Transfer Student Courses in LinguisticsConsult the new Course Guide at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/cg_subjectlist/0,2030,8,00.html?show=20&termArray=f_04_1510&cgtype=ug This page was created at 12:39 PM on Wed, May 5, 2004. Fall Academic Term, 2004 (September 7 - December 23)LING 105. Honors Seminar in Language and Mind.
Section 001.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: Intended for Honors freshmen and sophomores. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.
LING 210. Introduction to Linguistic Analysis.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Steven P Abney (abney@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (SS). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Nothing is more distinctly human than our ability to use language. Because of that, we expect that the study of language can provide insight into "human nature." This course is an analytic introduction to the methods linguists use for describing languages (although general training in analytic thought is our ultimate goal). Drawing on examples from a large number of the world's languages, we will look at the sounds of language, how they are produced and how they pattern into words; we will study the diverse ways in which individual languages approach processes of word and sentence formation, while we ask whether there are processes universal to all languages. By focusing simultaneously on language data and on the techniques used by linguists to make sense of these data, we will see that our understanding of the object of inquiry (language) is influenced by our methods of inquiry. Requirements include problem-solving assignments, midterm and final exams; no prerequisites except an interest in language and thinking.
LING 211. Introduction to Language.
Section 001.Instructor(s): San Duanmu (duanmu@umich.edu), Elaine M McNultyPrerequisites & Distribution: (3). (SS). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Human beings have always been curious about the uniquely human possession, human language — about its structure, its diversity, its use, and its effects on others. This course explores the human capacity for language. We begin with the discussion of the uniqueness of human language and then review major properties of language structure including sound systems, word and sentence structure, meaning and their use. We explore how these properties relate to language acquisition, processing/computation, conversation, and writing. The course also considers the rich variation of language in terms of language change, dialects, and identity. Course requirements include regular homework and in-class assignments, one midterm exam and a final exam.
LING 313. Sound Patterns.
Section 001.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 210 or 211. (3). (SS). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course explores two fundamental aspects of the sounds of human languages: speech sounds as physical entities (phonetics) and speech sounds as linguistic units (phonology). In viewing sounds as physical elements, the focus is articulatory descriptions: How are speech sounds made? What types of articulatory movements and configurations are used to differentiate sounds in the world's languages? In this part of the course, the goal is to learn to produce, transcribe, and describe in articulatory terms many of the sounds known to occur in human languages. In the second part of the course, the focus is on sounds as members of a particular linguistic system. Phonological data from a wide range of languages are analyzed — that is, regularities or patterns in sound distribution are extracted from the data set and then stated within a formal phonological framework. We will also construct arguments to support the proposed analyses, and will find that phonetic factors play a crucial role in validating phonological analyses. Throughout the course, a major emphasis is that speech sounds are simultaneously physical and linguistic elements, and that these two aspects of sound structure are interdependent. Class sessions will consist of lectures, phonetic practice, and discussion of phonological data sets. Each student will also write a research paper on the phonetics and phonology of a language. Course grades will be based on weekly assignments, midterm, research paper, and a take-home final exam. LING 210, 211, 411, or permission of instructor is required to take the course.
LING 315. Introduction to Syntax.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Elaine M McNultyPrerequisites & Distribution: LING 210 or 211. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course investigates the syntax (sentence structure properties) of human language. It addresses the need for a scientific model to explain human knowledge of language that also makes predictions about its representation in the mind. The focus here is on human language as a specific cognitive capacity restricted to humans, rather than on the individual languages (e.g., English, Arabic, Hindi) that are made possible by the existence of this capacity. For this reason, the course explores in detail many structural properties that are common across different languages, even those that clearly do not share a common recent past. A simple example: all languages have specific strategies to ask questions that make them different from affirmative sentences (e.g., English uses special question words — 'who', 'what' and so on — as most languages do). In order to explain this and many other common properties of human language, a scientific hypothesis that has been explored in depth is that a large part of human knowledge of language is biologically determined, and maybe innate. This is further supported by the fact that normal children effortlessly learn their native language at an amazing speed, despite the complexity of the task at hand (compare trying to learn for example Korean or Turkish as an adult, with years of language classes), and despite variation and deficiencies of the language input they are exposed to. it is also clear, however, that there is a huge diversity among human languages, which can be illustrated only in an unfair way in this short description (e.g., only some languages change the sentence structure in a regular question: you say 'Who do you like?' in English, instead of 'You like who?', a possible word order similar to the one would find for instance in Chinese). Given this kind of diversity, which will be made clear, children need to be exposed to some minimum input of a particular language in order to be able to acquire it proficiently. Therefore, a major question that arises in modern linguistic inquiry and that will be object of this course is how the hypothesis of a biological basis for human language — which provides an explanation for the common aspects among all human languages and for the striking success of the acquisition task — can be reconciled with the obvious diversity of the human language experience. Course requirements include (bi-)weekly assignments, a midterm and a final exam. Prerequisites: Although there are no official prerequisites, students usually take one introductory course in linguistics (LING 210, 211 or 212) before taking this course.
LING 318. Types of Languages.
Section 001 — Linguistic Topology. Meets with LING 518.001.Instructor(s): Peter E Hook (pehook@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 210 or 211. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in LING 518. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Human languages, especially those spoken by members of unfamiliar and distant cultures, appear on the surface to be very different from one another. But closer examination reveals that languages differ in systematic ways and that more than half of them can be divided into a relatively small number of basic types. In this course we will identify and study some of these basic patterns and explore possible reasons for their existence, seeking explanations where possible in the communicative function of language as well as in the historical evolution of languages. The course will introduce students to basic grammatical structure and function by (1) having them investigate unfamiliar languages through study of published descriptive grammars and (2) relating this direct experience to the principle findings of contemporary typological research. Coursework will consist of:
Toward the end of the course students will make a ten minute oral presentation to the class of a pre-final version of their term papers.
LING 320. Computer Programming for Linguistics and Language Studies.
Section 001 — Meets with LING 510.001.Instructor(s): Steven P Abney (abney@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (MSA). (BS). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Designed for linguists and others in humanities and social sciences with interest in the computational study of language, this course provides essential programming skills for language processing, including corpus processing (sociolinguistics, language preservation, authorship studies), and computational modeling of parsing (psycholinguistics, computational linguistics).
LING 340. Introduction to Sociolinguistics.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Robin M Queen (rqueen@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 210 or 211. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course examines language as a social phenomenon, focusing on the ways in which variation in language form and use can enhance our understanding of social processes. The course will give an overview of various approaches and issues related to the role of language in society. In studying language variation, we will see how a person's background and identity shape the ways in which they speak and they ways in which they perceive the speech of others. Topics related to these questions include the following: quantitative approaches to language variation and change; registers (varieties tied to particular contexts; and various regional, social, and ethnic varieties of English (including African American English); relationships between language and gender; social and cultural issues associated with signed languages. The course will also consider social dimensions of bilingualism, multilingualism, diglossia, and code-switching. We will look at the effects of language contact situations, including the emergence and structure of pidgin and Creole languages, the process of language death, and attempts to preserve and maintain minority languages. Finally, we will examine the relationship between language and power, with particular attention to language planning and language standardization. In the course of this discussion we will examine some educational and political issues which are raised by a sociolinguistic analysis. Text: Introducing Sociolinguistics by Rajend Mesthrie, Joan Swann, Andrea Deumert, and William Leap.
LING 370 / ANTHRCUL 370. Language and Discrimination: Language as Social Statement.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Ann Lesley Milroy (amilroy@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 210 recommended. (3). (SS). (R&E). May not be repeated for credit.
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In this course we examine the interplay between language and ideological processes, particularly as they function below the level of conscious awarness. We are concerned with the suppression of linguistic variation; that is, with the development of a standard language ideology, which is understood to be a bias toward an abstracted idealized, (but ultimately unattainable) homogenous spoken language, modeled on variants favored by the white, middle American mainstream. This ideology is one of many social practices on which people depend without close analysis of underlying assumptions. In this class, we will look into those assumptions linguistic and social and about the arguments used to uphold them. We will examine the way in which these behaviors are institutionalized by the media, the entertainment industry, school systems, business community, and the judicial system, all of which promote standard language ideology and underwrite assimilatory and often discriminatory practices, the goal of which is to suppress perfectly functional language variation intimately linked to homeland, race, ethnicity, abilit (e.g., as it relates to the use of signed rather than spoken languages), or gender. We will look at issues of language choice and accent as legal issues in the courts, including battles about hate speech. This course should be of interest to those concerned with non-mainstream language varieties as a cultural resource and asset, historical heritage, and potential complication in supre-cultural communication. An introductory linguistics course would be helpful but is not essential.
LING 402. Research Seminar in Linguistics.
Section 001.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: At least one of LING 313, 315, 316, and at least two other courses in Linguistics. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit for a maximum of 9 credits. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Offers advanced Linguistics students the opportunity to investigate a research topic in depth and to gain experience in presenting their research to their peers. Each student chooses a topic, writes a research proposal, and writes preliminary and final drafts at each stage of the research.
LING 420. Word and Metaphor.
Section 001.Instructor(s): John M Lawler (jlawler@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 315 and 316. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. English is an analytic language, organized around syntactic constructions of largely uninflected words. It's a well-known fact that English syntax is deep and complex, but as it turns out, those uninflected words are very interesting, too. This is a course in lexical semantics and cognitive word grammar, focusing on English, though not exclusively, with special attention to the study of metaphor, or 'cognitive blending', as it's sometimes called. Metaphor is one of the most fascinating phenomena in human experience; using a metaphor consists in treating something as if it were something else, while realizing of course that it's not. In other words, lying, and getting away with it. Not only do we get away with it, we do it all the time; the overwhelming majority of utterances are metaphoric in nature, as is the cognition behind them. Metaphor, language, and thought are intimately connected. In this course, we will explore a number of case studies of metaphor, how they structure the lexicon and how they influence the grammar. Topics treated include:
There will be occasional homework, two papers and a term project, and considerable reading. Prerequisites: LING 314 or 315 or 316 or equivalent.
LING 447 / PSYCH 445. Psychology of Language.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Julie E Boland (jeboland@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: PSYCH 240 (Prerequisites enforced at registration). (3). (Excl). (BS). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.
LING 492. Topics in Linguistics.Section 001 — Language Contact. Meets with LING 792.001.Instructor(s): Ann Lesley Milroy (amilroy@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). May be elected twice for credit. May be elected more than once in the same term. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. No Description Provided. Contact the Department.
LING 512. Phonetics.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Patrice Speeter Beddor (beddor@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 313. (4). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course introduces students to the nature of speech sounds. One goal is to provide an overview of the type of sounds in the world's languages, and to train students in the production and transcription of these sounds. Practice with these sounds includes native-speaker presentations, in-class exercises, and software programs. A second goal is to arrive at an understanding of the speech process, which involves transmission of an acoustic signal from a speaker to a listener, and a corresponding description of speech sounds in terms of their articulatory (speaker-based), acoustic, and perceptual (listener-based) characteristics. In achieving this goal, students are introduced to basic principles of phonetic theory through readings, lectures, and hands-on experience in the phonetics laboratory. A third goal is to investigate interactions among articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual properties and to consider their possible consequences for the structure of sound systems. These phonetic properties are viewed as imposing constraints on the notion of "possible speech sound" and as contributing to the definition of "possible speech sound system" for human languages.
LING 515. Generative Syntax.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Acrisio M Pires (pires@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: LING 315 or graduate standing. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In the Generative framework, syntactic structure is generated by a formal rule system and by applying constraints to its output. Some of these rules and constraints are hypothesized to be innate, or "unlearned" (perhaps a species specific system). That is supported by how human language acquisition or grammar growth takes place, and by the observation of striking structural similarities across different human languages. Other aspects of our linguistic knowledge appear "learned", i.e., determined by an interaction of human biology and particular linguistic inputs, motivating different aspects of variation among human languages. This coruse introduces this so-called "Principles and Parameters" approach to the analysis of human syntactic knowledge, focusing on how the various postulated ("simple") rules and constraints interact to generate ("complex") structures, characteristic of natural language sentences (such as the one you are now reading, and understanding). Course requirements may include weekly assignments and/or a midterm, and a final exam or paper. For undergraduates, Linguistics 315 and permission of the instructor are prerequisites. There is no prerequisite for graduate students.
LING 517 / ANTHRCUL 519 / GERMAN 517. Principles and Methods of Historical Linguistics.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Sarah G Thomason (thomason@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Graduate standing, or permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course is an introduction to the theories and methods that enable linguists to describe and explain processes of linguistic change and historical relationships among languages. The major topics to be covered are the emergence of language families and means of establishing family relationships; sound change; grammatical change, especially analogy; language change caused by culture contacts; the Comparative Method, through which prehistoric language states can be reconstructed with an impressive degree of accuracy; internal reconstruction, a less powerful but still important method for gaining information about linguistic prehistory; and ways in which the study of current dialect variation offers insights into processes of change. Course requirements: regular homework assignments (45%), final exam (45%), class participation (10%).
LING 518. Linguistic Typology.
Section 001 — Meets with LING 318.001.Instructor(s): Peter E Hook (pehook@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Graduate standing; undergraduates with permission of department. (3). (Excl). May not be repeated for credit. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in LING 318. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Human languages, especially those spoken by members of unfamiliar and distant cultures, appear on the surface to be very different from one another. But closer examination reveals that languages differ in systematic ways and that more than half of them can be divided into a relatively small number of basic types. In this course we will identify and study some of these basic patterns and explore possible reasons for their existence, seeking explanations where possible in the communicative function of language as well as in the historical evolution of languages. The course will introduce students to basic grammatical structure and function by (1) having them investigate unfamiliar languages through study of published descriptive grammars and (2) relating this direct experience to the principle findings of contemporary typological research. Coursework will consist of:
Toward the end of the course students will make a ten minute oral presentation to the class of a pre-final version of their term papers.
Consult the new Course Guide at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/cg_subjectlist/0,2030,8,00.html?show=20&termArray=f_04_1510&cgtype=ug This page was created at 12:39 PM on Wed, May 5, 2004.
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