Linguistics - Winter 1999

Instructor: Jaye Padgett

Phonetics was called the "indispensable foundation" for the study of language by Henry Sweet, the real-life model for Henry Higgins in Shaw's Pygmalion. What he meant was that phonetics studies the only direct physical manifestation of human language use. Writing is only an indirect manifestation-an attempt made by some cultures (but not all) to record acts of speech in convenient and permanent form. Phonetics studies human speech itself.

This course emphasizes the acquisition of three related skills: recognition, transcription, and production of speech sounds. The focus is not on any particular language. Given a good grasp of phonetics, one can listen to any human language and record accurately on paper the way it sounded so that any other phonetician could read it back. This skill is extremely useful for anyone who ever plans to be in a foreign language environment, and is also applicable in a number of other domains-for instance, speech therapy, research work on machine recognition and synthesis of speech, dialect acquisition for actors, foreign pronunciation for broadcasters, and of course the study of linguistics.

There are no profound conceptual difficulties inherent in understanding and mastering phonetics. There are no prerequisites or even recommended prerequisites for the course other than belonging to the human species.

The work will involve learning a highly useful universal phonetic alphabet, doing drills and problems that require use of it, and learning the technical terminology for speech sounds and for the means of their production.

Prerequisites: none

General Education Code: IH (Introduction to Humanities)

Instructor: Sandra Chung

Linguistics 52 is an introduction to generative / transformational grammar. It is also a course in English syntax and semantics (principles of sentence construction and interpretation).

This course is required of linguistics majors, and constitutes the entry course to the syntax sequence. There are no prerequisites, and no prior linguistic or other training is presupposed.

The work for the course consists entirely of homework problems. These problems will be designed to involve students in observation and analysis of linguistic data, and in the construction and testing of syntactic theories. At two times during the quarter, the problems will be more comprehensive and time-consuming, and will be called "take-home exams".

There is no text. The homework will require time and careful attention, and will usually be rather challenging. An assignment will be given at every class, due at the following class, and returned the class after that. It will be impossible to follow the course without doing the homework, and it must be done ON TIME, because the next class discussion will depend on it.

Though it is part of the required core sequence for linguistics majors, Syntax I is designed for all students interested in an introduction to a rigorous, scientific approach to language study, a better understanding of the structure of English and of language in general, or just plenty of exercise in precise thought and writing.

Prerequisites: none

General Education Codes: IH (Introduction to Humanities), W (Writing Intensive)

Instructor: Donka Farkas

This course is an introduction to the study of linguistic meaning and its role in communication through language. The study of meaning in language covers a wide range of topics, ranging from the connection between an individual's use of language and his or her cultural knowledge and particular beliefs to the investigation of the principles which explain the meaning of a sentence based upon the meaning of its component words.

Semantics narrowly construed studies the representation of lexical (word) meaning and compositional (sentence) meaning. The study of the interpretation of language use in context is often termed pragmatics. This course deals with both areas.

Here is a tentative list of topics that we hope to cover: the relationship between the meaning of a sentence and one's understanding of an utterance; working out the implications of what is said; the complex meanings of some small words; how the meaning of a sentence is based on the meaning of its parts.

Work for the course includes reading approximately four papers and submitting answers to weekly problem sets and a final essay. The course will (probably) have obligatory once-a-week discussion sections.

Prerequisites: none

General Education Code: IH (Introduction to Humanities)

Instructor: Junko Itô

Exploring the historical origin and development of word elements in English, as well as their sound, meaning, and function in the contemporary language, the course aims to offer a deeper understanding of the language that has become the international medium of communication, and at the same time provide tools for vocabulary expansion and word-building techniques.

The roots of English vocabulary are extremely varied, with words of Celtic, Scandinavian, and Romance origin, as well as borrowings from all the continents (American Indian, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, etc.). One of the goals of the course is to analyze the structure of the English vocabulary, which in fact mirrors the diversity of the world's languages, thereby enhancing the students' awareness of the multi-cultural basis of their mother tongue.

More people use the vocabulary of English as their daily means of oral communication than that of any other language (with the exception of Chinese). In the written mode, English is unrivaled, being used in 70-80% of the world's mail, telex, cable, and now email communications. An ongoing sociolinguistic theme of the course is the global dominance of the English language, in particular of its vocabulary, and the positive and negative aspects of its current and future universal status-a unifying force in a deeply divided world, but also a potential threat to linguistic and cultural richness.

Evaluation will be based on class participation, weekly assignments, weekly quizzes, midterm and final.

Prerequisites: none

General Education Code: T4 (Topical-Humanities & Arts)

Instructor: Jaye Padgett

Phonetics and Phonology are the two branches of linguistics that deal with sound structure. While phonetics focuses on the physical manifestations of sounds and on theories of speech production and perception, phonology is concerned with the systems of rules that determine how the basic sounds of a language combine.

We will begin by discussing the internal structure of sounds and developing a precise formalism (the distinctive feature system) for representing this internal structure. We will then consider the kinds of systematic regularities in sound-combination that motivate phonological rules. The rest of the course will be devoted to three fundamental questions that can be raised about phonological rules: What is the form of these rules? How do they interact with one another? And what are the properties of the representations to which they apply?

Because phonological rules can depend on word structure, any rigorous investigation of phonology inevitably touches on this area as well. Thus, this course also constitutes an introduction to morphology (word structure).

Course requirements: There will be one or two homework problems per week, a midterm, and a final exam.

Prerequisite: Ling 20 (Intro to Linguistics) or Ling 51 (Phonetics I).

General Education Code: W (Writing Intensive)

Instructor: Donka Farkas

Morphology is the study of how words are constructed, just as syntax is the study of how sentences are constructed. Morphology has an obvious connection to phonology, since words are made up of phonemes as well as of morphemes, and the phonological shape of a morpheme may depend on its phonological environment; it also has a connection to syntax, since the internal structure of a word may depend in part on its syntactic environment; and it has a connection to semantics, since the meaning of a complex word is a function (sometimes a very interesting function) of the meanings of its parts.

The course has two main goals: (i) to provide an introduction to some of the basic theoretical problems in morphology, and (ii) to go through a series of problems in order to see morphological processes at work and develop the ability of doing morphological analysis. The theoretical discussion is based on selected chapters from the textbook Morphological Theory by A. Spencer (Basil Blackwell, 1991), as well as on a selection of relevant articles.

As a term project, each student will adopt a language and be responsible for developing a morphological description for it.

The work will consist of a number of analytical problems, some readings, and a term paper on the morphology of some language.

Prerequisite: Ling 52 (Syntax I) or Ling 101
(Phonology I).

General Education Code: none

Instructor: Judith Aissen

Linguistics 113 continues the investigation of generative/transformational grammar begun in Linguistics 52 (Syntax I). Several complex constructions of English grammar are introduced: constituent questions, relative clauses, topicalizing, clefting. We will first formulate rules that describe the basic properties of these constructions and then go on to examine the constraints on their operation. As the quarter proceeds, we will use these constraints to arrive at a version of generative syntax in which there are no specific transformational rules.

Syntax II differs little from Syntax I in organization: though there will be some reading, the course will be driven principally by class discussion and by the homework. There will be several homework assignments per week, a take-home midterm, and a take-home final.

At the end of this course, you should be in a position to read much of the classic work in transformational grammar. You will also be familiar with some important assumptions made in more recent generative syntax. Your control over argumentation and analysis will be stronger, and you will be able to carry out syntactic investigation on your own. Whether you intend to continue work in syntax or not, this course rounds out your understanding of syntactic structure, completing the picture sketched out in Syntax I.

Prerequisite: Ling 52 (Syntax I).

General Education Code: W (Writing Intensive)

TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

This course is designed for students who are interested in the practical aspects of teaching English to speakers of other languages, both at home and abroad. Focus will be on adult second language learning, though there will be some discussion of working with children. Students will meet twice weekly in the university classroom for lecture, discussion, practice exercises, and small group work. In addition, students will spend 4-6 hours a week as observers/student teachers in a local English as a Second Language classroom.

Topics covered will include (not necessarily in this order):

1. Overview of history and methods in TESOL

2. Techniques and materials for teaching listening comprehension

3. Techniques and materials for teaching speaking

4. Techniques and materials for teaching reading

5. Techniques and materials for teaching writing

6. Integrating the four skills

7. Learner variables - age

8. Learner variables - proficiency levels

9. Creating a lesson plan

10. Issues in cross-cultural sensitivity

11. Techniques and materials for teaching grammar

12. Techniques and materials for teaching vocabulary and idioms

13. Choosing a textbook

14. Creating your own materials

15. Placement and testing

16. Learner strategy training

17. Classroom management

18. SLA research

19. Review and synthesis

Required texts include:

Brown, H. Douglas. Teaching by Principles, an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Prentice Hall Regents, 1994.

Ellis, Rod. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford Universiyt Press, 1997

Pollard, Laurel and Natalie Hess. Zero Prep: Ready-to-Go- Activities for the Language Classroom. Alta Book Center Publishers, 1997.

For further information, contact Peggy Miles email: peggy_miles@macmail.ucsc.edu

General Education Code: none

(3 credits)

Instructors: Junko Itô & Armin Mester

This course covers phonological, morphological, and syntactic aspects of the structure of the German language.
Prerequisites: Ling 101 (Phonology I) and Ling 52 (Syntax I) or Ling 55 (Syntactic Structures).

General Education Code: none

Instructor: Armin Mester

A continuation of Phonology A, this course deals with issues related to the prosodic hierarchy (mora, syllable, foot, prosodic word, phonological phrase), the theory of prosodic morphology (root-and-pattern morphology, reduplication, etc.), and the structure of the lexicon.

Currently debated issues in these areas will be discussed and evaluated. Participants will learn to critically read and understand recent work, as well as to do empirical and theoretical research in phonology.

Course requirements: Weekly readings, short homework assignments, and two research squibs.

Prerequisite: Ling 211 (Phonology A).

General Education Code: none

Instructor: James McCloskey

The syntax of unbounded dependencies, including constituent questions, relative clauses, clefts, focus constructions, comparatives, and the like. Topics to be covered include: island constraints and subajacency, licensing conditions on gaps, the uniformity or not of different unbounded dependencies.

Course requirements: Approximately five problem sets, some reading, a final short paper.

Prerequisite: Ling 221 (Syntax A).

General Education Code: none

Instructor: Daniel Büring

This course covers the application of model-theoretic techniques in the explication of natural language semantics. We cover the type-theoretic description of ontology, generalized quantifier theory, and the basics of 'Montague Grammar'. The second half of the course is devoted to the study of the discourse-dynamic approach to the description of meaning. Special attention will be given to modality, negation, and propositional structure.

Course requirements: Work for the course will consist of some problem sets and a term paper.

Readings: Articles from current literature, Heim 1982 and Gamut 1991 Volume 2.

Prerequisite: Ling 231 (Semantics A) or consent of instructor.

General Education Code: none

Instructor: William Ladusaw

The research seminar is intended to develop your skills in linguistic research and other professional activities. To benefit from participation in the seminar, you should already have underway a clearly defined research project of substantial scope. (Consequently enrollment is by permission of the instructor, granted as described below.)

Work for the course will consist of various activities relating to the research projects of the members of the seminar. We write abstracts, revise drafts, compile bibliographies, do literature reviews, and do peer review of class projects. Participants must give a formal presentation on their research and submit a draft and a final revision of a research paper.

Prerequisites for enrollment:

1. Successful completion of first year graduate courses.

2. Submission to the instructor of a draft paper based on the proposed research topic on or before December 21, 1998.

3. Approval of the research project by the instructor.

General Education Code: none

Revised 7/27/04.