This course will serve as a broad introduction to linguistics, building a foundation for further study in the field. The first half of the course will be devoted to introducing the four basic layers of language: morphology, phonetics, phonology, and syntax. We will then take a broad look at language typology and historical linguistics, looking at some of the amazing ways that languages vary across space and time. Finally, with a basic picture of linguistic systems in mind, we will look at psycholinguistics, (how language is processed and learned), sociolingustics, (language in its social context), and computational linguistics (methods for processing human languages by machine). 

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• describe and give examples of ways in which human languages are all alike and how they may differ
• use the basic terminology of linguistics to describe language phenomena
• apply the tools of linguistic analysis to the sounds, words, and sentences of a language
• explain the ways in which languages change over time
• discuss important research findings concerning acquisition of first languages and how and where language is processed in the brain
• describe differing uses of language in its social context
• enumerate ways in which an understanding of linguistics can be applied to the solution of practical problems

Requirements

The final grade will be based on homeworks (30%), a midterm exam (30%), and a final exam (40%). Besides being a big part of the course grade, the homework assignments will be excellent practice for the exams.  Late homeworks will be accepted (with a grade penalty) for one week only after the deadline.  There will be no make-up exams without prior arrangements.  If you can't make it to an exam, let me know in advance!

Important dates:

• Mid-term exam -- March 15
• Final exam -- May 10

Readings

The required textbooks for this course are:

William O'Grady, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, and Janie Rees-Miller. 2005. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction.  Bedford/St.~Martin. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/linguistics/

and

Ann Farmer and Richard Demers. 2001. A Linguistics Workbook. MIT Press.

Both books are for sale in the campus bookstore and at Amazon, etc.  Updates and additional material can be downloaded from the publishers' websites. Additional readings will be made available in class or via the
"Resources" section of the course web page.

Proposed schedule

• Week 1 Introduction Chapter 1
• Week 2 Morphology Chapter 4
• Week 3 Morphology (cont.) Chapter 4
• Week 4 Phonetics Chapter 2
• Week 5 Phonetics (cont.) Chapter 2
• Week 6 Phonology Chapter 3
• Week 7 Syntax/Semantics Chapter 5
• Week 8 Syntax/Semantics (cont.) Chapter 6
• Week 9 Midterm
  
• Week 10 Typology Chapter 8, 9
• Week 11 Historical Linguistics Chapter 7
• Week 12 Psycholinguistics Chapter 11, 13
• Week 13 Sociolinguistics Chapter 15
• Week 14 Computational Linguistics Chapter 18
• Week 15 Review