TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
School of Linguistic, Speech and
Communication Sciences
2009-2010
Course handbook
for
Visiting and Exchange Students
Courses in Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, and Speech
Science available to visiting and exchange students
This handbook is also available electronically from the CLCS website:
http://www.tcd.ie/slscs/clcs/courses/
A note on this handbook
This handbook lists and describes the CLCS courses that may be
taken by visiting and exchange students. Please retain it for future
reference.
The information provided in this handbook is accurate at the time of
preparation. Any necessary revisions are notified to students via email or by notices on the notice board outside the CLCS office. Please
note that in the event of any conflict or inconsistency between the
general regulations published in the Calendar of the University of
Dublin and the information contained in the course handbook, the
provisions contained in the Calendar will prevail.
Introduction
The courses that may be taken by visiting and exchange students fall
into three categories:
(i) two courses specially designed for visiting and exchange
students (The Applied Linguistics of English Language
Teaching I and The Applied Linguistics of English Language
Teaching II);
(ii) courses that form part of the B.A. Moderatorship in Computer
Science, Linguistics and a Language;
(iii) courses that form part of the M.Phil. programmes in
Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Speech and Language
Processing, and English Language Teaching.
CLCS’s co-ordinator for visiting and exchange students is Christer
Gobl (Arts Building, Room 4038, tel. 896 2592). At the beginning of
the academic year, in Freshers’ Week, he arranges to see all visiting
and exchange students who wish to take CLCS courses (see notice
on notice board outside the CLCS office, Arts Building, Room 4091).
Visiting and exchange students who arrive in Dublin at some other
time in the academic year should make their own arrangements to see
Dr Gobl as soon as possible after their arrival.
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Admission to CLCS courses depends on the availability of places and
in some instances on the applicant’s academic background. Note also
that some of the M.Phil. courses listed may not be available if they are
undersubscribed.
Courses are taught two hours per week for one term, with the
exceptions of Second Language Acquisition and Discourse and Text
Analysis, which are taught for two terms. Timetables are displayed on
the notice board outside the CLCS office.
All courses are assessed by exercises and/or term essays only.
Visiting and exchange students to CLCS do not sit examinations. The
grades awarded for exercises/term essays are automatically
communicated to the student’s home university via the TCD
International Office.
List of courses
Michaelmas Term
LI 1006 The Applied Linguistics of English Language Teaching I
LI 233A Language Learning
LI 237A Aspects of Written Language
LI 2034 Syntax and Semantics
LI 2036 Computational Morphology and Statistics
LI 4031 Speech Analysis and Synthesis
LI 4034 Second Language Acquisition
LI 4035 Discourse and Text Analysis
LI 7856 Describing Grammar
LI 7860 Technology, Language and Communication
LI 7861 Language Variation and Change
LI 7864 Corpus Linguistics
LI 7865 History and Globalization of English
LI 7872 Formal Foundations of Linguistic Theories
LI 7874 Speech Production, Hearing and Perception
LI 7878 Describing English Grammar
Hilary Term
LI 1007 The Applied Linguistics of English Language Teaching II
LI 231A Aspects of Vocabulary
LI 234A Sociolinguistics
LI 4032 Computational Linguistics
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LI 4034
LI 4035
LI 7808
LI 7857
LI 7862
LI 7866
LI 7869
LI 7870
LI 7873
LI 7876
LI 7877
Second Language Acquisition
Discourse and Text Analysis
Lexicology
Language Acquisition
Linguistic Pragmatics
Bilingualism and the Maintenance of Irish
Describing Meaning
Advanced Syntactic Theory
Computational Theories of Grammar and Meaning
The English Sound System
The Pedagogical Grammar of English
Michaelmas Term
(i) Special course for visiting and exchange students
LI 1006 The Applied Linguistics of English Language Teaching I
(Stergiani Kostopoulou) is concerned with communicative approaches
to language learning and teaching; English for Specific Purposes;
theory and practice of learner needs analysis; different types of
language teaching syllabuses; syllabus design; theoretical
underpinnings of learner-centredness and learner autonomy; the use
of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
and the European Language Portfolio in foreign language pedagogy.
(ii) B.A. courses
LI 233A Language Learning (David Singleton) presents research
findings relative to various aspects of language learning and examines
their practical implications. Although account is taken of first language
acquisition, the main focus is on second language acquisition.
Textbook:
Littlewood, W., 1998: Foreign and Second Language Learning:
Language Acquisition Research and its Implications for the
Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LI 237A Aspects of Written Language (Breffni O’Rourke) is
concerned with the study of written texts as communicative acts. It
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begins with an exploration of the criteria by which we may determine
the cohesion and coherence of a text, and goes on to consider some
of the central psychological and psycholinguistic issues in the
comprehension and production of written texts. Finally, the
development of written language and its relation to thought, society
and culture are considered. There is no textbook: instead, students
will be recommended selected readings for the different topics
covered.
LI 2034 Syntax and Semantics. This module is composed of to
components: LI2034A Introduction to Formal Syntax (Jennifer Foster),
which gives students a grounding in syntactic theory and some
experience of syntactic analysis, and LI2034B Introduction to Formal
Semantics (Carl Vogel) which introduces students to the application of
logical (or truth-conditional) semantics to natural language.
LI 2036 Computational Morphology and Statistics. This module is
composed of to components:
(1) LI2036A Introduction to Computational Morphology (Elaine Uí
Dhonnchadha) which introduces students to the theory of finite-state
methods for NLP and their use in analysing and generating natural
language morphologies and practical experience of using the Xerox
Finite-State Tools to analyse and generate the morphology of English
and other languages.
Textbook:
Beesley, K., & Karttunen, L., 2003: Finite state morphology. Stanford,
CA : CSLI Publications.
Sproat, R., 1992: Morphology and Computation. Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press.
Major references:
Jurafsky, D. & Martin, J, 2000: Speech and Language Processing.
Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall
(2) LI2036B (Denise O’Leary) Introduction to Statistics for Linguistics,
which is an introduction to the design and analysis of survey data and
the analysis of data collected in experimental studies, through a
hands-on, practical introduction to data analysis using SPSS.
LI 4031 Speech Analysis and Synthesis (Christer Gobl) introduces
students to a range of speech analysis and synthesis techniques.
Some of the topics dealt with are DFT and LPC analysis, acoustic
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theory of speech production, inverse filtering and voice source model
matching, voice quality description and modelling, text-to-speech
conversion, speech generation based on formant, articulatory and
concatenative synthesis.
Textbook:
Hayward, Katrina, (2000) Experimental Phonetics. Longman
Linguistics Library.
LI 4034 Second Language Acquisition (David Singleton).The
objective of this course will be to review the rationale for second
language acquisition research, to explore its different methodological
dimensions and to arrive a broad understanding of the kinds of
findings that have emerged from this area of investigation. A select
range of research topics from the second language acquisition domain
will be the focus of more detailed exposition, will involve student
presentations and will be the subject of more concentrated discussion.
LI 4035 Discourse and Text Analysis (Breffni O’Rourke)
Aims:
This optional module is intended to teach students how to describe
and analyse discourse – i.e., spoken and written language as actually
used, in context, for communicative purposes. This course will for the
most part focus on (a) units larger than the sentence, and (b) incontext exemplars of language use.
The module should appeal to students who are interested in some or
all of the following: how meaning is made in context (i.e., linguistic
meaning beyond truth-conditional semantics); how structure emerges
in talk; how information is structured in spoken utterances and written
sentences; what makes texts coherent; and the fine details of
conversation. Students should be prepared to pay close attention to
aspects of language in use that are typically taken for granted.
Indicative syllabus:
 Transcribing spoken discourse
 Intonation units: identification and significance
 Information structure and “flow” in spoken and written discourse
 Implicature, conversational and conventional
 Speech act theory
 Politeness theory
 The social organisation of talk-in-interaction
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 Cohesion and coherence in text
Suggested readings:
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse analysis. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Cameron, D. (2001). Working with spoken discourse. London: Sage.
Chafe, W. L. (1994). Discourse, consciousness, and time: The flow
and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and
writing. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London:
Longman.
Jaworski, A., & Coupland, N. (Eds.). (1999). The discourse reader.
London: Routledge.
Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
ten Have, P. (2007). Doing conversation analysis (2nd ed.). London:
Sage.
(iii) M.Phil. courses
LI 7856 Describing Grammar (Brian Nolan)
Aims:
The course’s main aims are (i) to introduce students to the ideas and
principles of generative grammar; (ii) to familiarize students with one
important current theoretical framework – Lexical Functional
Grammar; (iii) to give students experience of the practical description
of the grammatical structures of languages; and (iv), to familiarize
students with the tasks of formulating and evaluating syntactic
argumentation.
Working methods:
The topics of the course are introduced in lectures and explored and
developed in workshops and seminars. Exercises and discussion will
focus on a range of languages in addition to English.
Syllabus:
The course topics include the basic features of sentence structure:
syntactic categories, constituency, dependency, agreement, the
subordination and co-ordination of sentences. The course also covers
relationships within sentences (word order, grammatical relations and
case systems) and valency processes (for example, passives,
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causatives and applicatives). A major theme is the relationships
between syntactic and lexical rules. The course includes exercises in
the syntactic description of English and other languages.
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3-4,000 words developing themes
introduced in the course and applying them to the syntactic description
of one or more languages.
Suggested readings:
Kroeger, P. R., 2004: Analyzing Syntax: a Lexical-Functional
Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (textbook)
Payne, Thomas E. 2006: Exploring Language Structure: A Student's
Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (textbook)
Tallerman, Maggie. 2005. Understanding Syntax. Second edition.
London: Hodder Arnold
Van Valin Jr., R. D., 2001: Introduction to Syntax. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Van Valin Jr., R. D, 2005: Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
LI 7860 Technology, Language and Communication (Breffni
O’Rourke)
Aims:
Participants in this module will explore how language and
communication are mediated by various technologies, including that of
writing. Students will be encouraged to reflect on the relationship
between language, communication and technologies on one hand and
individual language processing, communication processes, and the
nature of discourse on the other. Lectures, readings and discussions
will range over historical, socio-cultural and individual-cognitive levels
of analysis as appropriate. There will be opportunities for individual
students to focus on what these issues imply for the enterprise of
language learning and language teaching.
Working methods:
The module will be taught through a combination of lecture, workshop
activities based on sample authentic texts and practical activities with
technologies, and student-led discussion.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
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 The historical development of writing; the properties of writing
systems
 The effects of literacy on our perception of language
 The historical and cultural significance of the printing press
 Audio and video technologies
 The World Wide Web
 Computer-mediated communication
Assessment
Students write an assignment of 3-4,000 words exploring one or more
aspects of language and communication as mediated by technologies.
Suggested Readings:
Coulmas, F. 1989: The Writing Systems of the World. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Crystal, D. 2001: Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Eisenstein, E. L. 2005: The Printing Revolution in Early Modern
Europe. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hutchby, I. 2001: Conversation and Technology: From the Telephone
to the Internet. Cambridge: Polity.
Olson, D. R. 1994. The World on Paper: The Conceptual and
Cognitive Implications of Reading and Writing. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
LI 7861 Language Variation and Change (Jeffrey Kallen)
Aims:
This module has three main aims: (i) to examine the principles of
language change, including both internally- and externally-motivated
change, (ii) to understand language change in relation to linguistic
variation, and (iii) to explore the insights arising from different methods
in studying language variation. Assignments encourage students to
gain first-hand experience in the observation of language variation.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
 Linguistic structure and language variation
 Dialectology: models of language change and variation
 Real- and apparent-time indications of change
 Speaker variables: age, gender, social class, ethnicity
 Social networks and communities of practice
 Standardization as a social process
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 Dialect convergence and divergence
 Language contact and language change
Assignment
Students write an assignment of 3,000 to 4,000 words that presents
and analyses a problem in (a) internal and external factors in historical
change, (b) conflicts between standard and 'non-standard' realizations
of a sociolinguistic variable, or (c) the outcome of dialect or language
contact in a particular setting. Direct observation will be encouraged
for any of these essay topics.
Suggested Readings:
Chambers, J. K. and Peter Trudgill. 1998. Dialectology. 2nd ed.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chambers, J. K. et al. (eds.). 2002. The Handbook of Language
Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell.
Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press.
Milroy, Lesley and Matthew Gordon. 2003. Sociolinguistics: Method
and Interpretation. Oxford: Blackwell.
LI 7864 Corpus Linguistics (Elaine Uí Dhonnchadha)
Aims:
A corpus consists of a large body of text, speech, or video material,
held on computer. Corpora are used in a wide range of areas
including linguistic research (e.g. morphology, syntax), language
pedagogy, and speech and language processing. This course will
introduce students to principles of corpus creation (i.e. design,
collection, linguistic annotation, and evaluation), and students will
gain experience of using various types of corpus query tools and
corpus annotation tools which are currently available.
Syllabus:
The module will cover:
 corpus design, and collection and preparation of corpus materials
 various levels of linguistic annotation, e.g. part-of-speech, phrase
structure, phonetic, prosodic, gesture etc.
 manual and automatic annotation, and methods of evaluation/
verification of same
 use of various types of corpora and corpus query tools
Learning Outcomes:
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 An appreciation of the benefits and limitations of using corpora in
various linguistic domains
 Practical experience of creating and using corpora.
Assessment:
Assessment for this module, amounting to approximately 3-4,000
words will include:
 A written assignment on an aspect of corpus development or use
 A small-scale linguistic annotation project
Suggested readings:
Abeillé, A. 2003. Treebanks: Building and Using Parsed Corpora.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Biber, Douglas, Susan Conrad, and Randi Reppen. 1998. Corpus
Linguistics: Investigating Language Structure and Use. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Kennedy, G. 1998. An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics. Harlow:
Addison Wesley Longman.
McEnery, T. and A. Wilson. 2001. Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
McEnery, T., R. Xiao, and Y. Tono. 2006. Corpus-based Language
Studies. London: Routledge.
Meyer, Charles F. 2002. English Corpus Linguistics. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Renouf, A. and A. Kehoe. 2006. The Changing Face of Corpus
Linguistics. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Sinclair, John M. 2004. Trust the Text: Language, Corpus and
Discourse. London: Routledge.
LI 7865 History and Globalization of English (Jeffrey Kallen)
Aims:
This module has four principal aims: (i) to give an overview of the
linguistic history of English, covering the major developments in
syntax, phonology, the lexicon, and aspects of the writing system, (ii)
to show the relationship between variation within English and the
historical development of the language, (iii) to survey the spread of
English as a world language, and (iv) to examine world Englishes
within the context of social, historical, and linguistic theory.
Throughout the course, students are encouraged to provide relevant
examples of variation in English from their experience of English as a
world language.
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Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
 The ancestries of English from early times to the present
 Periods of English: what are 'Old', 'Middle', and 'Modern' English?
 Development and variation in English phonology and spelling
 The lexicon, word-formation, and lexical expansion in English
 The development of English morphology and syntax
 Regional variation in English dialects
 Is there – or was there ever – a Standard English?
 The spread of English: Scotland and Ireland
 The growth of national Englishes: social and linguistic aspects
 English and other languages: outcomes of language contact
 Beyond colonization: English as a global language
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3,000 to 4,000 words that presents
and analyses a problem in (a) the historical development of English,
(b) the role of contact between English and other languages, or (c) the
social and political status of English in a newly-independent nation
state.
Suggested Readings:
Brinton, Laurel J. and Leslie K. Arnovick. 2006. The English
Language: A Linguistic History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crystal, David. 2003. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hogg, Richard M. (general ed.) 1992-2001. The Cambridge History of
the English Language. 6 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Kachru, Braj B., Yamuna Kachru, and Cecil L. Nelson (eds.). 2006.
The Handbook of World Englishes. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
McArthur, Tom. 2003. Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Mugglestone, Lynda. 2006. The Oxford History of English. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Schneider, Edgar W. et al. (eds.). 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of
English. 3 vols. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Wells, John. 1982. Accents of English. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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LI 7872 Formal Foundations of Linguistic Theories (Carl Vogel)
Aims:
The course is designed to establish competence in foundational
mathematical concepts used in contemporary cognitive science and
computationally-oriented approaches to linguistic theory. Basic
concepts of discrete mathematics are reviewed with attention to their
relevance in linguistics: sets, operators, relations, trees, logic, formal
language theory. Emphasis is placed on finite recursive specification
of infinite formal languages as an idealization of grammar specification
for natural languages (each of which is thought to be infinite but
managed by finite brains). Natural languages are modelled as
uninterpreted sets of grammatical sentences whose internal structural
complexity has implications related to constraints on human syntactic
processing. Human languages are also modelled via their translation
into logical languages supplied with deductive mechanisms supplying
representational and denotational semantic analysis. Logical
languages within a range of expressivity classes are considered in
terms of their syntax, semantics, and inference mechanisms as
simulations of human recognition, interpretation, and reasoning with
natural language expressions. Thus, the aims of the course are to (i)
establish competence with the core concepts and analytical tools, (ii)
develop awareness of the range of applicability of the tools and
concepts within linguistic theory and cognitive science, (iii) foster
confident and fluent use of formal methods in analysing human
language and reasoning.
Working methods:
The course is divided into 2/3 lecture and 1/3 hands-on practice with
the formal tools. An automated theorem prover is introduced to
facilitate specification of formal theories of natural language syntax
and semantics within one of the logical languages addressed in the
lectures in order to use the theorem prover to test the consequences
of theories of language on natural language inputs. Thought-problems
designed to test understanding of key concepts will be offered at the
end of each session.
Syllabus:
 Sets, characteristic functions, operators, relations.
 Languages as sets of sentences.
 Propositional logic: syntax, semantics & valid inference
 Deductive inference and human reasoning
 Predicate logic: syntax, semantics & valid inference
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


First order logic (FOL): syntax & semantics & valid inference
Translating natural language utterances into FOL
Axiomatizing theories in Prolog (Horn Logic).
Assessment:
Students complete a take-home assignment with a mixture of
problems intended to elicit demonstration of mastery of core concepts
and ability to reason with those concepts in representing relevant
phenomena.
Recommended Readings:
Course handouts and sources in their bibliographies.
Partee, B. A. ter Meulen and R. Wall. 1993. Mathematical Methods in
Linguistics. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.
LI 7874 Speech Production, Hearing and Perception (Christer
Gobl, Ailbhe Ní Chasaide)
Aims:
This course aims to provide (i) an understanding of the whole process
of speech communication, encompassing the speaker and the listener
and (ii) an understanding of some of the major models of production,
perception and hearing, and (iii) practical, hands-on, experience in
conducting production and perception experiments. Central to the
course is an understanding of the acoustic theory of speech
production, and of the acoustic characteristics of speech sounds.
Speech materials are analysed to illustrate the acoustic properties of
speech, provide insight into to the underlying mechanisms of speech
production, while also providing a basis for speech perception
experimentation. The processes of hearing are dealt with along with
the auditory transforms of the acoustic signal. Students are introduced
to speech synthesis, and through synthesis based experimentation to
the methods that may be used to explore the perceptual correlates of
speech sounds.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed within the module include:
 Acoustic theory of speech production
 Resonance
 Hearing and the auditory system
 Synthesis and its applications in speech perception
 Perception of stops: locus theory
 Categorical perception
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

Analysis and synthesis of the voice source
Perception of voice quality
Assessment:
The assessment is based on the conducting and writing up of
experimental work on a key topic of the course, equivalent to 3-4,000
words.
Suggested readings:
Hayward, K., 2000: Experimental Phonetics. Longman.
Borden, G.J., Harris, K.S., & Raphael, L.J., 2003: Speech science
primer: Physiology, acoustics, and perception of speech. 4th ed.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Johnson, K., 2003. Acoustic and Auditory Phonetics. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Kent, R & Read, C., 2002: The Acoustic Analysis of Speech. 2nd ed.
Singular Publishing Group.
Moore, B. C. J., 2005: An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing.
5th ed. New York: Academic Press.
LI 7878 Describing English Grammar (Jeffrey Kallen)
Aims:
This module has three principal aims: (i) to examine the major
syntactic and morphological features of English, using insights from
more general linguistic theory, (ii) to understand the principles that
account for grammatical variation across the different national
varieties, styles, and registers that characterize English, and (iii) to
develop a critical perspective on the role of standardization in English
grammar. Students are encouraged to make use of data from their
own experience as teachers or learners of English.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
 Grammar: description and prescription
 Words: characteristics and classification
 Clauses: simple, embedded, finite and non-finite
 Tense, voice, and aspect
 Adjectives, adverbs, adverbials: pre- and post-modification
 Stylistics: variation as a function of text type and register
 Discourse markers in speech and writing
 Variation and standardization in world and national Englishes
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 Insights from English-language corpora
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3,000 to 4,000 words that presents
and analyses a problem in (a) register variation in English, (b) the
effects of language contact in national varieties of English, or (c)
variability of form and function across different varieties of English.
Suggested readings:
Biber, Douglas et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written
English. London: Longman.
Carter, Ronald and Michael McCarthy. 2006. Cambridge Grammar of
English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kortmann, Bernd et al. (eds.). 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of
English. Vol. 2: Morphology and Syntax. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Thomas, Linda. 1993. Beginning Syntax. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hilary Term
(i) Special course for visiting and exchange students
LI1007 The Applied Linguistics of English Language Teaching II
(Stergiani Kostopoulou) explores the following topics: evaluation and
development of pedagogical materials for particular learner groups;
the use of authentic texts; approaches to learning / teaching grammar;
applications of media technologies to language education; Corpus
Linguistics and English language teaching; models of language tests;
issues in test administration and scoring; designing language tests;
the social dimension of language testing.
(ii) B.A. courses
LI 231A Aspects of Vocabulary (David Singleton) introduces
students to a number of different perspectives on the word as a
linguistic unit and to a number of the areas in which the study of
vocabulary has practical applications.
Textbook:
Singleton, D., 2000: Language and the Lexicon: an Introduction.
London: Arnold.
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LI 234A Sociolinguistics (Jeffrey Kallen) is an introduction to the
study of language in relation to society. Topics include: dialects,
registers, standard languages, variation and social class, bilingualism,
language planning, and language and sex.
Textbook:
Holmes, J., 2001: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, second edition.
London: Longman.
LI 4032 Computational Linguistics (Carl Vogel) aims too introduce
students to current computational models of syntax and semantics.
General contents: unification-based approaches to linguistic theory;
head-driven phrase structure grammar; semantic representations.
Course work: an incrementally developed project in the computational
modelling of natural language, and various assignments.
Major references:
Pereira, F. & S. Shieber, 1987: Prolog and Natural-Language
Analysis. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
Gazdar, Gerald & Chris Mellish, 1989: Natural Language Processing
in Prolog. Addison-Wesley.
LI 4034 Second Language Acquisition (David Singleton) –
continued from Michaelmas term.
LI 4035 Discourse and Text Analysis (Breffni O’Rourke) – continued
from Michaelmas term.
(iii) M.Phil. courses
LI 7808 Lexicology (David Singleton)
Aims:
The general aim of this module is to introduce students to the lexical
dimension of language in the broadest possible sense. Its leitmotiv will
be a claim that the lexicon and lexical issues are implicated in every
aspect of language and every domain of language study. It will
accordingly explore a wide variety of dimensions of the linguistic
system and a wide range of linguistic phenomena from a lexical
perspective.
Working methods:
The topics of the module will be presented in lecture form and will be
further explored in group discussion. Students will be pointed towards
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readings dealing with aspects of material covered in class and will be
encouraged to link such material to their own experience as language
users.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module will include:
 The word concept and the domain of the lexicon
 Lexis and syntax
 Lexis and morphology
 Lexical partnerships,
 Lexis and meaning
 Lexis and phonology
 Lexis and orthography
 Lexis and language variation
 Lexis and language change
 Lexical acquisition and processing
 Lexicography
 Teaching vocabulary
Assessment:
Students will write an assignment of 3-4,000 words on one of the
syllabus themes.
Suggested reading:
Carter, Ronald. 1998. Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives.
2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Jackson, Howard and Etienne Ze Amvela. 2007. Words, Meaning and
Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. 2nd ed.
London: Continuum.
Lardiere, Donna. 2006. Words and their parts. In Ralph W. Fasold and
Jeff Connor-Linton (eds.), An Introduction to Language and
Linguistics, pp. 55-96. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Portner, Paul 2006. Meaning. In Ralph W. Fasold and Jeff ConnorLinton (eds.), An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, pp. 138168. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, Norbert and Michael McCarthy (eds.). 1997. Vocabulary:
Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Singleton, David. 2000: Language and the Lexicon: An Introduction.
London: Edward Arnold.
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LI 7857 Language Acquisition (David Singleton)
Aims:
The general aim of this module is to introduce students to the known
facts, the principal theoretical issues and the current areas of debate
relative to language acquisition. The module will include within its
purview child language development involving a single language, the
acquisition in childhood of two or more languages, and the learning of
additional languages later in life. As well as examining the above
acquisitional phenomena themselves, the module will outline the
research methodologies deployed in their investigation.
Working methods:
The topics of the module will be presented in lecture form and will be
further explored in group discussion. Students will be pointed towards
readings dealing with aspects of material covered in class and will be
encouraged to link such material to their own experience as language
learners and teachers.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module will include:
 The major milestones of child language development
 Conceptual and lexical development
 Behaviourist and Nativist perspectives
 Constructionist and Interactionist perspectives
 Input modification and its effects
 The Critical Period Hypothesis
 Bi-/multilinguality
 Cross-linguistic and developmental aspects of multiple language
learning
Assessment
Students will write an assignment of 3-4,000 words on one of the
syllabus themes.
Suggested readings
Baker, Colin. 2006. Foundations of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism. 4th ed. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Clark, Eve V. 2003. First Language Acquisition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Cook, Vivian. (ed.) 2002. Portraits of the L2 User. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Cook, Vivian and Mark Newson. 1996. Chomsky’s Universal
Grammar. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
19
Larsen-Freeman, Diane and Michael H. Long. 1992. An Introduction to
Second Language Acquisition Research. London: Longman.
Ringbom, Håkan. 2007. Cross-linguistic Similarity in Foreign
Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Singleton, David. 1999. Exploring the Second Language Mental
Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Singleton, David and Lisa Ryan. 2004. Language Acquisition: the Age
Factor. 2nd ed. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
LI 7862 Linguistic Pragmatics (John Saeed)
Aims:
The course’s main aims are (i) to introduce students to inferential
theories of pragmatics; (ii) to familiarize students with Relevance
Theory in particular; and (iii) to give students experience of the
practical description of conversational data.
Working methods:
The topics of the course are introduced in lectures and explored and
developed in workshops and seminars. Practical description will focus
on English but student speakers of other languages will be
encouraged to apply their analyses to their first languages.
Syllabus:
Specific topics included in this module include:
 Grice and conversational maxims
 the principle of Relevance
 conceptual and procedural meaning
 the under-specification of meaning and processes of contextual
enrichment
 lexical pragmatics
 coherence relations in discourse
 metaphor, irony and humour
 the functions of discourse connectives
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3-4,000 words developing themes
introduced in the course and applying them to the pragmatic
description of conversation in a language.
Suggested readings:
Blakemore, Diane. 1992. Understanding Utterances: An Introduction
to Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell.
20
Carston, Robyn. 2002. Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of
Explicit Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.
Grice, H. P. 1989. Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Leech, Geoffrey N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Levinson, Stephen C. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Levinson, Stephen C. 2000. Presumptive Meanings: The Theory of
Generalized Conversational Implicature. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Sperber, D. & D. Wilson 1995. Relevance: Communication and
Cognition. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell.
LI 7866 Bilingualism and the Maintenance of Irish (John Harris)
Aims:
This module has four aims: (1) to introduce key concepts and theories
in bilingualism and to relate them specifically to Irish-English
bilingualism, (2) to examine bilingualism and language maintenance in
Ireland in historical and comparative context, (3) to critically evaluate
successes and failures in national efforts to revitalise Irish, and (4) to
assess the contribution of the education system to the
intergenerational transmission of the language. The course is intended
as an introduction to psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic research for
students who are considering research either on bilingualism or on the
Irish language.
Working methods:
The topics are presented in lectures and explored in class
discussions. Each student also presents a brief paper to the class on
an aspect of bilingualism, on a particular bilingual situation or on a
language planning/maintenance issue with which he or she is familiar.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
 General issues and concepts in individual and societal bilingualism
 Early bilingual acquisition; bilingualism and thought
 Minority and endangered languages, language loss and language
attrition
 The nature and extent of Irish/English bilingualism
 Number of speakers; ability in and use of Irish
 National efforts to revitalise Irish since the foundation of the state;
levels of support for various measures
21
 Successes and failures in learning Irish at primary level; Long-term
trends in attainment
 Classroom learning of Irish; attitudes of teachers, children and
parents
 Irish and English in Gaeltacht areas and in Northern Ireland
 Bilingual education and immersion
 Evaluating bilingual programmes
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3-4,000 words that addresses one of
the topics discussed during the module or that arises in one of the
recommended readings.
Suggested readings:
Baker, C. 2006. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
4th edition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Bhatia, T. & W. C. Ritchie (eds.). 2003. The Handbook of Bilingualism.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Cenoz, J. & F. Genesee. 2001. Trends in Bilingual Acquisition.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fishman, J. A. (ed.). 2000. Can Threatened Languages be Saved?
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Harris, J. & L. Murtagh. 1999. Teaching and Learning Irish in Primary
School. Dublin: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann.
Ó Riagáin, P. 1997. Language Policy and Social Reproduction: Ireland
1893-1993. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
LI 7869 Describing Meaning (John Saeed)
Aims:
The course’s main aims are (i) to introduce students to the basic
challenges facing the linguist seeking to analyze meaning
communicated through language; (ii) to familiarize students with some
leading representational and denotational approaches to semantics;
and (iii) to give students experience of the practical description of the
semantic structures of languages.
Working methods:
The topics of the course are introduced in lectures and explored and
developed in workshops and seminars. Exercises and discussion will
focus on a range of languages in addition to English.
22
Syllabus:
Specific topics included in this module include:
 theories of reference
 lexical relations and the dictionary
 the logical structure of language
 verbal argument structure
 event structure
 information structure
 metaphor and metonymy
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3-4,000 words developing themes
introduced in the course and applying them to the semantic
description of one or more languages.
Suggested readings:
Allen, K. 1996. Linguistic Meaning. 2 volumes. London: Routledge
Kegan Paul.
Cruse, D. A. 1986. Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What
Categories Reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Larson, Richard, and Gabriel Segal. 1995. Knowledge of Meaning: An
Introduction to Semantic Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lyons, John. 1977. Semantics. 2 volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Saeed, John I. 2003. Semantics. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell.
(textbook)
LI 7870 Advanced Syntactic Theory (Carl Vogel)
Aims:
The course should provide students with practice in addressing recent
literature in syntax and the syntax-semantics interface, leading to the
possibility of contributing to that literature. The focus in 2009-10 will be
on categorization. Many semantic categories have graded structure;
for example, in terms of membership, a piano is less clearly a piece of
furniture than a desk is. In contrast, the primitive categories of
syntactic theories are generally discussed as if the membership
criteria offer clear binary distinctions. Linguistic categories will be
examined with respect to their underlying structure. The relationships
among graded categories, degrees of grammaticality, and linguistic
23
innovation will be explored. The analysis will be conducted with
respect to the background linguistic frameworks like Head-driven
Phrase Structure Grammar and Lexical Functional Grammar, with
reference to the Minimalist paradigm, and will be informed by recent
work in cognitive science and corpus linguistics.
Working Methods:
Participants will digest and present articles, and in doing so will hone
abilities in extracting the theoretical relevance of published articles
and sharpen competence in providing constructive critique of the
claims, methods and argumentation adopted. Readings will draw upon
chapters from the readings list, a number of related articles to be
announced, partly determined by the prior background of each
participant.
Syllabus:
Atomic categories in linguistic theories; gradience in cognition;
gradience in linguistic categories; argument structure and the
syntax/semantics interface; 'quirky case'; degrees of grammaticality
and eliciting grammaticality judgements; linguistic innovation vs. error;
corpus-driven and computational methods of detecting category
change.
Assessment:
The course will be based on the evaluation of a 3-4,000 word essay
connected to the theme addressed within the course, the literature
addressed specifically in the seminar, and secondary literature on the
topic, synthesizing the material addressed.
Recommended Readings:
Aarts, Bas. 2007. Syntactic Gradience: The Nature of Grammatical
Indeterminacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Aarts, B. et al. 2004. Fuzzy Grammar: A Reader. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Baker, Mark C. 2003. Lexical Categories: Verbs, Nouns, and
Adjectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sag, Ivan A., Thomas Wasow, and Emily M. Bender. 2003. Syntactic
Theory: A Formal Introduction. 2nd ed. Stanford, CA: CSLI
24
LI 7873 Computational Theories of Grammar and Meaning (Carl
Vogel, Elaine Uí Dhonnchadha)
Aims:
The course expands on an earlier module which provides
mathematical foundations for linguistic theory, particularly
computational linguistics: formal syntax, formal semantics,
computational morphology. The course aims to (i) extend participants'
abilities to describe natural language phenomena as computationally
oriented grammars that model natural language parsing, generation,
and construction of semantic representation in a deductive logical
setting; (ii) apply the tools of formal language theory to analysing the
syntactic complexity of human languages in its syntax and morphology
with reference to ramifications for human language processing; (iii)
develop skill in grammar development for extensive fragments of
natural language encompassing important syntactic domains: complex
noun phrase structure, relative clauses, arguments and adjuncts,
embedding verbs, topic focus constructions and questions.
Working methods:
The course is divided into 2/3 lecture and 1/3 hands-on practice with
the formal tools. Prolog is used as a theorem prover in which to
develop definite clause grammars for recognizers, parsers, and
constructors of semantic representations for natural language
utterances. A grammar for a fragment is constructed iteratively and
evaluated against test suites, with considerable focus on unbounded
dependency constructions.
Syllabus:
 Basics of definite clause grammars applied to recognizing natural
language
 DCGs with parsing and semantic construction
 DCGs and complement subcategorization frames
 Formal language theory and the complexity of natural language
syntax
 Unbounded dependency constructions
 Parsing, interpreting and answering questions
 Formal language theory and natural language morphology
 Computational approaches to natural language morphology.
Assessment:
A fragment grammar will be evaluated with respect to its coverage of a
test suite of sentences. Training test suites will be provided covering
the essential constructs, and success of the suite will be measure by
25
its coverage of an suite of unseen constructions drawn on the same
terminal vocabulary. Computational morphology will be assessed in a
way appropriate to the work in that module.
Recommended Readings:
Nugues, Pierre M. 2006. An Introduction to Language Processing with
Perl and Prolog. Berlin: Springer.
Course handouts and sources in their bibliographies
LI 7876 The English Sound System (Jeffrey Kallen)
Aims:
This module examines the phonological system of English from two
distinct, yet inter-related, points of view: (i) the grammatical, where the
rules and constraints which define what is and is not possible in
English phonology are understood in a universal framework, and (ii)
the descriptive, which relies on accounts of phonological variation in
the English-speaking world. The aim of the course is thus to
encourage an understanding of English phonology which incorporates
both grammatical and descriptive perspectives. Students will be
encouraged to make use of data from their own experience as
teachers or learners of English.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
 Articulatory phonetics and the sound pattern of English
 English phonemic contrasts and distinctive feature systems
 Syllables in English
 English stress placement
 Relationships between English spelling and phonological patterns
 Comparing English world-wide: lexical sets and reference accents
 Irish English: a special case
 Major features of variation: looking backwards and forwards in
history
 English phonology and contact with other languages: systems and
learners
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3,000 to 4,000 words that presents
and analyses a problem in (a) variation within a national variety of
English, (b) teaching and learning of English phonology for non-native
speakers, or (c) the relationship between phonological theory and an
aspect of English phonology.
26
Suggested readings:
Collins, Beverley and Inger M. Mees. 2003. Practical Phonetics and
Phonology: A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge.
Giegerich, Heinz. 1992. English Phonology: An Introduction.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hughes, Arthur et al. (eds.). 2005. English Accents and Dialects. 4th
ed. London: Hodder Arnold.
Schneider, Edgar W. et al. (eds.). 2004. A Handbook of Varieties of
English. Vol. 1: Phonology. Vol. 3: CD-ROM. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.
Wells, J. C. 1982. Accents of English. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
LI 7877 The Pedagogical Grammar of English (Breffni O’Rourke)
Aims:
This module is concerned with the nature and development of L2
grammar, and with grammar as pedagogical content, with specific
reference to English. The principal aims are to foster in students a
critical awareness of a range of factors affecting the acquisition of L2
grammar, and to provide them with a basis for critically assessing a
range of approaches to the teaching of grammar.
Working methods:
The module will be taught through a combination of lecture, workshop
activities based on English grammar points and ELT materials, and
student-led discussion.
Syllabus:
Specific themes addressed in the module include:
 the nature of grammatical rules
 declarative and procedural knowledge
 the roles of conscious and unconscious grammatical knowledge in
learning a second or foreign language
 the relationship between grammar and lexis
Assessment:
Students write an assignment of 3-4,000 words exploring one aspect
of the theory of grammar pedagogy, underpinned by an understanding
of language acquisition. The essay should draw on one or more topics
in English grammar by way of illustration and propose a systematic
approach to its teaching in a stated context.
27
Suggested readings:
Fotos, S. and H. Nassaji (eds.). 2007. Form-focused Instruction and
Teacher Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hinkel, E. and S. Fotos (eds.). 2002. New Perspectives on Grammar
Teaching in Second Language Classrooms.
Hughes, R., and M. McCarthy. 1998. From sentence to discourse:
discourse grammar and English language teaching. TESOL
Quarterly 32(2): 263-287.
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2003. Teaching Language: From Grammar to
Grammaring. Boston: Thomson Heinle. (Textbook)
Odlin, T. (ed.). 1994. Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thornbury, S. 1999. How to Teach Grammar. London: Longman.
28
Presentation of term essays
REFERENCES
In term essays references should be given in the main body of the
argument thus:
(Chomsky 1965, p. 3)
(Kasper 1979, pp. 269f.)
(Snow 1977, pp. 39-43)
A complete alphabetical list of references must be appended to each
essay thus:
Chomsky, N., 1965: Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge,
Mass.: M.I.T. Press.
Kasper, G., 1979: Communication strategies: modality reduction,
Interlanguage Studies Bulletin 4, pp. 266-83.
Snow, C. E., 1977: Mothers’ speech research: from input to
interaction, in C. E. Snow and C. A. Ferguson (eds.), Talking to
Children, pp. 31-50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ATTRIBUTION AND PLAGIARISM
All quotations from published and unpublished sources must begin
and end with quotation marks and be accompanied by a full reference
(see above). The following practices are unacceptable and will be
treated as plagiarism:
• copying without acknowledgement;
• selective copying (which omits words, phrases or sentences from
the original) without acknowledgement;
• close summary without acknowledgement.
See also the College regulations on plagiarism printed in the appendix
to this handbook.
29
Appendix
Extract from General Regulations and Information,
Calendar 2008–2009, pp. H16–H17
70 Plagiarism is interpreted by the University as the act of presenting
the work of others as one’s own work, without acknowledgement.
Plagiarism is considered as academically fraudulent, and an offence
against University discipline. The University considers plagiarism to be
a major offence, and subject to the disciplinary procedures of the
University.
71 Plagiarism can arise from deliberate actions and also through
careless thinking and/or methodology. The offence lies not in the
attitude or intention of the perpetrator, but in the action and in its
consequences. Plagiarism can arise from actions such as:
(a) copying another student’s work;
(b) enlisting another person or persons to complete an assignment
on the student’s behalf;
(c) quoting directly, without acknowledgement, from books, articles
or other sources, either in printed, recorded or electronic format;
(d) paraphrasing, without acknowledgement, the writings of other
authors.
Examples (c) and (d) in particular can arise through careless thinking
and/or methodology where students:
(i)
fail to distinguish between their own ideas and those of others;
(ii) fail to take proper notes during preliminary research and
therefore lose track of the sources from which the notes were
drawn;
(iii) fail to distinguish between information which needs no
acknowledgement because it is firmly in the public domain, and
information which might be widely known, but which
nevertheless requires some sort of acknowledgement;
(iv) come across a distinctive methodology or idea and fail to record
its source.
All the above serve only as examples and are not exhaustive.
Students should submit work done in cooperation with other students
only when it is done with the full knowledge and permission of the
lecturer concerned. Without this, work submitted which is the product
of collusion with other students may be considered to be plagiarism.
72 It is clearly understood that all members of the academic
community use and build on the work of others. It is commonly
accepted also, however, that we build on the work of others in an
open and explicit manner, and with due acknowledgement. Many
30
cases of plagiarism that arise could be avoided by following some
simple guidelines:
(i)
Any material used in a piece of work, of any form, that is not the
original thought of the author should be fully referenced in the
work and attributed to its source. The material should either be
quoted directly or paraphrased. Either way, an explicit citation of
the work referred to should be provided, in the text, in a footnote,
or both. Not to do so is to commit plagiarism.
(ii) When taking notes from any source it is very important to record
the precise words or ideas that are being used and their precise
sources.
(iii) While the Internet often offers a wider range of possibilities for
researching particular themes, it also requires particular
attention to be paid to the distinction between one’s own work
and the work of others. Particular care should be taken to keep
track of the source of the electronic information obtained from
the Internet or other electronic sources and ensure that it is
explicitly and correctly acknowledged.
73 It is the responsibility of the author of any work to ensure that
he/she does not commit plagiarism.
74 Students should ensure the integrity of their work by seeking
advice from their lecturers, tutor or supervisor on avoiding plagiarism.
All departments should include, in their handbooks or other literature
given to students, advice on the appropriate methodology for the kind
of work that students will be expected to undertake.
75 If plagiarism as referred to in §70 above is suspected, in the first
instance, the head of school will write to the student, and the student’s
tutor advising them of the concerns raised and inviting them to attend
an informal meeting with the head of school,7 and the lecturer
concerned, in order to put their suspicions to the student and give the
student the opportunity to respond. The student will be requested to
respond in writing stating his/her agreement to attend such a meeting
and confirming on which of the suggested dates and times it will be
possible for the student to attend. If the student does not in this
manner agree to attend such a meeting, the head of school may refer
the case directly to the Junior Dean, who will interview the student and
may implement the procedures as referred to under CONDUCT AND
COLLEGE REGULATIONS §2.
7
The director of teaching and learning (undergraduate) may also attend the
meeting as appropriate. As an alternative to their tutor, students may nominate a
representative from the Students’ Union to accompany them to the meeting.
31
76 If the head of school forms the view that plagiarism has taken
place, he/she must decide if the offence can be dealt with under the
summary procedure set out below. In order for this summary
procedure to be followed, all parties attending the informal meeting as
noted in §75 above must state their agreement in writing to the head
of school. If the facts of the case are in dispute, or if the head of
school feels that the penalties provided for under the summary
procedure below are inappropriate given the circumstances of the
case, he/she will refer the case directly to the Junior Dean, who will
interview the student and may implement the procedures as referred
to under CONDUCT AND COLLEGE REGULATIONS §2.
77 If the offence can be dealt with under the summary procedure, the
head of school or department will recommend to the Senior Lecturer
one of the following penalties:
(a)
that the piece of work in question receives a reduced mark, or a
mark of zero; or
(b)
if satisfactory completion of the piece of work is deemed
essential for the student to rise with his/her year or to proceed to
the award of a degree, the student may be required to re-submit
the work. However the student may not receive more than the
minimum pass mark applicable to the piece of work on
satisfactory re-submission.
78 Provided that the appropriate procedure has been followed and all
parties in §75 above are in agreement with the proposed penalty, the
Senior Lecturer may approve the penalty and notify the Junior Dean
accordingly. The Junior Dean may nevertheless implement the
procedures as referred to under CONDUCT AND COLLEGE
REGULATIONS §2.
32