General information

Course abstract

Linguistics is the science of language. This introductory course deals with with the basic concepts, distinctions, and methods that linguists apply in describing linguistic phenomena and with the elementary parts of the theories that organize and explain their observations.

The use of language is complex and many-layered, and linguists have found it useful to approach some of its parts and layers separately, while also recognizing connections among them. Accordingly, linguistics is conventionally divided into several subordinate sciences:

Phonetics, the study of the physical properties of speech sounds and the mechanics of their production;
Phonology, the study of the ways in which speech sounds are regimented, distinguished, patterned, and structured in languages;
Morphology, the study of individual words and their internal structure;
Syntax, the study of how words are combined and arranged to form larger linguistic structures (phrases, clauses, and sentences);
Semantics, the study of meaning and reference;
Pragmatics, the study of the relationship between language and the context in which it is used;
Historical linguistics, the study of how languages change over time;
Psycholinguistics, the study of how linguistic knowledge is represented and applied in the minds of speakers; and
Dialectology and sociolinguistics, which study language variation and its causes.

The structure of this course loosely reflects this division.

Class meetings

The class meets at 1:15 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in Science 1302.

Textbooks

The textbook for the course is Contemporary linguistics: an introduction, by William O'Grady, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, and Janie Rees-Miller (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's; fifth edition, 2005; ISBN 0-312-41936-8).

The authors have set up a companion Web site containing supplementary materials. Regrettably, many of the site's features depend on Adobe Acrobat, Macromedia Flash, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and/or user registration, but some can be accessed freely.

The instructor

I'm John David Stone. My office is Science 3829. My office hours this semester are Mondays from 9 to 11 a.m., Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon, Thursdays from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m., and by appointment. I can be reached by telephone at extension 3181, or by e-mail to stone@cs.grinnell.edu.

Requirements

Each student in the course is expected to prepare for and attend the sessions of the class, to read the assigned sections of the textbook carefully, to learn the concepts, distinctions, and methods that are presented there, to submit solutions to exercises requiring the application of those concepts, distinctions, and methods, and to take and pass a three-hour final examination over the subjects that the course deals with.

If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations, please let me know early in the semester so that we can work out appropriate arrangements.

Readings

The schedule of topics for the course includes reading assignments. Please read each specified section before the beginning of the class that follows it in the schedule.

Exercises

From time to time, I'll propose exercises for you to solve. You may submit your answers either in hard copy or by e-mail. For e-mail solutions, I accept files in the following formats:

Plain text (ASCII)
Open Document Format (.odt)
Portable Document Format (.pdf)
T_EX or L^AT_EX source (.tex)

Note that I do not accept files in any of the .doc or .docx formats that various versions of Microsoft Word produce by default. If you're currently using Microsoft Word, I recommend that you download, install, and use the free OpenOffice.org software instead.

Examinations

The final examination will be held on Thursday, December 17, at 9 a.m. Please take this date into account when making your travel plans.

The final will be an anthology of short problems and essay questions. You may use any books and any hard-copy notes that you bring with you to the examination session, but you may not use computers or other communications equipment.

Class attendance

I generally prepare a set of study questions to help students prepare for each class session. You may write up and submit answers to those questions for extra credit. If you miss a class session, you must write up and submit answers to the study questions for that session.

It is especially helpful if students raise for discussion any questions they may have about the day's topic, the assigned reading, or the exercises. I suggest that you write out such questions as part of your preparation for class sessions.

Grading

Your performance on the exercises during the semester will determine three-fifths of your grade, your performance on the final examination three-tenths, and class attendance and other imponderable factors one-tenth.

Late work

Given the choice between good work that is late and poor or incomplete work that is on time, I prefer the former. Therefore, if you submit a paper that is correct, but late, I generally do not impose a penalty. On the other hand, if you take extra time for an assignment and still turn in poor work, I judge it more harshly than if you had turned in the same paper on time.

There is, however, an absolute deadline: Once I return corrected papers for an exercise, or post a solution on the Web, I cannot give credit for subsequently submitted solutions to that exercise, though I will still examine and comment on them. Similarly, I cannot give credit for papers submitted after the solution has been discussed or presented in class, either by me or by a student, even if the submitter did not attend the class.

Individual work

Since you will receive credit on the basis of your individual performance on the work assigned for this course, it would be unethical to submit a paper or an examination that is not your own or to collaborate on exercises or examination problems. If I encounter any indications of plagiarism, the Committee on Academic Standing will deal with them.