Introduction to Linguistics

Spring, 2002  Nash/Yuan

Objectives

Schedule

Grading

Textbooks

Recommended Reading

 

Objectives

To learn:

*What linguistics is;

*Some basic knowledge in this field;

*To think about language as a thing, apart from its everyday uses and meanings, so that we can understand what those uses and meanings are, and how they are achieved;

*To examine our own beliefs about language, languages, and speakers;

*To observe, and to analyze, and to write and talk about our observations and analyses.

 

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Schedule

L = lecture; A = activity

1      2/26 T      L: Spring syllabus/Morphology  (Nash 5; Yule 7 & 8)

2      3/1   F      A: Morphology practice

3      3/5   T      L: Morphology

4      3/8   F      A: Morphology practice                    [PRELIMINARY REPORTS]

5      3/12 T      L: Morphology

6      3/15 F      A: Morphology practice

7      3/19 T      L: Morphology

8      3/22 F      L: Syntax                  (Nash 6; Yule 9 & 10)      [EX1]

9      3/26 T      L: Syntax

10    3/29 F      L: Syntax          (Group A only)

11    4/9   T      L: Syntax

12    4/12 F      A: Syntax practice                    [EX2]

13    4/16 T      L: Syntax

14    4/19 F      A: Review

        4/23 T      MIDTERM EXAM

15    4/26 F      L: Writing systems

16    4/30 T      L: Semantics                             (Nash 7; Yule 11, 12, & 13)

17    5/3   F      A: Semantics practice

18    5/7   T      L: Semantics

19    5/10 F      A: Semantics practice

20    5/14 T      L: Semantics                             [REPORTS]

21    5/17 F      A: Video—history of the English language (tentative)

22    5/21 T      L: Language Change         (Nash 8; Yule 19)     [EX3]

23    5/24 F      A: Video—history of the English language (tentative)

24    5/28 T      L: Language Change

25    5/31 F      A: Language Change practice

26    6/4   T      L: Language Change

27    6/7   F      A: Language Change practice

28    6/11 T      L: Language Change                 [EX4]

29    6/14 F      A: Review

        6/18 T      FINAL EXAM

 

 

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Grading

Midterm exam                         23%                

Final exam                               23%                

Report (in small groups)           25%                                

Exercises                                 14%

Participation                              9%                  

Other assignments                     6%

       

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Textbooks

Nash, Thomas. Discovering Language: An Introduction to Linguistics for Chinese Students. Taipei:  The Crane, 1986.

Yule, George. The Study of Language.  2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.

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Recommended reading

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997.

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