LING 308/708: Problems in Linguistic Analysis

11:00-12:15 PM TR BL 108

Instructor: Clifton Pye (pyersqr (at) ku (dot) edu)

Office Hours M 1-3 pm or by appointment

This course provides students with practice in applying the techniques of phonological, morphological, syntactic and comparative analysis learned in introductory linguistics to data taken from a variety of languages with different structural characteristics.

This course and the workbook presume a basic working knowledge of articulatory phonetics (sound types, place/manner of articulation and common phonetic symbols). The textbook includes Americanist as well as IPA transcriptions. A useful paperback to own is: Geoffrey K. Pullum and William A. Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide (University of Chicago Press). Other useful books are: Thomas E. Payne, Describing Morphosyntax. A Guide for Field Linguists (Cambridge), and Ronald W. Langacker, Fundamentals of Linguistic Analysis (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich).

Course textbook:

Merrifield, William R. et al. 2003. Laboratory manual for morphology and syntax, seventh edition.. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

GRADES:

A. The course grade will be based on the weekly problem sets that all students will work through in class and at home. Periodic quizzes (five) will provide practice in dealing with data you have not seen before.

B. All students are required to write a term paper which explores some aspect of language structure. The term paper will be worth 40 percent of the course grade. I will ask students to identify a topic for their project near the middle of the semester. On March 12th you should turn in a one-page description of your final project and how you plan to approach it. Briefly explain the importance of your topic: how does it fit into the study of linguistics? You can expect to redefine your approach while you are working on the project. This prospectus serves as a rough map of the area you hope to explore. The prospectus constitutes 10 percent of your final project grade; I will comment upon it but will not grade it separately.

Your final project is due in my office by 8 am, May 12th. I have posted some guidelines for the project at project guidelines.

C. Classroom participation is expected and will count towards 10 percent of the final mark for all students. The class will have a discussion format, and I will call on each student from time to time to participate in the discussion. Students cannot earn full credit for participation without coming to class.

Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else's work as your own. Plagiarism of all or a portion of any assignment will not be accepted. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for any assignment or report.

Any student who has a disability which may prevent his/her ability to participate fully in the course should contact the instructor as soon as possible so we can discuss the class assignments.

ASSIGNMENTS: