LANG7402 Introduction to the Study of Language Part II:
Syntax, Semantics, Application
Pre-requisite: Curiosity, and diligence
Objectives: This is the second part of a two-semester course that introduces students to five core components in linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. It will provide students with a solid grounding in fundamental concepts and methodologies of these five linguistic areas, which will enable them to tackle linguistic problems systematically and help them understand that despite superficial diversity, human languages share fundamental similarities in terms of the universal principles that govern their possible structures. This aim will be approached and achieved through exploring language data. Methods of formal analysis will be applied to data drawn from a variety of languages, with a focus on the analysis and comparison of English and Chinese. Systematic properties generalized from the analysis will be discussed in relation to their application to language teaching and other fields.
Learning outcomes:
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By the end of the course, students should be able to:
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CILO 5
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Analyze structures of phrases and sentences to illustrate the general principles that underlie structural patterns
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CILO 6
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Explain structural and cognitive aspects of meaning which are relevant to the description and theory of grammar
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CILO 7
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Identify patterns at the syntax and semantics interface
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CILO 8
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Explain the values of linguistic study and its applications to the analyses of language-related phenomena
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Course Description:
In this part, we look at the levels of syntax and semantics to complete the four major areas of theoretical linguistics (the other two were phonetics & phonology, and morphology, covered in Part 1). Towards, the end, we also take a look at a wider domain beyond linguistics in hope that students will understand applications from a broader perspective.
Assessment:
Coursework consists of
l three reflections (20% x 2 chosen of the three)
l Syntax take-home test (30%, 7th or 8th week)
l Semantics take-home test (30%, 13th week)
Language medium: English
The course is taught in English.
Reflections (40%)
You are to write group reflections at strategic intervals of the course (see schedule below). These are to be done as a group (see Affinity Group Learning below). Each group is to submit a WORD file. A template together with instructions can be downloaded from BUMoodle. Fill in the parts in blue, then change the entire document to black.
After commenting and grading your journal entrees, they will be posted online and made available to everyone in class. This is to facilitate mutual learning.
Submission of Reflections:
Reflections are to be submitted electronically as WORD files to the BU e-Learning Platform. Embed any special fonts. Please remember to include full names and student numbers of all group members, page numbers and date.
Submissions should have their files appropriately named in the format “Course code-Groupname-.doc”. E.g. LANG7402-Tonic.doc would be the submission for the group called Tonic.
Late submissions without proper justification and failure of compliance to format requirements will receive heavy penalties.
Use APA style, including standard margins and font sizes.
Syntax Take-home Test (individual 30%) and
Semantics Take-home Test (individual 30%)
You’ll be given a short test for each of the above areas. Each test takes about 2hours to complete. It will test your ability to engage in syntactic and semantic analyses. Both tests are open book and you’re free to consult any resources available to you. You can even consult one another. However, please ensure that you acknowledge your sources properly. If you take more time than 2 hours, that’s fine, simply indicate the number of hours you took. Note that taking a longer time doesn’t mean you’d do better.
Test Performance Backup (capped at 18%)
In case you did badly for one of the tests, here is a safety net. Throughout the course, there will be forum postings and discussions led by our TAs. These are highly structured and dedicated work they have done under my supervision. In case you failed one of the tests, we will replace that score with your forum participation performance. Your forum performance will be judged by the following rubric.
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Meaningful response to every post
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… /6
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Follow-up to replies
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… /6
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Quality of reasoning and argumentation
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… /6
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Because this is a safety net, and should not be abused, the cap is at only 18% of the final score. This is more than enough to give a pass to anyone who failed one of the two tests.
Affinity Group Learning:
It is boring and unproductive to learn alone. Students are required to form. affinity groups and meet often to help each other. This allows for the pooling of individual talents and strengths to tackle problems that cannot be done alone.
Group work is necessary because (i) in modern day research, it is necessary to learn how to work with other people; (ii) teamwork allows you to go into greater depths of learning that would be useful when you undertake greater scale research.
Depending on class size, each group must minimally consist of 3 members and may not exceed the maximum of 6.
Parasitic behaviours are frowned upon. Please do not hesitate to report parasites.
You are also encouraged (but not obliged) to move around and change groups. That way you’d have the fun of learning with different classmates.
Answers and the evaluation of your work:
Being in a university means being near the frontier of knowledge. It is normal not to know the answers. What is important is the ability to ask the right questions and to find plausible answers.
Any answer is a good answer in this course if it has the following characteristics:
• Logical consistency
• Empirical substantiation
• Simplicity
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." – Albert Einstein.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is generally defined as ‘the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own’ (The New Oxford Dictionary of English). Here are some instances of plagiarism:
1. Copying material from the internet, books, papers, AI-generated content (with or without editing), without acknowledging the source.
2. Taking ideas and materials from friends via personal communication, without due acknowledgement in your work.
3. Posting assignment questions in one form. or another at internet forums/bulletin boards for help and answers.
As an educated individual, the society expects you to be a person of honesty and integrity. As your teacher, I have faith that you are sincere about learning as you have faith in me that I am responsible in teaching. Plagiarism violates this faith and destroys the trust we have in each other. Plagiarism is a serious offence. Please do not plagiarize. Anyone found guilty of plagiarism would be given an F grade for the assignment or even for the course.
Mode of teaching/learning:
Three-hour sessions are held weekly in the form. of a workshop.
Communicating with me (a personal note to students):
I welcome communication (preferably polite ones). I welcome disagreement that is substantiated by evidence and by sound reasoning. Like all human beings, I can be wrong. By pointing out my mistakes, you’d be doing a great service to your classmates. You may write me email, come see me personally, or write anonymous letters to me if you want to provide any feedback. Remember that this is your education, and we must work together to make classes meaningful for you.
Announcements:
Announcements would be (i) made at the beginning of class; and (ii) posted over BUMoodle. While I would make every effort to disseminate information thoroughly, students are reminded of their responsibility to keep themselves informed and updated of class affairs.
Suggested text/reference:
Readings, where relevant, will be provided on Moodle.
Overview of the course:
To help you plan your time effectively, the following table provides a synchronized schedule on the progress of the course and the deadlines for things you must do.
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Week
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Themes
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Things to do
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1
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Linear grammars and constituency
Discovering structure and testing them
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Make friends, form. groups!
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2
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Standard Theory and Extensions
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3
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Movement and Transformation
d-structure, s-structure, Chomsky’s early model of grammar
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4
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Control
Islands
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5
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Principles A, B, C
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6
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X-bar Theory (if we have time)
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Syntax Take-home Test
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7
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Discussing the syntax test
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Reflection on Syntax due!
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Semantics begin!!
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8
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I. Figuring out meaning
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9
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II. Types of Inferences
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10
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III. Formal representations
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11
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IV. Event Types
V. Working with Event Structures
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Semantics Take-home Test
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12
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Discussing the semantics test
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Reflection on Semantics due!
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Thinking beyond linguistics
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13
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Who needs a linguist?
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Reflection on the enterprise of Linguistics due!
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