English 615: Modern English Linguistics
summer, 2009

• Course Reqs and Grading
• About the class: the .wav version
• Non-Language Creation Homework
• Language Creation pages
• Ethnologue.com: Info on the Languages of the World
• SAMPA Homepage
• A Quick Sampa Reference and Help Page

Announcements

HOME STRETCH!!!

Just one more little job to do before you make it across the finish line, Linguists! Work steadily; take breaks; ask for help if you need it; remember:you're almost there!
Sheri

Course Calendar

• Week 1 May 18: What is Language
  Readings: Chapter 1
  Assignments
  • 1. Arbitrariness; Part 1
    Due: May 21
  • 2. Read 'before you begin' on the Language creation page. email me to let me know you're done and ask any questions you may have.
    Due: May 21; participation Credit only
  • 3. What do Linguists do?
    Due: May 22
  • 4. Language Creation Step 1: on the LC page
    Due: may 22
• Week 2 May 25: Phonetics
  Reading: chapter 2
  Phonetics sound file
  • 5. Arbitrariness Part 2!
    Due: may 26
  • 6. Segment Puzzles
    Due: may 27
  • 7. Transcription
    Due: may 28
  • 8. LC Step 2: Phonetics
    Due: may 29
• Week 3: June 1: Morphology
  Reading: chapter 4 (additional readings noted below)
  Help and explanation of this week's assignments:
  • Morphemes and Allomorphs: assignments 9, 10 and 11; Part 1
  • Morphemes and Allomorphs: assignments 9, 10 and 11; Part 2
  • We work through a morphology problem on the language of aplletrees together.
  • Help with LC Step 3: thinking about morphemes and lexical items and culture and words for snow in 'Eskimo'
  • 9. Morphology of Turkish and Isleta
    Due: June 1 or 2
  • 10. Morphology of Zapotec and Zoque
    Due: June 2
  • 11. find a Word with...
    Due: June 3
  • 12. LC Step three: creating nouns and nominal morphology
    Due: June 4
    Additional reding: file 13.4
  • 13. Language Endangerment
    Due: June 5
    Resources and Readings on Language Endangerment
    • See your textbook, file 11.6
    • Listen to an interview with Dr. Jordan Lachler of the Sealaska Heritage Institute; (listening time approx. 30 minutes.)
      Dr. Lachler is working on Haida, a Northwest Coast language of British Columbia and Alaska with currently fewer than 40 speakers.
    • Listen to an interview with Noah schmidt, Graduate Student at BGSU, beginning his work on the Oroha language.
      Noah is working on Oroha, a language of the solomon Islands which also currently has fewer than 40 speakers.
      NB: This interview will not be available until Wednesday evening.
    • For an alternative view, please see:
      Another View of Endangered Languages
      Ladefoged, Peter
      Language, 1992, 68, 4, Dec, 809-811
    • Read the responses to Ladefoged written by Nancy Dorian:
      A Response to Ladefoged's Other View of Endangered Languages
      Dorian, Nancy C
      Language, 1993, 69, 3, Sept, 575-579
      NB: Full text of these articles online can be accessed through Jerome Library using your BGSU account. I recommend choosing the "Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts" database and searching for key words in the titles.
    • Finally, Sundance hit documentary 'The Linguists' is now available to stream online and via mobile device for FREE at http://www.babelgum.com/thelinguists I would show this to you if we were in class together. Try to find the time and a fast enough computer to watch it yourselves.
• Week 4; June 8 phonology and Psycholinguistics
  Reading Chapter 3 and Chapter 9
  • 14. Phonology Problems: Sindhi and Italian
    Due: June 8 or 9
    • Introduction to Phonology,
    • Sample Phonology Problems with Answers and an audio option (for some of them)
    • the aspirated p video appletree Phonology with atalk-through
  • 15. LC Step 4:
    Due: before Monday June 15
    Audio discussion of Step 4
    Pairings for Step 4:
    • Kelly and Christina: let the little prankster Fairies and the Grumblies meet!
    • Stefanie and Katie: the giant squid meet the self-absorbed teens: which will come out on top?
    • Dan and Jenny
    • Shawn and Linda
    • Sherry and Yuchun
    • Susan and Laura
  • 16. More Phonology Problems: Oroha and Fijian
    Due: June 10
  • 17. LC Step 5
    Due: June 11
    Discussion of Step 5
  • 18. Speech Errors
    Due: June 22 (No, that's not a typo: you have plenty of time to do this).
    In addition to the chapter on Psycholinguistics, please visit the Slips Pages for a more thorough discussion of slips of the tongue.
    Practice Categorizing Speech Errors
  • 19. LC 6
    Due: June 12
    Check the written help pages on the LC site: they are extensive and will get you through just fine.
• Week 5; June 15; typology and field methods: the Midterm
  Chapter 5 with special attention to 5.6;
  • 20. Typology
    Due: June 15 or 16
    See the help files under step 10 on the LC page for Help with Heads.
  • 21. LC Step 8
    Due: June 16
    Yes, we are skipping step 7
    Audio for Step 8
  • 22. LC Step 9
    Due: June 17
    Audio for Step 9
    Groups for Step 9
    • The aliens: Laura, Shawn, Krista
    • The weird toe disease: Bret, Katie, Linda, Yuchun
    • The Flood: Dan, Jenny, Kelly, christina
    • The soulless marketers: Sherry, Stefanie, Mandy, susan
  • LC Step 10
    Due: June 22
    Audio for Step 10
  • Midterm
    1. Written Instructions and the Midterm Questions/a> Read this first. Make sure you understand the questions and the rules of engagement here.
    2. Audio Admonitions and Soothing Advice Try this next. Once you're done with these, you're ready to begin.
    3. By now, you should have received an e-mail alert to tell you that there is a movie posted to your My Files section. This movie is the data you will need to complete the midterm.

       To access the movie, click on the link in that email. this will take you to BGSU My Files. Enter your user name and password (they are the same as your Blackboard/My BGSU username and password). The movie will then load automatically.

       The movie is about 24 minutes long, around 260 megabytes. Don't try this through a dial-up connection. If you use dial-up at home try going to a computer lab on campus, or to a local library if you do not live in the BG area.