexical and phrasal constituents. They use these tests and principles to analyze
sentences and justify their analyses.
The usage portion of the course focuses on language, ideology, and discrimination
in the United States. Students study issues such as the following:
- how language variation relates to regional and social identity
- how the educational system institutionalizes linguistic prejudice
- how mass media and the entertainment industry promote linguistic stereotyping
and prejudice
- how employers discriminate on the basis of language differences
- how the judicial system protects the status quo and reinforces linguistic subordination
The course assumes a familiarity with traditional, Latinate grammar of English,
which is commonly taught in primary and secondary schools in this country. Students
who have forgotten what they were taught about grammar will need to review on their
own.
Note: E 360K and LIN 360K cannot both be counted
Prerequisites
Rhetoric and Composition 306 and English 316K or their equivalents,
plus three additional semester hours of lower-division coursework in either English
or Rhetoric and Composition. No exceptions.
Requirements
Approximately ten brief reading quizzes:10%
A paper on language ideology and the language subordination model: 20%
Three syntax tests: 70%
Texts
Two course packets available from Speedway Printing in Dobie Mall
Lippi-Green, Rosina, English with an Accent, London and New York: Routledge,
1997
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 360K: Introduction to English Grammar (Kimball)
[meets with E 360K]
TBA
Note: E 360K and LIN 360K cannot both be counted
Prerequisites
Upper division standing.
Requirements
TBA
Texts
TBA
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 364M: History of English Language (Cable)
[same as E 364M]
This course aims to present the historical development of English by striking
a balance between the internal historyósounds, inflections, vocabularyóand the external
historyóthe political, social, and intellectual forces that have determined the course
of that development at different periods. The main topics (which will be covered
fully in class lecture-discussion) include the Indo-European Family of Languages,
Old English, The Norman Conquest and the Subjection of English (1066-1200), The Re-establishment
of English (1200-1500), The Renaissance (1500-1650), The Appeal to Authority (1650-1800),
The Nineteenth Century and after, and the English Language in America.
Prerequisites
Rhetoric and Composition 306 and English 316K or their equivalents,
plus three additional semester hours of lower-division coursework in either English
or Rhetoric and Composition. No exceptions.
Requirements
There will be regular homework exercises on vocabulary, phonological
change, etc., due at the beginning of the class period. Late homework will not be
accepted.
Texts
Albert C. Baugh and Thomas Cable, A History of the English Language
Thomas Cable, A Companion to Baugh & Cable's History of the English Language
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 372K: Sound Patterns: Sound to Word (Myers)
TBA
Prerequisites
Upper division standing & LIN 344K
Requirements
Texts
TBA
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 372L: Syntax/Semantics: Structure and Meaning of Utterances
(Green)
Words can be put together to form meaningful sentences, and different arrangements
of words can yield different meanings. For example, the words, as they are arranged
in the string The likes student teacher do not form a meaningful sentence,
but if the words are arranged as The student likes the teacher or The teacher
likes the student, they form meaningful sentences and convey different meanings.
This course introduces basic principles in syntactic theory and considers the ways
in which they are used to account for grammatical sentences. In reviewing claims
about the relation between rules and principles and universal grammar, the course
pays particular attention to description of language data and basic linguistic analysis.
Finally, this course considers the ways in which the structural contexts of expressions
influence their meaning. For example, in Every student admires herself, the
meaning of herself is influenced by its position with respect to every
student.
Prerequisites
The only prerequisites for the course are upper-division standing
or consent of the instructor and an interest in the subject. This course does not
presuppose any background in syntax or linguistic analysis.
Requirements
The grade for the course will be based on regular homework assignments,
a midterm exam and a final exam.
Texts
Cook, V. J. and M. Newson. 1996. Chomsky's Universal Grammar,
2nd edition. Blackwell.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 373: Language, Culture and Society in Latin America (Sherzer)
[meets with ANT
320L, LAS 324L, SPN 367K]
This course provides a sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological introduction
to Latin America. Geographically, the range will be from Tierra del Fuego to Chicago,
thus seeing Latin America as ranging, sociolinguistically at least, from North to
South America. Attention will be paid to indigenous languages and cultures as well
as Spanish, Portuguese, and other immigrant languages in Latin America. Topics to
be studied include language histories and classifications, languages in contact (bilingualism,
code switching, etc.), linguistic variation of various kinds, language in relation
to identity, class, ethnicity, and gender, forms of discourse, language and music,
language and education, and speech play and verbal art.
In addition to class lectures and discussion, audio and video tape materials will
be used.
Prerequisites
None
Requirements
2 mid term exams: 45%
2 short projects/papers: 45%
class participation: 10%
Texts
There is no textbook for the class. There will be a course packet.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 373.1: Child Language (Echols)
This course will be an advanced introduction to cognitive development. It will
provide an overview of cognitive change from infancy to adolescence, with an emphasis
on the earlier years. The course will cover various theoretical perspectives on cognitive
change as well as current research in areas such as infant perception and cognition,
categorization, number, understanding of biological and physical concepts, problem-solving
and language. Educational implications and cross-cultural issues will be touched
on.
Prerequisites
Psychology 301 with a grade of at least C, Psychology 304 or 333D,
Psychology 418 or an equivalent statistics course with a grade of at least C, and
upper division standing.
Requirements
TBA
Texts
TBA
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 373.7: Intro to Cognitive Science (Birdsong)
[same as CGS 360.1 & PHL 365.2]
This course is an introduction to the inter-disciplinary field of Cognitive Science,
the study of the human mind. The field draws on research in psychology, computer
science, linguistics, philosophy, and neuroscience. One leading idea in cognitive
science is that computation of information underlies many mental activities. Another
is that there are specialized modules of mind for certain mental processes, whereas
others are general. Also, mental processes are ultimately realized in the brain,
and research has begun to give fairly clear ideas about how the brain actually works.
But there is still a wide gulf between abstract and computer models of sub-systems
of cognition and their implementation in the brain. The first part of the course
will provide background information about
central assumptions of cognitive science. We will talk about the computational model
of the mind, types of computation, the "hardware" of the mind, and the
philosophical and psychological roots of cognitive science. Then we will concentrate
on important areas within cognitive science: Visual cognition, language, and reasoning.
The last part will center around three largely mysterious issues: Consciousness,
emotions, and the origin of the human mind. This course is suitable for anyone interested
in learning about cognitive science. Open-minded discussion is encouraged.
Prerequisites
Upper division or graduate standing, or permission of the instructor
Requirements
Attendance & Class participation: 10%
Discussion notes on the readings: 30%
Exams on concepts/terminology: 30%
Final paper: 30% (NB: This is not a writing component course.)
Texts
Photocopied course packet
Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works, London & New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1997 (paperback)
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 373.9: The German Language: Historical Perspectives-W
(Southern)
[same as ANT
320L.9, CC 348.9, & GER 369.4]
What are you really saying, when youíre speaking German? Why do you say it that
way? During the course we will be focusing primarily on the varieties and development
of German, one of the worldís most remarkable linguistic success stories. The class
will also be looking at examples from a broad range of Germanic languages, social
and regional dialects, pidgins and Creoles (including Yiddish), and German Sign Language,
in relation to the characteristics, origins and development of language and communication
systems.
Class discussions are complemented by group projects such as studies of misinterpretation
and bias in female-male discourse, the social roles of dialect as a divider and a
unifier, "Guest-worker German", effects of TV and mass media on language,
artificial intelligence, language acquisition, lexical borrowings and the impact
of powerful neighbor-languages such as English, and experiments in phonetic recording
and acoustics. The historical emergence of Standard German, and of dialects within
German and West Germanic (cousin-languages such as English), will be carefully investigated.
Specific analytical tools (for tracing semantic, phonological and morphological change)
will be introduced and applied within the framework of internal reconstruction and
the comparative method.
This class provides a broad overview of language, language-evolution, and sociolinguistics,
within the particular context of the history of German and Germanic. The goal is
to enlarge participantsí appreciation and understanding not only of the language,
its historical and dialectal development, and the rich ways Germans express meaning,
but also of the tacit social preconceptions and prejudices implicit in each of the
communicative choices and responses German-speakers make daily as individuals.
All investigations will be conducted in a challenging atmosphere of open debate,
designed to encourage participants to examine--using the story of German as a model--the
basis of something fundamental we take for granted: the way we talk, and the reasons
why.
Prerequisites
No prior linguistic expertise assumed. All language-users welcome.
Conducted in English. Active class participation is strongly encouraged; the environment
is egalitarian and stress-free. The chief prerequisite is a willingness to surprise
yourself.
Requirements
Participation (class activities and discussions): 50%
Oral Presentations (reports and initiative): 25%
Final paper: 25%
Texts
Fromkin, Victoria & Robert Rodman, An Introduction to Language,
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1993.
Russ, Charles V.J. The German Language Today: A Linguistic Introduction. Routledge,
1994.
Stevenson, Patrick. The German Speaking World. Routledge, 1997.
Waterman, John T. A History of the German Language, Waveland Press/University
of Washington, Press, 1991.
Course packet readings will be selected from the following, among others:
Robinson, Orrin. Old English & Its closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest
Germanic Languages, Stanford U.P., 1992.
Stevenson, Patrick, The German Language & The Real World, Oxford, 1995.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 379: Conference Course
Individual instruction. Prerequisites: Six hours of upper-division Linguistics.
Consent of instructor must be obtained. Requirements: You must have the prior written
consent of the instructor before you register for or add this course. Undergraduate
conference course agreement forms are available in Calhoun 503.
Back to undergraduate course index
LIN 379H: Honor Tutorial Course
Individual instruction. Prerequisites: Admission to the Linguistics Honors Program.
Consent of instructor must be obtained. Requirements: You must have the prior written
consent of the instructor before you register for or add this course. Undergraduate
conference course agreement forms are available in Calhoun 503.
26-Oct-00
Comments to: linclass@www.utexas.edu