ASLG 10100-10200-10300. American Sign Language I-II-III.

American Sign Language is the language of the deaf in the United States and much of Canada. It is a full-fledged autonomous language, unrelated to English or other spoken languages. This introductory course teaches the student basic vocabulary and grammatical structure, as well as aspects of deaf culture.

ASLG 10400-10500-10600. Intermediate American Sign Language I-II-III.

This course continues to increase grammatical structure, receptive and expressive skills, conversational skills, basic linguistic convergence, and knowledge of idioms. Field trip required.

LGLN 10101-10102-10103. Elementary Modern Armenian-I; Elementary Modern Armenian-II; Elementary Modern Armenian-III.

This three-quarter sequence utilizes the most advanced computer technology and audio-visual aids enabling the students to master a core vocabulary, the alphabet and basic grammatical structures and to achieve a reasonable level of proficiency in modern formal and spoken Armenian (one of the oldest Indo-European languages). A considerable amount of historical-political and social-cultural issues about Armenia are skillfully built into the course for students who have intention to conduct research in Armenian Studies or to pursue work in Armenia.

LGLN 10115-10215-10315. First-Year Tamil I-II-III.

The grammar of modern Tamil, in its manifestation both in colloquial and formal styles, and a good amount of vocabulary needed for referring to the immediate environment and using in day today transactions will be acquired. The four language skills acquired will be at different levels of proficiency with listening and speaking at the top followed by reading of formal texts and ending with basic writing skills in the formal style. The gradual progression in listening will be from teacher–student to speaker-speaker; in speaking it will be from articulation of sounds and intonation to expressing personal needs and interests, performing practical tasks, narrating experience and expressing emotions; in reading it will be from alphabet and spelling in the two styles to sign boards, controlled texts, factual news stories, interpretive reports and jokes; in writing from conversion of colloquial style into conventional style to personal letters, paraphrasing and translation of sentences.  The tools used are classroom conversations, conversational tapes, videos, graded print materials, select materials from the print media including tales, which are complemented by exercises and quizzes.

LGLN 11100-11200. Accelerated Elementary Modern Greek I-II.

This course is designed to help students acquire communicative competence in Modern Greek and a basic understanding of its structures. Through a variety of exercises, students develop all skill sets.

LGLN 18711. Elementary Turkish I. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Arik     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): The class meets for five hours a week
Equivalent Course(s): TURK 10101

LGLN 18712. Elementary Turkish II. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Arik     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): TURK 10101
Note(s): This class meets for five hours a week
Equivalent Course(s): TURK 10102

LGLN 18713. Elementary Turkish III. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): K. Arik     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): TURK 10102
Note(s): This class meets for five hours a week
Equivalent Course(s): TURK 10103

LGLN 20101-20102-20103. Intermediate Modern Armenian I-II-III.

The goal of this three-quarter sequence is to enable students to reach an advanced level of proficiency in the Armenian language. This sequence covers a rich vocabulary and complex grammatical structures in modern formal and colloquial Armenian. Reading assignments include a selection of original Armenian literature and excerpts from mass media.

LGLN 20115-20215-20315. Second-Year Tamil I-II-III.

This sequence is structured in a similar fashion as in the first year to develop  the higher order of the four language skills. All materials, aural and visual, will be uncontrolled and unedited. The student will be introduced to web sources and dictionaries for self-reference and to using Unicode for writing. Also will be exposed to dialects to have a taste of them. At the end of the course, the student will be able to converse in Tamil about specific topics of interest, to understand programs in the visual media including lyrics, to ask questions in field work situations,  to read and understand texts on current events in newspapers and magazines, to understand and appreciate modern fiction and poetry, to read and understand public communications such as pamphlets, invitations, announcements, advertisements and public speeches, and to write short essays and reports. If there is interest, web pages will be added to printed pages for reading and e mail and chat groups will be media added for practicing writing.

LGLN 22001. From Proto-Indo-European to Old Church Slavonic. 100 Units.

This course covers essentials of Slavic historical grammar with emphasis on the evolution of Proto-Slavic verbal and nominal morphology.

Instructor(s): Y. Gorbachov     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Some familiarity with either Old Church Slavonic or Indo-European.
Equivalent Course(s): SLAV 22001

LGLN 22100-22200-22300. Elementary Georgian I-II-III.

This course introduces students to modern Georgian grammar, primarily through reading exercises that relate to Georgian historical, social, and literary traditions. Supplemental activities that encourage writing, speaking, and listening skills are also included.

LGLN 22700-22800-22900. Advanced Georgian I-II-III.

This course emphasizes advanced language skills and vocabulary building through independent reading and writing projects as well as class exercises involving media such as newspaper and magazine articles, videoclips, radio programs, movies, and additional sound recordings and online materials.

LGLN 24600-24700-24800. Elementary Hittite-I; Elementary Hittite-II; Elementary Hittite-III.

This three-quarter sequence covers the basic grammar and cuneiform writing system of the Hittite language. It also familiarizes students with the field’s tools (i.e., dictionaries, lexica, sign list). Readings come from all periods of Hittite history (1650 to 1180 BC).

LGLN 25100. Old Church Slavonic. 100 Units.

This course introduces the language of the oldest Slavic texts. It begins with a brief historical overview of the relationship of Old Church Slavonic to Common Slavic and the other Slavic languages. This is followed by a short outline of Old Church Slavonic inflectional morphology. The remainder of the course is spent in the reading and grammatical analysis of original texts. Texts in Cyrillic or Cyrillic transcription of the original Glagolitic.

Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Knowledge of another Slavic language or good knowledge of another one or two old Indo-European languages. SLAV 20100 recommended.
Equivalent Course(s): SLAV 22000,LGLN 35100,SLAV 32000

LGLN 27800. Romani Language and Linguistics. 100 Units.

This is a beginning course on the language of the Roms (Gypsies) that is based on the Arli dialect currently in official use in the Republic of Macedonia, with attention also given to dialects of Europe and the United States. An introduction to Romani linguistic history is followed by an outline of Romani grammar based on Macedonian Arli, which serves as the basis of comparison with other dialects. We then read authentic texts and discuss questions of grammar, standardization, and Romani language in society.

Instructor(s): V. Friedman     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 27700,ANTH 47900,EEUR 21000,EEUR 31000,LGLN 37800

LGLN 29700. Structure of Albanian. 100 Units.

Equivalent Course(s): EEUR 20900,EEUR 30900,LGLN 39700

LGLN 32700-32800. Advanced Georgian I-II.

LGLN 33001. Advanced Readings in Modern Hebrew. 100 Units.

Although this course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content at the intermediate level, there is a shift from a reliance on the cognitive approach to an emphasis on the expansion of various grammatical and vocabulary-related subjects. After being introduced to sophisticated and more complex syntactic constructions, students learn how to transform simple sentences into more complicated ones. The exercises address the creative efforts of students, and the reading segments are longer and more challenging in both style and content. The language of the texts reflects the literary written medium rather than the more informal spoken style, which often dominates the introductory and intermediate texts.

Instructor(s): N. Rokem     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): HEBR 20503 or equivalent
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 25601,HEBR 30601,LGLN 23001

LGLN 34600-34700-34800. Elementary Hittite-I; Elementary Hittite-II; Elementary Hittite-III.

This three-quarter sequence covers the basic grammar and cuneiform writing system of the Hittite language. It also familiarizes students with the field’s tools (i.e., dictionaries, lexica, sign list). Readings come from all periods of Hittite history (1650 to 1180 BC).

LGLN 35100. Old Church Slavonic. 100 Units.

This course introduces the language of the oldest Slavic texts. It begins with a brief historical overview of the relationship of Old Church Slavonic to Common Slavic and the other Slavic languages. This is followed by a short outline of Old Church Slavonic inflectional morphology. The remainder of the course is spent in the reading and grammatical analysis of original texts. Texts in Cyrillic or Cyrillic transcription of the original Glagolitic.

Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Knowledge of another Slavic language or good knowledge of another one or two old Indo-European languages. SLAV 20100 recommended.
Equivalent Course(s): SLAV 22000,LGLN 25100,SLAV 32000

LGLN 37800. Romani Language and Linguistics. 100 Units.

This is a beginning course on the language of the Roms (Gypsies) that is based on the Arli dialect currently in official use in the Republic of Macedonia, with attention also given to dialects of Europe and the United States. An introduction to Romani linguistic history is followed by an outline of Romani grammar based on Macedonian Arli, which serves as the basis of comparison with other dialects. We then read authentic texts and discuss questions of grammar, standardization, and Romani language in society.

Instructor(s): V. Friedman     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LGLN 27800,ANTH 27700,ANTH 47900,EEUR 21000,EEUR 31000

LGLN 37900. Introduction to Comparative Semitics. 100 Units.

This course examines the lexical, phonological, and morphological traits shared by the members of the Semitic language family. We also explore the historical relationships among these languages and the possibility of reconstructing features of the parent speech community.

Instructor(s): R. Hasselbach     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): One year of a Semitic language or introduction to historical linguistics
Equivalent Course(s): NELG 20301

LGLN 39700. Structure of Albanian. 100 Units.

Equivalent Course(s): EEUR 20900,EEUR 30900,LGLN 29700

LING 20001. Introduction to Linguistics. 100 Units.

This course offers a brief survey of how linguists analyze the structure and the use of language. Looking at the structure of language means understanding what phonemes, words, and sentences are, and how each language establishes principles for the combinations of these things and for their use; looking at the use of language means understanding the ways in which individuals and groups use language to declare their social identities and the ways in which languages can change over time. The overarching theme is understanding what varieties of language structure and use are found across the world's languages and cultures, and what limitations on this variety exist.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring

LING 20101. Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the study of speech sounds and their patterning in the world's languages. The first half of the course focuses on how speech sounds are described with respect to their articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual structures. There are lab exercises both in phonetic transcription and in the acoustic analysis of speech sounds. The second half focuses on fundamental notions that have always been central to phonological analysis and that transcend differences between theoretical approaches: contrast, neutralization, natural classes, distinctive features, and basic phonological processes (e.g., assimilation).

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): LING 20001

LING 20201. Introduction to Syntax. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to basic goals and methods of current syntactic theory through a detailed analysis of a range of phenomena, with emphasis on argumentation and empirical justification. Major topics include phrase structure and constituency, selection and subcategorization, argument structure, case, voice, expletives, and raising and control structures.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): LING 20001

LING 20301. Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. 100 Units.

This course familiarizes students with what it means to study meaning and use in natural language. By “meaning” we refer to the (for the most part, logical) content of words, constituents, and sentences (semantics), and by “use” we intend to capture how this content is implemented in discourse and what kinds of additional dimensions of meaning may then arise (pragmatics). Some of the core empirical phenomena that have to do with meaning are introduced: lexical (i.e., word) meaning, reference, quantification, logical inferencing, presupposition, implicature, context sensitivity, cross-linguistic variation, speech acts. Main course goals are not only to familiarize students with the basic topics in semantics and pragmatics but also to help them develop basic skills in semantic analysis and argumentation.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): LING 20001

LING 20721. Dynamic Semantics. 100 Units.

 An introduction to the foundations and applications of dynamic approaches to natural language semantics. We will study the formal details and empirical motivations of various major dynamic semantic frameworks such as File Change Semantics, Discourse Representation Theory, Dynamic Predicate Logic, and Update Semantics, and see how they address a number of puzzling natural language phenomena such as donkey anaphora and presupposition projection. In parallel to the formal component, the empirical and theoretical advantages and drawbacks of dynamic semantics will come under scrutiny, and we will also pay close attention to the philosophical repercussions of a dynamic approach to discourse and reasoning. (B) (II)

Instructor(s): M. Willer     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Knowledge of first-order logic with identity strongly recommended. Students will benefit most if they have taken classes in semantics or philosophy of language before.
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 20721,LING 30721,PHIL 30721

LING 21000. Morphology. 100 Units.

This course deals with linguistic structure and patterning beyond the phonological level. We focus on analysis of grammatical and formal oppositions, as well as their structural relationships and interrelationships (morphophonology).

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 37500

LING 21300. Historical Linguistics. 100 Units.

This course deals with the issue of variation and change in language. Topics include types, rates, and explanations of change; the differentiation of dialects and languages over time; determination and classification of historical relationships among languages, and reconstruction of ancestral stages; parallels with cultural and genetic evolutionary theory; and implications for the description and explanation of language in general.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): LING 20600,LING 30600 and 20800,30800, or consent of instructor.

LING 21600. Introduction to Language Development. 100 Units.

This course addresses the major issues involved in first-language acquisition. We deal with the child’s production and perception of speech sounds (phonology), the acquisition of the lexicon (semantics), the comprehension and production of structured word combinations (syntax), and the ability to use language to communicate (pragmatics).

Instructor(s): S. Goldin-Meadow     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 23200,CHDV 23900

LING 21720-31720. Sociophonetics.

LING 21920. The Evolution of Language. 100 Units.

How did language emerge in the phylogeny of mankind? Was its evolution saltatory or gradual? Did it start late or early and then proceed in a protracted way? Was the emergence monogenetic or polygenetic? What were the ecological prerequisites for the evolution, with the direct ecology situated in the hominine species itself, and when did the prerequisites obtain? Did there ever emerge a language organ or is this a post-facto construct that can be interpreted as a consequence of the emergence of language itself? What function did language evolve to serve, to enhance thought processes or to facilitate rich communication? Are there modern “fossils” in the animal kingdom that can inform our scholarship on the subject matter? What does paleontology suggest? We will review some of the recent and older literature on these questions and more.

Instructor(s): S. Mufwene     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 41920,ANTH 47305,CHDV 41920,EVOL 41920,PSYC 41920,LING 41920

LING 23920. The Language of Deception and Humor. 100 Units.

In this course we will examine the language of deception and humor from a variety of perspectives: historical, developmental, neurological, and cross-cultural and in a variety of contexts: fiction, advertising, politics, courtship, and everyday conversation. We will focus on the (linguistic) knowledge and skills that underlie the use of humor and deception and on what sorts of things they are used to communicate.

Instructor(s): J. Riggle     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): LING 33920

LING 26400. Introduction to Slavic Linguistics. 100 Units.

The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with the essential facts of the Slavic linguistic history and with the most characteristic features of the modern Slavic languages. In order to understand the development of Proto-Slavic into the existing Slavic languages and dialects, we focus on a set of basic phenomena. The course is specifically concerned with making students aware of factors that led to the breakup of the Slavic unity and the emergence of the individual languages. Drawing on the historical development, we touch upon such salient typological characteristics of the modern languages such as the rich set of morphophonemic alternations, aspect, free word order, and agreement.

Terms Offered: Autumn 2012
Note(s): This course is typically offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): SLAV 20100,LING 36400,SLAV 30100

LING 27130. America: Society, Polity, and Speech Community. 100 Units.

We explore the place of languages and of discourses about languages in the history and present condition of how American mass society stands in relation to the political structures of the North American (nation-) states and to American speech communities. We address plurilingualisms of several different origins (i.e., indigenous, immigrant) that have been incorporated into the contemporary American speech community, the social stratification of English in a regime of standardization that draws speakers up into a system of linguistic "register," and how language itself has become an issue-focus of American political struggles in the past and contemporaneously.

Instructor(s): M. Silverstein     Terms Offered: Not offered 2012–13; will be offered 2013–14
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 27130

LING 27220. Professional Persuasions: The Rhetoric of Expertise in Modern Life. 100 Units.

This course dissects the linguistic forms and semiotics processes by which experts (often called professionals) persuade their clients, competitors, and the public to trust them and rely on their forms of knowledge. We consider the discursive aspects of professional training (e.g., lawyers, economists, accountants) and take a close look at how professions (e.g., social work, psychology, medicine) stage interactions with clients. We examine a central feature of modern life—the reliance on experts—by analyzing the rhetoric and linguistic form of expert knowledge.

Instructor(s): S. Gal     Terms Offered: Not offered 2012–13; will be offered 2013–14
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 27505

LING 27910. Sign Languages Linguistics. 100 Units.

This course, intended for upper level undergraduates and graduate students, will cover a wide range of analyses of different sign languages, and from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives.  The focus will be on how sign language linguistics has contributed to broadening general approaches to the study of language and to linguistic theory as a whole. Questions to be addressed include: “What impact does communication modality have on grammar?”, “What is the relationship between sign language and gesture?”, “How does the cross-linguistic study of sign languages help us understand the emergence of language?”, and “How do phenomena in sign languages broaden our understanding of what is universal in language?” Previous knowledge of sign language is not assumed.

Instructor(s): Diane Brentari     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): LING 20101 or 30101; LING 20201 or 30201; or permission of instructor.

LING 27920. Laboratory Methods in Sign Language and Gesture. 100 Units.

This course provides an overview of the methods currently in use in the fields of sign language and gesture research. Readings will include studies that use experimental methods that have been used in similar ways in spoken and sign language research, as well as studies that use methods that have required some type of innovation of technology or approach in order to be useful in work on sign and gesture. We will consider how advances in technology have allowed linguists to address theoretical questions concerning sign language and gesture in new ways. Since this course is a lab course, it will meet once a week to discuss the readings, and then in small groups in order to work on projects that will provide more in-depth understanding of the course's topics and related issues.

Instructor(s): D. Brentari     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): LING 37920

LING 28600. Computational Linguistics. 100 Units.

This course introduces the problems of computational linguistics and the techniques used to deal with them. Topics are drawn primarily from phonology, morphology, and syntax. Special topics include automatic learning of grammatical structure and the treatment of languages other than English.

Instructor(s): J. Goldsmith     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): CMSC 15200 or 12200, or competence in a programming language
Equivalent Course(s): CMSC 25020

LING 29700. Reading and Research Course. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and linguistics undergraduate adviser.
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

LING 29900. BA Paper Preparation Course. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and linguistics undergraduate adviser.
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

LING 30101. Phonological Analysis I. 100 Units.

This course introduces cross-linguistic phonological phenomena and methods of analysis through an indepth examination of fundamental notions that transcend differences between theoretical approaches: contrast, neutralization, natural classes, distinctive features, and basic non-linear phonological processes (e.g., assimilation, harmony, dissimilation).

Instructor(s): A. Yu     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012

LING 30102. Phonological Analysis II. 100 Units.

This course is a continuation of Phonological Analysis I focusing on topics of current interest in phonological theory. Topics vary.

Instructor(s): J. Riggle     Terms Offered: Spring 2013
Prerequisite(s): LING 30101

LING 30201. Syntactic Analysis I. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to basic goals and methods of current syntactic theory through a detailed analysis of a range of phenomena, with emphasis on argumentation and empirical justification. Major topics include phrase structure and constituency, selection and subcategorization, argument structure, case, voice, expletives, and raising and control structures.

Instructor(s): J. Merchant     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012

LING 30202. Syntactic Analysis II. 100 Units.

This course is a continuation of Syntactic Analysis I. It expands our examination of the locality of various syntactic dependencies, especially the nature of unbounded dependencies in a wide variety of languages. Topics include A'-movement and nonmovement in interrogatives, relatives, and comparatives, partial wh-movement, wh-expletives, resumptivity, islands (selective and strong), reconstruction effects, intervention effects, and the nature of successive cyclic movement. The course will have a strong cross-linguistic aspect to it, examining data from Korean, Irish, Hungarian, Turkish, Tzotzil, Swahili, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages, Chamorro and other Austronesian languages, and varieties of Arabic, among others.

Instructor(s): G. Kobele     Terms Offered: Spring 2013
Prerequisite(s): LING 30201

LING 30301. Semantics and Pragmatics I. 100 Units.

This is the first in a two-course sequence designed to provide a foundation in the scientific study of all aspects of linguistic meaning. The first quarter focuses primarily on pragmatics:  those aspects of meaning that arise from the way that speakers put language to use, rather than through the formal properties of the linguistic system itself, which is the domain of semantics. However, a central goal of the course will be to begin to develop an understanding of the relation between pragmatics and semantics, by exploring empirical phenomena in which contextual and conventional aspects of meaning interact in complex but regular and well-defined ways, and by learning analytical techniques that allow us to tease these two aspects of linguistics meaning apart.

Instructor(s): A. Giannakidou     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012

LING 30302. Semantics and Pragmatics II. 100 Units.

This is the second in a two-course sequence designed to provide a foundation in the scientific study of all aspects of linguistic meaning. The second quarter focuses on the  syntax-semantics interface and cross-linguistic semantics. The class will introduce in detail a theory of the way in which the meaning of complex linguistic expressions is formed compositionally from the meaning of constituent parts, and the interaction of semantic and syntactic composition. This theory will form the basis for exploring some empirical questions about the systematicity of cross-linguistic variation in the encoding of meaning.

Instructor(s): C. Kennedy     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Prerequisite(s): Ling 30301

LING 30721. Dynamic Semantics. 100 Units.

 An introduction to the foundations and applications of dynamic approaches to natural language semantics. We will study the formal details and empirical motivations of various major dynamic semantic frameworks such as File Change Semantics, Discourse Representation Theory, Dynamic Predicate Logic, and Update Semantics, and see how they address a number of puzzling natural language phenomena such as donkey anaphora and presupposition projection. In parallel to the formal component, the empirical and theoretical advantages and drawbacks of dynamic semantics will come under scrutiny, and we will also pay close attention to the philosophical repercussions of a dynamic approach to discourse and reasoning. (B) (II)

Instructor(s): M. Willer     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Knowledge of first-order logic with identity strongly recommended. Students will benefit most if they have taken classes in semantics or philosophy of language before.
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 20721,LING 20721,PHIL 30721

LING 31000. Morphology. 100 Units.

Looking at data from a wide range of languages, we will study the structure of words. We will consider the nature of the elements out of which words are built and the principles that govern their combination. The effects of word structure on syntax, semantics, and phonology will be examined. We will think critically about the concepts of morpheme, inflection, derivation, and indeed, the concept of word itself.

Instructor(s): J. Goldsmith     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Prerequisite(s): LING 20001
Equivalent Course(s): LING 21000,ANTH 37500

LING 31010. Mathematical Foundations. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to formal tools and techniques which can be used to better understand linguistic phenomena.   A major goal of this course is to enable students to formalize and evaluate theoretical claims.

Instructor(s): G. Kobele     Terms Offered: Winter 2013

LING 31100. Language in Culture I. 100 Units.

Among topics discussed in the first half of the sequence are the formal structure of semiotic systems, the ethnographically crucial incorporation of linguistic forms into cultural systems, and the methods for empirical investigation of “functional” semiotic structure and history.

Instructor(s): M. Silverstein     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 37201,CHDV 37201,PSYC 47001

LING 31200. Language in Culture II. 100 Units.

The second half of the sequence takes up basic concepts in sociolinguistics and their critique.

Instructor(s): C. Nakassis     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 37202,PSYC 47002

LING 31310. Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics. 100 Units.

An introduction to the comparative study of the Indo-European languages.  We will survey the major branches of the Indo-European family and discuss various aspects of PIE grammar as it is currently reconstructed.

Instructor(s): Y. Gorbachev     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012
Equivalent Course(s): LING 21310

LING 33801. Theory of Reference. 100 Units.

This course is a survey of recent theories of names, descriptions, and truth. We discuss the relation of reference to meaning, as well as the epistemological and metaphysical consequences drawn from theses about reference. After briefly reviewing classical sources (e.g., Frege, Russell, Tarski), we concentrate on current work by Searle, Kripke, Donnellan, Kaplan, Putnam, Evans, Davidson, and Burge. (II) (B)

Instructor(s): J. Stern     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): PHIL 30000 or equivalent required; prior exposure to analytic philosophy recommended.
Equivalent Course(s): DVPR 33800,PHIL 23801,PHIL 33801

LING 33920. The Language of Deception and Humor. 100 Units.

In this course we will examine the language of deception and humor from a variety of perspectives: historical, developmental, neurological, and cross-cultural and in a variety of contexts: fiction, advertising, politics, courtship, and everyday conversation. We will focus on the (linguistic) knowledge and skills that underlie the use of humor and deception and on what sorts of things they are used to communicate.

Instructor(s): J. Riggle     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): LING 23920

LING 36400. Introduction to Slavic Linguistics. 100 Units.

The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with the essential facts of the Slavic linguistic history and with the most characteristic features of the modern Slavic languages. In order to understand the development of Proto-Slavic into the existing Slavic languages and dialects, we focus on a set of basic phenomena. The course is specifically concerned with making students aware of factors that led to the breakup of the Slavic unity and the emergence of the individual languages. Drawing on the historical development, we touch upon such salient typological characteristics of the modern languages such as the rich set of morphophonemic alternations, aspect, free word order, and agreement.

Terms Offered: Autumn 2012
Note(s): This course is typically offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): SLAV 20100,LING 26400,SLAV 30100

LING 37920. Laboratory Methods in Sign Language and Gesture. 100 Units.

This course provides an overview of the methods currently in use in the fields of sign language and gesture research. Readings will include studies that use experimental methods that have been used in similar ways in spoken and sign language research, as well as studies that use methods that have required some type of innovation of technology or approach in order to be useful in work on sign and gesture. We will consider how advances in technology have allowed linguists to address theoretical questions concerning sign language and gesture in new ways. Since this course is a lab course, it will meet once a week to discuss the readings, and then in small groups in order to work on projects that will provide more in-depth understanding of the course's topics and related issues.

Instructor(s): D. Brentari     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): LING 27920

LING 38000. Seminar on Grammaticization. 100 Units.

We will study how some lexical items and syntactic constructions specialize for specific grammatical functions. While critiquing some of the current literature on the subject matter, we will examine trends followed by different languages. Part of the critique will involve determining how theories of grammaticization are connected to the traditional practice of historical linguistics and what major issues arise today.

Instructor(s): S. Mufwene     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012

LING 39903. Structure of Russian Syntax. 100 Units.

Topics to be covered in this course include agreement, case usage, and word order in Contemporary Standard Russian.  Major syntactic features of modern colloquial Russian are also examined.

Instructor(s): L. Grenoble     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): LING 29903,RUSS 23001,RUSS 33001

LING 40301. Field Methods I. 100 Units.

The field methods course is a two-quarter course, taken by graduate students and advanced undergraduates. (Students may elect to take the course more than once.) This course is devoted to the elicitation, transcription, organization, and analysis of linguistic data from a native speaker of a language not commonly studied. Students will also gain practical experience in the use of fieldwork equipment. Language chosen may vary from year to year.

Instructor(s): A. Dahlstrom, A. Yu     Terms Offered: Winter 2013

LING 40302. Field Methods II. 100 Units.

The field methods course is a two-quarter course, taken by graduate students and advanced undergraduates. (Students may elect to take the course more than once.) This course is devoted to the elicitation, transcription, organization, and analysis of linguistic data from a native speaker of a language not commonly studied. Students will also gain practical experience in the use of fieldwork equipment. Language chosen may vary from year to year.

Instructor(s): A. Dahlstrom, A. Yu     Terms Offered: Spring 2013

LING 40310. Experimental Methods. 100 Units.

This course will cover the basic methods for experimental studies, including experimental design, data collection and statistical analysis. To demonstrate different design and analysis tools, we will look at data set from different types of studies, including self-paced reading, acceptability judgment, ERP, etc. Students will also gain hands-on experience on different paradigms.

Instructor(s): M. Xiang     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012

LING 41000. Computational Psycholinguistics. 100 Units.

Theoretical linguists describe the relation between sentences and their meanings, and psycholinguists the relation between behavior and linguistic stimuli. In order for these two groups to interact, linking theories must be formulated to relate grammars to behavioral data. This course explores linking theories in a rigorous way. We begin with the classic competence/performance distinction, and the relationship between grammar and parser. The classical cognitive science approach to this latter takes them to be descriptions of the same process. Computational linguistics allows us to make this precise, and we explore the relation between grammar and parser in the simple case of context-free grammars. We then formulate explicit linking theories which relate either memory burden (stack size) or non-determinism (surprisal; entropy reduction) to behavioural data. The predictions of these linking theories are extremely dependent on the underlying grammatical assumptions, and we examine how to use them to decide between competing grammatical analyses. The goals of this course are to get you: thinking about the relation between theoretical and psycholinguistics; stating explicit linking hypotheses; able to use behavioral data to decide between grammatical analyses.

Instructor(s): G. Kobele, M. Xiang     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012
Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 41050

LING 41920. The Evolution of Language. 100 Units.

How did language emerge in the phylogeny of mankind? Was its evolution saltatory or gradual? Did it start late or early and then proceed in a protracted way? Was the emergence monogenetic or polygenetic? What were the ecological prerequisites for the evolution, with the direct ecology situated in the hominine species itself, and when did the prerequisites obtain? Did there ever emerge a language organ or is this a post-facto construct that can be interpreted as a consequence of the emergence of language itself? What function did language evolve to serve, to enhance thought processes or to facilitate rich communication? Are there modern “fossils” in the animal kingdom that can inform our scholarship on the subject matter? What does paleontology suggest? We will review some of the recent and older literature on these questions and more.

Instructor(s): S. Mufwene     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 41920,ANTH 47305,CHDV 41920,EVOL 41920,PSYC 41920,LING 21920

LING 42100. Seminar: Sematics. 100 Units.

Winter 2012 Topic: Inferential Meaning  This seminar examines expressions which give rise to implications and inferences not easily categorizable as presuppositions or conversational implicatures. These include some cases that have been argued to be either conventional implicatures or pragmatic presuppositions, as well as cases that do not clearly fall into any established category. We will look at how compositional meaning, pragmatic reasoning, and contextually encoded information contribute to the `inferential profiles' of the relevant expressions and constructions. Topics include implicative verbs, temporal prepositions 'before' and 'until', and various kinds of conditionals.
Spring 2012 Topic: Aspectual Composition  This seminar will investigate the way that the expressions that make up the verb phrase interact to determine the aspectual properties of an event description, with particular focus on the interaction between lexical and compositional aspects of meaning in verbs, nouns, and the morphology that links them together.

Instructor(s): I. Francez, C. Kennedy     Terms Offered: Winter 2013, Spring 2013
Note(s): This course has a different topic each semester.

LING 45000. Algonquian Morphosyntax. 100 Units.

A survey of linguistic phenomena typical of the Algonquian family of languages, including animacy-based gender, obviation, inverse verbs, deixis, noun incorporation, complex predicates, discontinuous constituents, separable preverbs, discourse conditions on word order, and templatic inflectional morphology.

Instructor(s): A. Dahlstrom     Terms Offered: Spring 2013

LING 47900. Research Seminar. 100 Units.

The course aims to guide students on their research in a structured way and to present professionalization information crucial to success in the field. The course is organized largely around working on the research paper, with the goal of making it a conference-presentable and journal-publishable work. Topics covered include abstracts, publishing, handouts, presentation skills, course design, creating and maintaining a CV, cover letters, webpages, and in general everything that is required for you to successfully compete for jobs in linguistics.

Instructor(s): K. Arregi     Terms Offered: Winter 2013

LING 50111. Vagueness: its nature, its semantics, its logic. 100 Units.

In this class we will draw together work on vagueness that has been done, over the last forty years, within philosophy, linguistics and formal logic. The overarching aim is to develop a coherent picture of what may appear to be (increasingly) diverging approaches to a single central theme.  Among those from whose work we will draw are (in alphabetical, not thematic, order): Dummett, Edgington, Fine, Graff-Fara, Greenough, Raffman, Shapiro, Van Rooy, Varzi, Williamson, Wright.  The professor will also draw on his own work, distant as well as more recent.  Through much of the course the context dependence of vague predicates will play a prominent part.  Students enrolled in the course will be expected to write an essay (of about 3000 words), which will be due at the end of the quarter.

Instructor(s): H. Kamp     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 50111

LING 52400. Seminar: Phonology. 100 Units.

Topic: Prosody This seminar will address work on prosodic structure. Research in the contemporary literature on marking prominence and constituent boundaries will be central to the discussion, and readings will include those that concern acoustic prosodic cues as well as those of the visual channel. In addition, some readings will address how work on prosody has evolved methodologically and historically, both as an autonomous grammatical component and as a set of phenomena that are studied for potential effects at the interfaces of other grammatical components.

Instructor(s): D. Brentari     Terms Offered: Winter 2013
Prerequisite(s): LING 30102 or instructor's consent
Note(s): This course has a different topic each semester it is offered.

LING 52900. Seminar: Morphology. 100 Units.

This course covers recent trends in the framework of Distributed Morphology and related theories. The topics include allomorphy and locality, the syntax-morphology interface, syntactic vs. postsyntactic accounts of syncretism, and the typology of postsyntactic operations.

Instructor(s): K. Arregi     Terms Offered: Spring 2013

LING 53450. Gesture, Sign, and Language. 100 Units.

The notion of gesture has been used in many ways and in a variety of disciplines. The study of sign languages has allowed us to raise a new series of questions about the role of gesture in language and communication. It is well established that gestures play an important role in spoken languages. What is the relationship between gestures used as an entire language (i.e., sign languages), and those used as a parallel part of a spoken language (i.e., the gestures of hearing people)? What cognitive mechanisms underlie the use of gesture in its various forms? How does the study of gesture shed light on the emergence of language? Scholars already working on gesture in the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions may be invited to be guest lecturers in the course as time permits.

Instructor(s): D. Brentari, S. Goldin-Meadow     Terms Offered: Autumn 2012
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): CDIN 53350,PSYC 43350,CHDV 53350

SWAH 25200-25300-25400. Swahili I-II-III.

This course is designed to help students acquire communicative competence in Swahili and a basic understanding of its structures. Through a variety of exercises, students develop both oral and writing skills.

SWAH 26800-26900-27000. Intermediate Swahili I-II-III.

Students focus on broadening their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in this course. They learn to use sophisticated sentence structures and expression of complex ideas in Swahili. Advanced readings and essay writing are based on student interests.