LINGUISTICS 101
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LINGUISTICS – SPRING 2009
Time & Place:
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Homepage:
Texts:
Websites:
Tuesday 3:40-4:30, One Credit, S/F, Ross 131
Professor Carol A. Chapelle
339 Ross Hall, phone: 294-7274, e-mail: carolc@iastate.edu
Monday & Wednesday 2:00-3:00 & by appointment
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~carolc/
Landmarks in Linguistic Thought II, by John E. Joseph, Nigel Love and
Talbot J. Taylor (on reserve at the ISU Library)
See syllabus.
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course is intended for undergraduate majors in linguistics and students wishing to
learn more about the field of linguistics and the career paths for graduates with a degree
in linguistics. It will introduce students to linguistics as a cross-disciplinary field that has
been developed by scholars studying language from a variety of different perspectives
and for different purposes. Each week students will read about and discuss a major figure
in linguistics and his or her area of contribution, with perspectives ranging across culture,
psychology, society, biology, and philosophy, for example. Guest lecturers will describe
career paths that take linguists into work such as language teaching, language assessment,
speech pathology, philosophy, government work, and translation.
OBJECTIVES
● Recognize origins and strands of linguistic perspectives in a variety of applications.
● Identify and explain intellectual and practical uses for the study of linguistics.
REQUIREMENTS
● Write a one-page, double spaced paper on each of the topics we cover in class. Each
paper should contain the following: 1) Choose a quote from the chapter in the book or
Website that you think demonstrates the linguist’s perspective. 2) Explain what the
quote means and why you think it demonstrates a key idea of the school of thought in
linguistics. 3) Explain what types of work that someone coming from this perspective
would be interested in, and why. You can use examples from any of the speakers if
you like. 4) Is this area of interest to you? Why or why not? Turn in one set of onepage essays on March 10, and the other on April 21.
● Develop a Web page or poster about one of the linguists described in the book or
introduced by the speakers. Due April 28. You can work with another person in the
class to complete this assignment if you like.
POLICIES, GRADES AND ATTENDANCE
● Grades are pass/not pass. Grades will be calculated on the basis of four component
parts of the course: 1) The first collection of papers (due March 10), 2) the second
collection of papers (due April 21), 3) the Web page or poster and presentation (due
April 28, and 4) attendance. Failure on two or more of the four components will
result in a grade of not pass.
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● To receive credit for the papers, paper copy must be submitted on time, during the
class period when they are due. APA style guidelines should be used. Late papers
will not be accepted.
● Students are required to attend all classes. Any missed classes beyond two will result in
a failing grade for attendance. No late assignments will be accepted.
SYLLABUS
Date
Topic from Book or Website
Jan. 13
Introduction to the
interdisciplinary study of
linguistics
Jan. 20
Chapter 2*: Jacobson on
structuralism
Jan. 27
Chapter 15: Kanzi on human
language
Feb. 3
Website on Forensic
Linguistics**
Feb. 10
Chapter 12: Bruner on the
child's passport into language
Feb. 17
Chapter 3: Orwell on
language as politics
Feb. 24
March 3
March 10
March 17
March 24
March 31
April 7
April 14
April 21
April 28
Guest Lecturer, Field of Study—Topic
Prof. Carol Chapelle, TESL/Applied
Linguistics—Introduction to linguistics
and linguistics careers
Prof. John Levis, TESL/Applied
Linguistics—What phonologists do
Prof. Jill Pruetz, Anthropology—Primate
Language
Dr. Dawn Sweet, Communication
Studies—Forensic Linguistics
Ms. Cynthia Myers, TESL/Applied
Linguistics —L2 Teaching and Learning
Lieutenant Colonel Jay Soupene,
Professor of Military Science—Linguists
in the military
Chapter 11: Goffman on the
Prof. Dan Douglas, TESL/Applied
communicating self
Linguistics —Language testing
Chapter 9: Chomsky on
Prof. Alison Morris, Psychology—
language as biology
Psycholinguistics change to Jan 20 AM
Chapter 7: Austin on
Prof. Jean Goodwin, Speech
language as action
Communication—Law
Spring Break
Chapter 10: Labov on
Prof. Katherine Richardson Bruna,
linguistic variation
Curriculum & Instruction—Studying
language in the schools
Website on Foreign
Prof. Dawn Bratsch-Prince, World
Language Teaching***
Languages and Cultures—Foreign
language teaching
Chapter 1: Whorf on
Prof. Max Viatori, Anthropology—
language and thought
Linguistic anthropology
Chapter 8: Skinner on verbal Prof. Horabail Venkatagiri, Psychology—
behavior
Speech-language pathology and audiology
Chapter 6: Wittgenstein on
Prof. William Robinson, Philosophy—
grammatical investigations
Philosophy of language
Show Web pages/posters
In Ross 312
* Chapters refer to the Landmarks in Linguistic Thought II book.
** Forensic Linguistics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_linguistics
http://www.languageandlaw.org/FORENSIC.HTM
*** Foreign Language Teaching: http://www.actfl.org/
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