van Vlack
Sookmyung Women`s University
Graduate School of English
Introduction to Linguistics
Syllabus - Fall 2004
Week 1; September 7
Do student questionnaire. As an introduction to the topic, we will discuss informally the nature of language: what language is and how it works according to Chomsky and others.
Homework: Get the textbooks.
Read Cook and Newson, pp. 1-39.
Week 2; September 14
This week we are going to take a quick look at how Chomsky envisions language. We will look at his version of universals and how he thinks linguists should pursue their search for universals, which contrasts sharply to those of Greenberg and Comrie.
Homework: Read Cook and Newson, pp. 40-74.
Read Allan, pp. 41-74.
Week 3; September 21
This week we be looking in depth at some of the basic underlying principles of Chomsky`s universals. Initially, we will start out by looking at very general observations about language and then move into some of the specific ideas which Chomsky has come up with to account for these observations. It is these basic concepts that form the backbone of most of the work that is currently being carried out in the field of linguistics
and syntax in particular.
Homework: Read Cook and Newson, pp. 75-88.
Read Singleton, pp. 1-16.
Week 4; September 28 (Holiday - to be rescheduled)
This week we will be taking an in-depth look at some of the general principles of language acquisition which Chomsky has used as evidence in creating his version of how language works. We will discuss many of these ideas against a critical backdrop based on other evidence.
Homework: Review Cook and Newson, pp. 88-134.
Read Singleton, pp. 17-32.
Week 5; October 5
This week we will be looking at both first and second language acquisition and the elements of Chomsky`s theory which have been derived from his observation of both phenomena and the reciprocal effects that the theories have had on such processes.
Homework: Read Cook and Newson, pp. 133-158.
Read Singleton, pp. 33-46.
Week 6; October 12
This is a rather simple chapter in which the underlying concepts of tree diagrams as visual representations of the structures in our brain are discussed. The students will learn from the bottom up how trees are made and how the design of trees have changed over the years as Chomsky has used them to simplify and generalize his framework.
Homework: Read Cook, pp. 159-173.
Read Singleton, Chapter 4, pp. 47-62
Week 7; October 19
This week we are going to explore how Chomsky envisions the syntax-semantics interface by looking at (theta) theory.
Homework: Review Cook, pp. 173-188.
Read Singleton, pp. 63-84.
Week 8; October 26
This week we continue with chapter 5 looking at grammatical categories. This has become a very hot topic in linguistics in recent years as it is still unclear how categories are created and how they should be discussed. We will follow Chomsky`s simple idea of structure as determining functions and I will show some criticisms of such an oversimplification.
Homework: Read Cook and Newson, pp. 189-215.
Read Singleton, pp. 84-104.
Week 9; November 2 Mid-term Paper Due
This week we will be looking at the thing which made Chomky`s ideas so unique and appealing when he first proposed them in 1957; movement. We will take a quick look at a few of the major types of movement that have been proposed and why language must work this way.
Homework: Review Cook and Newson, pp. 215-233.
Read Singleton, pp. 105-131.
Week 10; November 9
We start out this week by doing a cross-linguistic study of word order variation across languages and how this can be easily accounted for following Chomsky`s theory. We then delve into how all this is can be further explained through the idea of case theory.
Homework: Read Cook and Newson, pp. 234-249.
Read Singleton, pp. 133-160.
Week 11; November 16
This week we look at one of the most important developments in the evolution of Chomsky`s theories; government. We will take a careful look at how government works, what its constraints are, and why wee need to have this idea in a theory of language.
Homework: Review Cook and Newson, pp. 250-272.
Read Singleton, pp. 161-192.
Week 12; November 23
This week we are going to follow up with what we started the week before and will explore the other side of the Managua revolution by looking carefully at binding theory. Binding theory and government were developed concurrently and represent a major shift in Chomsky`s theories.
Homework: Read Cook and Newson, pp. 273-291.
Read Singeton, pp. 193-235.
Week 13; November 30
This week we go back to the issue of language acquisition and take an detailed look at two aspects of syntax in from the viewpoint of language acquisition and universalism.
Homework: Review Cook, Chapter 8: Topics in Language Acquisition pp. 291-310.
Read Lewis, pp. 89-104.
Week 14; December 7
This week we will take a look at some of the major ideas in language acquisition from a very modern viewpoint. Exactly how much universal grammar is available for second language learners and how this is affected by critical periods will be the main topics discussed.
Homework: Read Cook, Chapter 9: A Sketch of the Minimalist Programme pp. 311-344.
Week 15; December 14
In this the last week we will take a look at the most recent of Chomsky`s developments in the field of syntax. We will take a careful look at how minimalism works, its advantages and disadvantages, and some ideas for the future of syntactic theory.
Homework: You must be kidding!!
Final Paper: Due on Dec. 22nd.