Spring 2005

 

NATURE vs. NURTURE in Language

 

Course Syllabus for LING 162

also at

www.uoregon.edu/~redford/Courses/LING162

 

 

Lecture

Dr. Melissa Redford, T/Th 14:00-15:20, in Peterson 109

 

Discussion

Mr. Michael Ahland, Th 9:00-9:50 & 10:00-10:50, in Deady 205 

           

Office Hours,

            T/Th 11:30-12:30 in Straub 241 (Redford)

            M 15:00-17:00 in Straub 240 (Ahland)

 

BOOKS

 

Pinker, S. 1994. The Language Instinct. New York: W. Morrow & Co.

 

Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay? New York: CUP.

 

COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to revision)

 

Week 1

Tues

3/29

Introduction and Overview

 

 

Thurs

3/31

Human vs Animal Communication

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 2

Tues

4/5

Language Structure: Phrases

Pinker, Ch. 4

 

Thurs

4/7

Language Structure: Words

Pinker, Ch. 5

 

 

 

 

 

Week 3

Tues

4/12

Language Structure: Sounds

Pinker, Ch. 6

 

Thurs

4/14

Spill Over

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 4

Tues

4/19

1st Exam

 

 

Thurs

4/21

Philosophical Traditions of Explanation

Pinker, Ch. 1 & 2

 

 

 

 

 

Week 5

Tues

4/26

Learnability: Structure

Pinker, Ch. 9

 

Thurs

4/28

Learnability: Meaning

1st Critical Essay Due

 

 

 

 

 

Week 6

Tues

5/3

Learnability 3: Second Languages

also Aitchison, pp. 201-204

 

Thurs

5/5

Language and Mind

Pinker, Ch. 3

 

 

 

 

also Aitchison, pp. 210-216

Week 7

Tues

5/10

2nd Exam

 

 

Thurs

5/12

Language Emergence

Aitchison, Ch. 1

 

 

 

 

 

Week 8

Tues

5/17

History of English

Aitchison, Ch. 2

 

Thurs

5/19

Historical Linguistics

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 9

Tues

5/24

Language Variation

Aitchison, Ch. 3

 

Thurs

5/26

Sociolinguistics

Aitchison Ch. 10

 

 

 

 

 

Week 10

Tues

5/31

Biological Constraints

Aitchison, Ch. 11 & 12

 

Thurs

6/2

Wrapping up

2nd Critical Essay Due

 

 

 

 

 

Week 11

Mon

6/6

3rd Exam at 13:00 in Peterson 109

 

 

CLASS HANDOUTS

 

Handout_1.pdf                                                 Handout_7.pdf                                     Handout_13.pdf

Handout_2.pdf                                                 Handout_8.pdf                                     Handout_14.pdf

Handout_3.pdf`                                                Handout_9.pdf                                     Handout_15.pdf

Handout_4.pdf                                                 Handout_10.pdf                                   Handout_16.pdf

Handout_5.pdf                                                 Handout_11.pdf

Handout_6.pdf (excerpt from “Meno”)             Handout_12.pdf

 

CRITICAL ESSAYS

 

Assignment: Find an article from the popular press on some aspect of language. Examine the assumptions that are built into the article, and critique (good or bad) the implicit argument. The essay should be roughly 1500 words. The word count should be placed at the end of the text, right-justified. Please submit the article you used with the essay.

 

Aim: Practice meta-thinking and critical-thinking skills. Exercise your awareness that facts are subject to interpretation.

A style sheet for the essay, which provides very general guidelines on the structure of the essay, can be found here: StyleSheet.pdf

 

RESEARCH REQUIREMENT

 

3 hours in Linguistics / Psychology Subject Pool Experiments

or

2 Linguistics’ Colloquia (T 15:30-17:00, Straub 145)

 

GRADING  

Critical Essays 40% (20-20)

Exams 60% (20-20-20)

Research Requirement (Unfulfilled = Incomplete; Fulfilled = Earned Grade)

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY

 

All work submitted in this course must be your own and produced exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, paraphrases) must be properly acknowledged and documented. Any suspected dishonesty will be taken seriously and reported.  Students found guilty of academic dishonesty will fail the course.

 

STUDENTS with DISABILITIES

 

If you have a disability and are anticipating needing accommodation in this course, make arrangements to see me soon. Also, request a letter from disability services verifying your disability and stating needed accommodation.