Child Language
Linguistics 373 (41533)
Fall 2009
PAR 303
MWF 10:00-11:00 AM
Instructor
Colin Bannard
Office CAL 514
Email: bannard@mail.utexas.edu
Telephone : 512 471 9022
Office Hours: Monday 1:30-3 Thursday 10:30-12:00 or by appointment
Overview of content
This course explores how children acquire their first language. Some example questions we will
address are: How do children learn to recognize and produce the sounds of their language? How
do they identify words and phrases in the babble of adults and figure out what they mean? How
do they learn to put them together in new ways? What do young children understand about the
thoughts and intentions of others, and how does this impact the development of language? How
does language differ from the communication systems of other species and why? How is
learning language different from learning to walk, ride a bike or play baseball? Do all children
develop in the same way? Why are adults so much worse than children at learning languages? Do
children understand sentences they can't say? Do children say sentences they can't understand?
How can we tell?
Course Objectives
By the end of this course you should be equipped to read, understand, evaluate and discuss
current theoretical and empirical papers in the field of child language research.
Methods of Evaluation
You will be asked to demonstrate your developing understanding of the field in two ways:
- In homework assignments to be spread throughout the term you will be asked to respond to
articles and commentaries and produce short discussion papers (2 pages approx.) responding to
them. There will be 6 such assignments and the 4 best grades achieved will be averaged to give
your final grade for this part of the assessment. In 2 exams you will be required to apply your
knowledge by writing short essays in response to questions and prompts addressing questions in
the field. The first of these will take place halfway through the term and will be a take-home
exam. You will be given access to the questions at 10 a.m. on October 13th and required to hand
in your responses at the start of class 24 hours later. The second exam will be a sit-down exam
under controlled conditions and will take place during finals week.
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Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course. By default no knowledge of linguistics will be
assumed, although the presentation of course material will be adapted to the experience and
knowledge of the class.
Texts
Erika Hoff (2008). Language Development. Wadsworth.
A selection of research articles and commentaries to be assigned each week throughout the term.
Grading:
The final grade will be composed as follows:
Homework assignments: 20%
Midterm Exam (24-hour take-home, due October 14th at start of class): 40%
Final exam (Tuesday, December 15, 9:00–12:00 noon): 40%
Grades may vary by +/-1% (i.e. a borderline letter grade) depending on class participation. By
default, I will follow the following standard grading chart:
A: _93%
B+: 89%-87% C+: 79%-77% D+: 69%-67% F: <60%
A-: 92%-90% B: 86%-83% C: 76%-73% D: 66%-63%
B-: 82%-80% C-: 72%-70% D-: 62%-60%
However, I may lower (but not raise) the cutoffs (i.e. drop an A to _90, but never raise it to _95).
Extension Policy
Homework must be turned in on the due date by the start of class. Extensions will be considered
on a case-by-case basis and only if the student asks for the extension before the deadline.
Points will be deducted for late submission of homework. By default, 10 points (out of 100) will
be deducted for lateness, plus an additional 5 points for every 24-hour period beyond 2 that the
assignment is late. For example, an assignment due at 10 a.m. on Monday will have 10 points
deducted if it is turned in late but before 10 a.m. on Wednesday. It will have 15 points deducted
if it is turned in by 11 a.m. Friday, etc.
Late submissions will not be accepted if they are more than one week past the deadline. No
points will be received in this case.
The greater the advance notice of a need for an extension, the greater the likelihood that it will be
granted.
Academic Integrity
Each student in this course is expected to abide by the University of Texas Honor Code. Any
work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit must be the student's own work.
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You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lecture
and the sections with other students. You can give "consulting" help to or receive "consulting"
help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation should never involve one
student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of
an e-mail, an e-mail attachment file, a diskette, a CD, or a hard copy.
Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from another student and the student
who gave material to be copied will automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for
violation of this Code can also be extended to include failure of the course and University
disciplinary action.
During examinations, you must do your own work. Talking or discussion is not permitted during
the examinations, nor may you compare papers, copy from others, or collaborate in any way. Any
collaborative behavior during the examinations will result in failure of the exam, and may lead to
failure of the course and University disciplinary action.
Religious Holy Days
By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to
the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work
assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to
complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.
Use of E-mail for Official Correspondence to Students
All students should become familiar with the University's official e-mail student notification
policy. It is the student's responsibility to keep the University informed as to changes in his or
her e-mail address. Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and regular basis in
order to stay current with University-related communications, recognizing that certain
communications may be time-critical. It is recommended that e-mail be checked daily, but at a
minimum, twice per week. The complete text of this policy and instructions for updating your email address are available at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html.
Documented Disability Statement
Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should
contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at (512) 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-3293986 (video phone). Faculty are not required to provide accommodations without an official
accommodation letter from SSD.
Tentative Course Schedule: **This syllabus represents my current plans and objectives. As we
go through the semester, those plans may need to change to enhance learning opportunities for
the class. Such changes, communicated clearly, are not unusual and should be expected. The
textbook reading suggested here is intended only to provide additional background, and while it
may sometimes overlap with the material covered in class, it will only ever partially do so and
reading will never be an adequate substitute for attendance. Other readings will be assigned
throughout the semester.
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Week
2
3
Textbook reading
Date
Topic
Aug 26
Aug 28
Aug 30
Sept 2
Sept 5
Sept 7
Sept 9
Sept 11
What is language development?
What is language development?
Communication in other species
Why do children acquire language?
Theories of development
Labor day holiday
Communication before language
Communication before language
Sept 14 Sounds: Speech production 1
5
Sept 16
Sept 18
Sep 21
Sep 23
Sept 25
Sounds: Speech production 2
Sounds: Speech perception 1
Sounds: Speech perception 2
Sounds: Identifying words
Word learning: how children learn words
6
Sep 28
Word learning
7
Sept 30 Word learning
Oct 2
Word learning
Oct 5
Word learning: when children learn words
8
9
10
Oct 7
Word learning
Oct 9
Oct 12
Mid-term review
Grammar: introduction
12
90-99
HW1
due
148-162
204-218
HW2
due
184-204
HW3
due
222-228
228-234
Oct 14
Grammar: the 2- and 3-word stage
Oct 16
Oct 19
Oct 21
Oct 23
Grammar
Morphology
Morphology
Grammar: toward adult-like speech
Oct 26
Grammar
Take
home
midterm
due
234-237
238-250
HW4
due
Oct 28
Oct 30
11
72-83
83-86
136-148
4
Work
due
Grammar: theoretical perspectives 1
Grammar: theoretical perspectives 2
What do children hear? The nature of the
Nov 2
input / motherese
Cultural and social variation in children’s
Nov 4
experience
Nov 6 Poverty of the stimulus arguments
Pragmatic development: dialogue and turnNov 9
taking
Pragmatic development: audience design
Nov 11
& learning to refer
4
250-267
271-276
99-119
120-126
HW5
due
13
Nov 13
Nov 16
Nov 18
Nov 20
Pragmatic development
The acquisition of signed languages
The acquisition of signed languages
Bilingualism
14
Nov 23 Bilingualism
15
Nov 25
Nov 27
Nov 30
Dec 2
Dec 4
Ch. 8
HW 6
due
Special populations
Thanksgiving holiday
Special populations
Course review
Course review
Ch. 10
5