English 1200—Introduction to Linguistics/Study of Language
Fall 2009
T/TH 8:00-9:20am
Tiffany Rousculp
Office: AD 218 (Writing Center) Office Hour: T/TH 10-10:50am
Phone: 957-4992, x. 3 or leave message E-mail: t.rousculp@slcc.edu (best way to reach me)
Textbook: How English Works, 2nd ed.
Other Materials: For the final project, you will need a recording and playback device (tape
recorder/digital voice recorder)
Overview:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to basic concepts in linguistics, including the
linguistic subfields of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. The class also
reviews selected topics of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics( e.g., language variation and
language acquisition). Linguistic phenomena of English and other languages will be examined in
order to sharpen students' analytic skills and their ability to apply key linguistic concepts to novel
language contexts and data.
In this course, students will observe, collect, interpret and analyze natural language events.
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1) Conduct basic phonetic transcriptions of English, identify phonological processes and
discuss their relationship to pronunciation and language learning
2) Demonstrate a basic understanding of morphology
3) Demonstrate a basic understanding of common syntactic structure in English via tree
diagrams
4) Identify socio-cultural and linguistic factors that contribute to language variation (including
non-standard varieties and cross-cultural interactions
5) Identify and discuss the socio-cultural and linguistic factors affecting first and second
language acquisition.
Course Expectations:
In order to learn about linguistics, you must “do” linguistics; it’s not a class like history in which
there might be a lot of memorization involved. This class is quite exercise-heavy, meaning you will
read and then apply what you’ve read in problems at the end of each reading. We will be covering a
wide range of topics quite rapidly so it is important that you stay caught up with the reading and the
homework, as it can easily pile up on you. (I have attempted to organize the homework so that you
have the larger assignments between Thursday and Tuesday and have more time.) Nearly 1/3 of
your final grade is based on participation, which means that you need to do the reading, have the
homework done, and participate in class.
Since the goal is for you to learn, I want to provide you with opportunities to revise your work, even
though the majority of it is in exercise form. First, you may turn in your homework after we discuss
it in class so that you can revise it based on our discussions. Also, after I review your work, if there
are any problems with it, you may also revise it and turn it in again. However, this puts the
responsibility on you to be sure you get your homework turned in—and re-turned in if you’d like. I
will keep track of what you have turned in, but it’s up to you to check it if you are unsure.
We will have two mid-terms to assess how you are doing with your learning. These will be takehome and open-book, and you can work with each other on the tests. My purpose is to see how
you are understanding and able to apply your new knowledge, not to “test” you.
For the final project, you will conduct an investigation into an area of Linguistics that you are
interested in: phonology, morphology or syntax. You will be given guidelines for each of these
projects.
Assignments
 Reading, Exercises and Participation 30%
 Early mid-term 20%, Late mid-term 25%
 Final Project: an investigation regarding Phonetics, Morphology, or Syntax 25%
Absences/Tardies
Due to the quick pace of this course, please don’t miss more than two times. Also, being late means
that you’ve arrived after we’ve started. If you need assistance in catching up, you can call on each
other, meet me during my office hours, communicate with me via email or talk with me on the
phone.
Accommodations
Students with medical, psychological, learning or other disability desiring accommodations or services under ADA must
contact the Disability Resource Center, (801) 957-4659. The DRC determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision
of these accommodations and services.
SLCC Outcomes
SLCC is committed to fostering and assessing the following student learning outcomes in its programs and courses:
*Acquiring substantive knowledge in the field of their choice
*Developing quantitative literacies
*Developing the knowledge and skills to be civically engaged
*Thinking critically
*Communicating effectively
English 1200—Introduction to Linguistics/Study of Language
Schedule
Tuesday
Fall 2009
8/2527
Thursday
Introduction to Course
Pre-Course Survey
9/1-3
H/w: Read Chapter 1
Ex: Look over exercises, but don’t do any. We will
discuss some in class.
Language and Authority
A Language Like English
Hw/: Read Chapter 2 through p. 48
Ex. 2.1 and 2.2.2
9/8-10 Phonetics
Ex. 3.1.1.a-c, 3.1.2, 3.2
9/1517
Syntax
Ex. 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8
9/2224
9/2910/1
h/w: Read Chapter 3 through page 82
Ex. Attempt 3.1.1.a
Phonetics
h/w: Read Chapter 5
Ex. 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
Syntax
Syntax
h/w: Read Chapter 6
Ex. 6.1.1, 6.1.2
Syntax
Ex. 6.2.1, 6.2.2
Syntax
Ex. 6.3, 6.4.1, 6.4.2, 6.5
Syntax
Ex. 6.6.1, 6.6.2, 6.7.1, 6.7.2
10/6-8 Early Mid-term
10/13- Phonology/Review Phonetics
15
h/w: Read 82-89
Ex. 3.3.1
10/20- Phonology
22
Ex. Additional exercises
10/27- Phonology
29
h/w: Read pp. 88-89 and 92-95
Ex. 3.5.1, 3.5.2, 3.6
11/3-5 Phonology
h/w: Read Chapter 4
Ex. 4.1, 4.2.1-3
11/10- Morphology
12
h/w: Study for Early mid-term
Fall Break
Phonology
h/w: Read supplement reading
Ex. 3.3.2, 3.3.3, Additional exercises
Phonology
Ex. 3.3.4.1-5
Phonology
Ex. Complete ones that you still haven’t finished
Morphology
h/w: Additional reading (from Language
Files?)
Ex: Additional Exercises
Morphology
Ex. Two from 4.3 and all of 4.4
11/17- Late Mid-term
19
H/w: Read Chapter 11 through p. 383
Ex. 11.2.1
11/24- Language Variation
26
Introduce final project
h/w: Decide on final project and read
Chapter 10, record kids’ language
Ex: 10.1
12/1-3 Language Acquisition
Discuss final project
12/810
12/15
Ex. 10.2, 10.3.1-3, 1.4
Work on final project
h/w: Work on final project
Final Project Due
Mini-Final (pass/fail)
h/w: Study for Late mid-term
Language Variation
H/w: Read rest of Chapter 11
Ex. 11.1, 11.4.2, and Linguistic Profiling Quiz
(test 5 people)
http://www.uiowa.edu/~c103112/profile.html
Thanksgiving
Language Acquisition
h/w: Work on final project
Work on final project
h/w: Work on Final Project
English 1200: Introduction to the Study of Language/Linguistics
A Pre-Course Survey
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People who say Nobody ain’t done nothin’ can’t think logically.
Swearing degrades a language.
Kids need to study for years in school to learn to speak their language properly.
Many animals have languages much like human languages.
Writing is more perfect than speech.
The more time parents spend teaching their children English, the better their children will
speak.
You can almost always recognize Jews and Blacks by the way they talk.
Sloppy speech should be avoided whenever possible.
It’s me is ungrammatical, bad English, and out to be avoided by educated speakers of
English.
The English language traces its ancestry back to Latin.
Women generally speak better than men.
There are “primitive” languages with only a few hundred words.
French is a clearer and more logical language than English or German.
People from the East Coast talk nasally.
Homosexuals lisp.
Some people can pick up a language in a couple of weeks.
It’s easier to learn Chinese if your ancestry is Chinese.
Native Americans all speak dialects of the same language.
The only reasonable way to arrange words in a sentence is to start with the subject and
follow with the verb.
English is a simpler language than Latin or Greek.
Every language distinguishes singular nouns from plural nouns by adding an ending in the
plural.
The only ways deaf people can communicate are by writing, by reading lips, and by spelling
out English with their fingers.
People all over the world indicate “yes” or “no” by the same set of head gestures.
Correct spelling preserves a language.
International relations would improve if everyone spoke the same language.
Japanese, Chinese and Korean are dialects of the same language.
There were once tribes of Native Americas that has no spoken language, but relied solely on
sign language.
Eskimos don’t have a general word for “snow”, therefore they can’t think abstractly.
The more words you know in a language, the better you know the language.
Nouns refer to people, places or things only.
From Language Files, 9th Ed. Pp 5-6.
ENGLISH 1200—FINAL PROJECT
To get us out of the book and into the work that linguists do, you are going to do an investigation into
language structures. This project will include recording natural language data from a speaker (or two
speakers), accurately transcribing the data, and coming to a conclusion about it through analysis. You will
select one from the three possible projects below.
A note: Be sure to have your subject include their age, where they live, where they were raised, and their permission to be recorded.
Phonemic Analysis
PURPOSE:
To isolate and analyze a phonemic variable—
allophones--in prompted, natural speech from at
least two different speakers—preferably from
different geographic backgrounds.
PROCESS:
Select an allophone set that you are familiar with
from our class,
1. Create several utterances that include that
variable and several that do not. (So your
subject cannot tell what the variable is.)
2. Record your subject reading the
sentences. (Please have him/her read
them at least three times, and use the last
reading for your analysis).
3. Phonetically transcribe the examples of
the variable and analyze its occurrence.
So, when you’re done, you’ll have three things to
turn in:
1. Recorded tape of utterances (with your
name on it)
2. Transcribed utterances (with demographic
information of speaker).
3. Summary of analysis
Morphological Analysis
PURPOSE:
To describe morphological processes that generate
new words in an language.
PROCESS:
1. Record someone’s natural speech for
approximately 15-25 minutes.
2. Select ten words or phrases that would
not be found in a current college
dictionary.
3. Determine the morphologic composition
and process of each word or phrase.
4. Analyze the derivation of each word.
So, when you’re done, you’ll have three things to
turn in.
1. Transcription of words or phrases.
2. Tree structures describing each word or
phrase.
3. Analysis of derivation for each.
Syntactic Analysis
PURPOSE:
To describe a grammatical rule in natural speech.
PROCESS:
1. Record someone’s natural speech for
approximately 15-25 minutes.
2. Select at least five utterances from the last
ten minutes of the recording and draw
their trees to determine their phrasestructure rules.
3. Describe a grammatical structure that you
discover.
So, when you’re done, you’ll have three things to
turn in:
1. Transcription of five utterances.
2. Tree structures for each utterance.
3. Description of grammatical feature.
Hints:



Determine Deep Structure of the
utterance.
Look for transformations.
Look for patterns in the utterances.
English 1200 Fall 2009
Score:
/xzzpts
Early Mid-term
Name:______________________
Grade:
1. Which of the following statements are prespective and which are descriptive? (5pts)
a. “It’s me” is ungrammatical; “It’s I” is grammatically correct.
b. People who say “ain’t” may suffer negative social consequences because it is associated
with dialects of the lower classes.
c.
In casual styles of speaking, English speakers end sentences with prepositions; ending
sentences with prepositions is avoided in formal styles.
d. “Between you and me” is correct; “between you and I” is ungrammatical.
e. Some speakers of English accept the sentence “My mother loved.”
2. Write the phonetic symbol representing each of the following sounds (don’t forget to use
brackets). (5pts)

voiceless palatal affricate

voiced palatal fricative

voiced velar nasal

voiced alveolar lateral liquid

voiceless glottal fricative

high front tense unrounded vowel

voiced labiodental fricative

mid front lax unrounded vowel

voiced interdental fricative

mid back lax rounded vowel
3. Transcribe the following words (don’t forget to use brackets). (5pts)

child

breath

sugar

breathe

cane

Godzilla

said

punched

ghoul

whale
4. Describe the following natural classes of English sounds. (5pts)
a. [r, l]
b. [f, θ, s, ʃ, h]
c.
[i, u]
d. [p, b]
e. [n, r, l]
5. Are the following bracketed words constituents? (5pts)
1. I’ve got [rings on my fingers and bells on my toes].
6. Pat threw [the fish into the tank].
2. I can’t believe [I watched that entire] T.V. show.
7. Kim [looks angry] about something.
3. The [new book of comics] sold right off the shelf.
8. Leslie said it rained [cats and dogs].
4. My cat walked [right into] the window.
9. I wonder [if he will] take the job?
5. [The wind] nearly blew the branches onto the roof.
10. [Writing phonetic symbols] is tricky
12. Draw tree structures for the following sentences (in detail, no shortcuts). (10pts)
Pat loves Robin passionately.
Robin yelled angrily at the manager from Ohio.
Robin talked to the manager over the phone.
The yellow parakeet asked if she could fly around the room today.
The girl swung up and down in the swing but never jumped off.
13. Draw trees for the deep-structure and the surface structure for the following sentences, including
transformations. (10pts)
(S-structure) Can the astronaut beat the charges?
(D-structure) ___________________________________________________
(S-structure) What can we do about all the pollution in the air?
(D-structure) __________________________________________________________________________
14. Draw the surface structure and the deep structure, including transformations, of the following
sentence (5pts Extra Credit)
(S-structure) The grammar issue which drove me crazy was annoying.
(D-structure) ___________________________________________________________________________
A few more questions on syntax.
1. (5 Extra Credit) Each of the following sentences is ambiguous. Lexical ambiguity means
that the ambiguous meaning resides at the word level; structural ambiguity means that it
resides at the syntactic level. Explain whether the ambiguity is lexical or structural.
a. The player knew that the ball would be attended by the prince.
b. The clown caught the thief with the umbrella.
c. Jill looked for the documents that Julie hid under the table.
d. We will dispense water to anyone in a sterile plastic bottle.
e. Red tape holds up the new bridge.
Late mid-term
5. English (5pts)
In the following dialect of English there is a predictable variant [əɪ] of the dipthong [aɪ]. What phonetic
segments condition this change? What feature(s) characterize the class of conditioning segments?
1. [bəɪt] bite
6. [fəɪt] fight
11. [taɪm] time
2. [taɪ] tie
7. [baɪ] buy
12. [təɪp] type
3. [raɪd] ride
8. [rəɪs] rice
13. [naɪnθ] ninth
4. [raiz] rise
9. [faɪl] file
14. [faɪr] fire
5. [rəɪt] write
10. [ləɪf] life
15. [bəɪk] bike
6. Farsi (5pts)
Farsi (or Persian) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran. In the following data, do [ŕ], [ŕ̊], and
[ɾ] belong to one, two or three phonemes? If they belong to different phonemes, give the minimal
pairs that that show this. If they are allophones of one (or two) phonemes, state the rule for their
distribution. Which one would you choose as the phonemic form and why?
[ŕ] voiced trill
[ŕ̊] voiceless trill
[ɾ] voiced flap
1. [æŕteʃ] ‘army’
7. [ahaŕ̊] ‘starch’
13. [ahaɾi] ‘starched’
2. [faŕsi] ‘Persian’
8. [behtæŕ̊] ‘better’
14. [bæɾadæŕ̊] ‘brother’
3. [qædŕi] ‘a little bit’
9. [hærntowŕ̊] ‘however’
15. [beɾid] ‘go’
4. [ŕis] ‘beard’
10. [ʧaŕ̊] ‘four’
16. [biɾæŋg] ‘pale’
5. [ŕah] ‘road’
11. [ʧeʤuŕ̊] ‘what kind’
17. [ʧeɾa] ‘why’
6. [ŕuz] ‘day’
12. [ʃiŕ̊] ‘lion’
18. [daɾid] ‘you have’
7. Igbirra (5pts Extra Credit)
Examine the sounds [e] and [a] in the following data from Igbirra, a language spoken in Nigeria. Do they
appear to be allophones of separate phonemes of allophones of the same phoneme? If the two sound
are in complementary distribution, state the conditioning environments for the allophones.
1. [mezi] ‘I expect’
5. [mazɪ] ‘I am in pain’
2. [meze] ‘I am well’
6. [mazɛ] ‘I agree’
3. [meto] ‘I arrange’
7. [matʌ] ‘I pick’
4. [metu] ‘I beat]
8. [matʊ] ‘I send’
8. Turkish (5pts)
Examine the following data from Turkish and answer the questions that follow.
[deniz] ‘an ocean’
[elim] ‘my hand’
[denize] ‘to an ocean’
[eller] ‘hands’
[denizen] ‘of an ocean’
[diʃler] ‘teeth’
[eve] ‘to a house’
[diʃimizin] ‘of our tooth’
[evden] ‘from a house’
[diʃlerimizin] ‘of our teeth’
[evʤɪkden] ‘from a little house’
[elʤɪke] ‘ to a little hand’
[denizʤɪkde] ‘in a little ocean’
[denizlerimizde] ‘in our oceans’
[elde] ‘in a hand’
[evʤɪklerimizde] ‘in our little houses’
Give the Turkish morpheme that corresponds to each of the following translations.
___________ ‘ocean’
__________ ‘in’
__________ ‘my’
__________ ‘house’
___________ ‘to’
__________ ‘of’
__________ ‘hand’
__________ ‘from’
__________ ‘our’
__________ ‘tooth’
__________ ‘little’
__________ plural marker
How would you say ‘of our little hands’ in Turkish?
9. Swahili (10pts)
Examine the following data from Swahili, a language spoken in East Africa, and answer the questions that
follow.
[atanipenda] ‘s/he will like me’
[atanipiga] ‘s/he will beat me’
[atakupenda] ‘s/he will like you’
[atakupiga] ‘s/he will beat you’
[atampenda] ‘s/he will like him/her’
[atampiga] ‘s/he will beat him/her’
[atatupenda] ‘s/he will like us’
[ananipiga] ‘s/he is beating me’
[atawapenda] ‘s/he will like them’
[anakupiga] ‘s/he is beating you’
[nitakupenda] ‘I will like you’
[anampiga] ‘s/he is beating him/her’
[nitampenda] ‘I will like him/her’
[amekupiga] ‘s/he has beaten you’
[nitawapenda] ‘I will like them’
[amenipiga] ‘s/he has beaten me’
[utanipenda] ‘you will like me’
[amempiga] ‘she has beaten him/her’
[utampenda] ‘you will like him/her’
[alinipiga] ‘s/he beat me’
[tutampenda] ‘we will like him/her’
[alikupiga] ‘s/he beat you’
[watampenda] ‘they will like him/her
[alimpiga] ‘s/he beat him/her’
[wametulipa] ‘they have paid us’
[atakusumbua] ‘s/he will annoy you’
[tulikulipa] ‘we paid you’
[unamsumbua] ‘you are annoying him/her’
Give the Swahili morphemes corresponding to the following English translations:
_________ ‘I’
________ ‘me’
______ (past marker)
________ ‘pay’
_________ ‘we’
________ ‘us’
______ (present progressive)
________ ‘like’
________ ‘s/he’
________ ‘him/her’
______ (future marker)
________ ‘beat’
_______ ‘they’
________ ‘them’
______ (present perfect)
________ ‘annoy’
_______ ‘you’ (subject)
________ ‘you’ (object)
Give the Swahili word for the following English translations:
1. ‘I have beaten them.’ ___________________________
2. ‘They are beating me.’ ____________________________
3. ‘I am paying him/her.’ _____________________________
4. ‘They have annoyed me’ ___________________________
Give the English translation for the following Swahili words:
1. [atanilipa] ___________________________________
2. [walikupenda] ______________________________________
3. [utawapiga] _______________________________________
4. [nimemsumbua] _______________________________________
10. Japanese (5pts Extra Credit)
Consider the following inflected Japanese verb forms and answer the questions that follow. (X, Y, and Z
are used as “dummy” pronouns in the glosses—they are not actually expressed morphologically in the
data.)
[tabeta] ‘X ate Y’
[tabesaserareta] ‘X was made to eat Y’
[aketa] ‘X opened Y’
[akesaserareta] ‘X was made to open Y’
[tabesaseta] ‘X made Y eat Z’
[tabesasenai] ‘X doesn’t/won’t make Y eat Z’
[akesaseta] ‘X made Y open X’
[tabenai] ‘X doesn’t /won’t eat Y’
[taberareta] ‘X was eaten’
[tabesaserareru] ‘X is/will be made to eat Y’
[akerareta] ‘X was opened’
Give the Japanese morphemes for the following English translations:
__________ ‘open’
__________ ‘eat’
__________ passive marker (…be ‘verb’-ed, e.g., “They were opened/eaten.”)
__________ causative marker (…make X ‘verb,’ e.g. “Robin makes Tracy laugh.”)
__________ non-past marker (present or future tense)
__________ past marker
__________ negative marker
Give the Japanese verb form for the following English translations:
1. (She) will make (him) open (them)._____________________________
2. (He) will be made to open (them).______________________________
In Japanese [uketa] means ‘(She) took (a test).’ Using this fact, how would you say the following in
Japanese?
1. ‘(She) was made to take (a test).’ ______________________________
2. ‘(She) will not take (a test).’ ____________________________________
2. (10) List two English words each that have been created using of the following language
change processes:
a. Acronym
b. Blending
c. Clipping
d. Coinage
e. Conversion
Need a little more morphology?