LING 20, Fall 2007, Marcus Kracht

Monday and Wednesday 2 - 4 pm, Royce Hall 362
Office Hours: Thursday 9 -11, Campbell Hall 3103G.
TAs:

Lawrence Cheung 1E (Th 12-1, Rolfe 3118), 1F (Fr 10-11, Public Policy 2319), Office Hours: Th 10-12, Campbell Hall 2207.
Elif Eyigoz 1C (Fr 9-10, Humanities A60), 1D (Fr 10-11, Humanities A40). Office Hours: Mo We 10-11 am and 1-2 pm.
Jieun Kim, 1A (Th 1-2, Bunche 3157), 1B (Th 2-3, MS 5118)

Prerequisites: none

Course Aims:

This course aims to provide the basic understanding of modern
linguistic theory, and how the various subfields in particular
phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics hang together and
interact. In addition, we shall look at the diversity of languages
across time and space. For each of the fields we introduce the most
basic terminology and methods. This course prepares the student for
the advanced and specialized courses in any of these areas. It is also
suitable as a general education class.

Course Material:

The textbook I am going to base my lecture on is: William O'Grady,
Mark Aronoff, John Archibald, Janie Rees-Miller: Contemporary
Linguistics: An Introduction. Paperback: 684 pages, Publisher:
Bedford Books; 5th edition, ISBN: 0312419368.
(Should be available in the UCLA bookstore.)

I have compiled a list of remarks on this book that I recommend you to look at.

There are also lecture notes from Fall 2004 that might be useful. You
can download them here. Keep in mind, though, that they might use
a different terminology and implement a different viewpoint on language.
In case of doubt, the textbook above takes priority.

Useful Links and Literature:

I have compiled a list of books that may be useful or fun to read.
There will also be links to websites which provide interesting stuff.

Assignments:

Assignments shall be handed out in class. They will be also available
online on the day they are officially issued but not earlier. Note that
January 15 and February 19 are holidays.

Tentative Schedule:

(This schedule is subject to change.) .

Lecture 1	Jan 8:	Overview of the course. Basic terminology
Lecture 2	Jan 10:	Phonetics I. Chapters 2.1 - 2.7 (with the exclusions of 2.5.5).
		Assignment A
Lecture 3	Jan 17:	Phonetics II and Phonology I: 2.5.5, 2.8 - 2.10,
		3.1 - 3.3. Stress, Length, Nasalisation.
		Minimal Pairs. Phonemes and Allophones.
		Check the web site of how the IPA symbols sound
		Assignment B, Answer Key
Lecture 4	Jan 22:	Phonology II: 3.4. Features and Natural Classes.
Lecture 5	Jan 24:	Phonology III: 3.5. Syllables and their structure.
Lecture 6	Jan 29:	Phonology IV: 3.6. Rules. Synthesis of the previous
		lectures.
Lecture 7	Jan 31:	Midterm exam 1, Answer Key
		Morphology I: 4.1 - 4.3. Words, affixes, compounds.
		Assignment C (due Feb 7), Answer Key
Lecture 8	Feb 5:	Morphology II: 4.4 - 4.6. Inflection, morphophonemics.
Lecture 9	Feb 7:	Syntax I: 5.1 - 5.2. Structure. Heads and Complements.
Lecture 10	Feb 12:	Syntax II: 5.3 - 5.3. Movement.
		Assignment D (due Feb 21), Answer Key
Lecture 11	Feb 14:	Syntax III: 5.4 - 5.5. Universal grammar.
Lecture 12	Feb 21:	Syntax IV: Syntactic Rules.
Lecture 13	Feb 26:	Semantics I: 6.1. Nature of meaning, semantic relations.
Lecture 14	Feb 28:	Midterm exam 2, Answer Key
		Semantics II: 6.2. Conceptual system.
		Assignment E (due March 7), Answer Key
Lecture 15	Mar 5:	Semantics III: 6.3. Compositionality. Thematic roles.
Lecture 16	Mar 7:	Semantics IV: Pronouns. Dominance, c-command. Take a look at the 2004 reader
		Assignment F (due March 14), Answer Key.
Lecture 17	Mar 12:	Language Change I: Language change, language families
Lecture 18	Mar 14:	Final exam!, Answer Key

Grades and Requirements:

There are six assignments, they count towards 60 percent of the overall grade. The
worst assignment is discarded. Thus, each assignment counts 12 percent. Each of
the midterms is worth 10 percent (together 20) and the final is worth 20 percent. These
are just percentages not actual grades. The way the percentages translate into grades
is to be determined. Moreover, we look at each individual performance (for example in
sections) to see if there is room to award extra credit. If the final is better than the
combined midterms, the midterms will not be counted (so the final counts for 40 per cent).
However, if it is not better I might simply remain with the above rule.

Extra Credit

Extra credit is awarded to students participating in experiments, as announced in class.
This is completely voluntary; however, the experiments are completely harmless. Details
on how to register. Award: 5 per cent added to the overall score.