Fall 2020 – LNG 201/Introduction to the English Language

LNG 201 01
1 course unit
Term: Fall 2020
Time: 2:00-3:20 p.m. TF
Room: REMOTE
Prerequisites: None
Prof. G. Steinberg
Office: Bliss Hall 216
Office Phone: 609-771-2106
Office Hours:  by appointment only (remote)
E-mail: gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

TEXTBOOK:
George Yule, The Study of Language, 7th ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2020), ISBN 9781108730709.

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  An introduction to linguistics intended to meet the needs of students planning to teach younger children or with an interest in cognitive science, this course includes topics in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, psycholinguistics, language acquisition, social variation, and historical linguistics.

I can almost guarantee that this course will be one of the most difficult but also one of the best classes that you will ever take.  As a user of language, you already know a great deal about English intuitively, and you take that intuitive knowledge for granted.  But in this course, we’re going to take that knowledge and make you more conscious and deliberate about it.  We’re going to learn about the nuts and bolts of how languages work and change.  When you finish the course, you will have a better understanding of why English is the way that it is (usually because of historical accident or a universal linguistic rule or both), and you will have a store of conversation starters and fun facts to know and tell about your mother tongue.  You’ll also have a greater understanding and appreciation of language that you can take into your literature and education classes.  Most of the material we will cover in this class is inherently interesting.  Who doesn’t want to know the answers to such questions as

      1. Why do people talk funny to babies?
      2. How do people come up with alternate lyrics to songs that they hear on the radio (e.g., “Might as well face it, you’re a dick with a glove”)?
      3. How do two people know when their conversation is over?
      4. Why is English spelling so screwy (e.g., cough, though, bough, bought)?

But you will have to work hard to master a large amount of new material in order to be able to answer these questions.  In this course, you will be introduced to a lot of information that will be entirely new to you.  You will need to memorize, digest, and assimilate a great deal as the term goes along.  But I will help you in every way that I can, and your classmates will be there with you the whole time.  We’re in this together.

When the College went through a curriculum revision several years ago, the vast majority of undergraduate courses were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit (1-unit) learning experiences.  While most of the classes continued to meet for only 3 academic hours per week (typically 150 minutes on the TCNJ schedule grid), it was understood that the “transformed” courses offered a depth of learning with additional learning tasks unfolding in the equivalent of a fourth hour, including, sometimes, an actual additional hour of class interaction.  As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course,

F) The students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no other additional classroom space is needed.

GOALS.  In terms of my goals for this course, I want you

      1. to develop your appreciation – and respect – for the complexity and beauty of the English language;
      2. to become more conscious of what you are actually doing when you use language;
      3. to demonstrate an understanding of language acquisition and development;
      4. to recognize the impact of cultural, economic, political, and social environments upon language;
      5. to show a respect for and understanding of diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles;
      6. to show an understanding of the evolution of the English language and the historical influences on its various forms; and
      7. to demonstrate an understanding of discourse analysis, pragmatics, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology.

This course is articulated with the following NCTE program standards for future secondary educators.

Content Knowledge, II: Candidates demonstrate knowledge of English language arts subject matter content that specifically includes language and writing as well as knowledge of adolescents as language users.

Element 2: Candidates know the conventions of English language as they relate to various rhetorical situations (grammar, usage, and mechanics); they understand the concept of dialect and are familiar with relevant grammar systems (e.g., descriptive and prescriptive); they understand principles of language acquisition; they recognize the influence of English language history on ELA content; and they understand the impact of language on society.

This course also contributes to the following Middle States goals for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences and the English Department:

#1 Written Communication
#5 Critical Analysis and Reasoning:  Ability to critique the arguments of others in the discipline and the construction of one’s own arguments in the discipline, using data/evidence are a focus of instruction and/or the ability to analyze linguistic and cultural patterns
#6 Information Literacy:  Evaluating the validity and/or reliability of a source
#7 Interpret Language and Symbol
#9 Respect for Diversity:  analyze AAVE syntactically, morphologically, phonetically
#12 students will be able to analyze a written or spoken text linguistically and describe its use of language

REQUIREMENTS.  This course has the following graded assignments:

      1. four graded homework assignments (15% of your final grade all together),
      2. PAPER 1 (15% of your final grade),
      3. PAPER 2 (20%),
      4. a midterm exam (20%), and
      5. a comprehensive final exam (30%).

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:  A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%.

PROFESSOR’S AVAILABILITY.  My office is Bliss Hall 216, but my office hours this term are by appointment and remote only.  You may contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu) to arrange a virtual or phone “meeting.”  You may also call my office phone (609-771-2106) and leave a message (if I do not answer), but email is by far the best way to get in touch with me.

ATTENDANCE. This course is being taught remotely (because of the coronavirus pandemic), but we will “meet” synchronously online during the scheduled time for our class on each of the regular class days of the semester (unless otherwise noted in the course schedule below).  You are expected to “attend” all these class meetings.  The links for joining the synchronous online class meetings are available in Canvas under “Zoom.”  If you have technology issues or needs during the semester, please contact the IT Helpdesk at 609-771-2660 or helpdesk@tcnj.edu.

In general, I will not take or record attendance for our virtual class meetings, but regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of class. Class activities will constitute important, useful preparation for your graded work. If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone). If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting. For information on the College’s attendance policy, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=77.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.  Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to gain academic advantage through dishonest means, to submit, as his or her own, work which has not been done by him/her or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty would include, but is not limited to, submitting as his/her own a project, paper, report, test, or speech copied from, partially copied, or paraphrased from the work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright, or in manuscript form). Credit must be given for words quoted or paraphrased. The rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral. TCNJ’s academic integrity policy is available on the web at https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=130.

ACCOMMODATIONS.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability. The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community. If you require special accommodations, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities are respected. For more information, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=145 and https://arc.tcnj.edu/.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. We are all enriched by greater diversity, and we all bring different perspectives to this class. I want to create a learning environment that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including your race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, mental and physical health, differing abilities, politics, etc.). If you go by a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in your official records, please let me know. If you feel that your performance in class is being impacted by experiences related to your identity outside of class, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. If something is said or posted in class (by anyone, including me) that makes you feel uncomfortable, targeted, misunderstood, or disparaged as a person, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity. To see TCNJ’s official diversity statement, please go to https://diversity.tcnj.edu/campus-diversity-statement/.

FINAL EXAM.  As required by the College’s Final Exam/Evaluation Policy (https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=266), this course has a final exam; the exam is comprehensive and integrative in nature and counts for at least 15% and not more than 50% of your final grade.

PAPER 1. Transcribe a poem of 10-16 lines into the International Phonetic Alphabet (according to how the words of the poem would typically be pronounced).  You may use the same poem as you used for Graded Homework Assignment 1, although I recommend that you review and revise your phonetic transcription of the poem. Write a paper of 4-5 double-spaced pages in which you analyze the sounds in the poem.  This is a purely informative paper – unlike the typical thesis-driven argumentative essays that you usually write in most of your other English classes.  Are there interesting patterns of sounds within particular lines or phrases or sections (based on place and manner of articulation, voicing, phonotactics, phonetic intensives, vowel length, rounding, open and closed syllables, etc.)?  How do the sounds in the poem reflect the meaning of the lines?  How do they contribute to the poem’s overall effect?  Remember to talk about sounds – not spelling.  I recommend that you think first about where the poem’s sounds seem interesting (e.g., where the poem gets suddenly difficult to say or where it’s particularly melodious).  Then analyze the sounds at those points in the poem and try to explain how the sounds cause the difficulty or melodiousness that you noticed.  You should not simply go line by line through the poem and make random observations about the sounds in each line.  Submit the text of your poem and your phonetic transcription of it as an appendix to your paper (not as part of your page count).

PAPER 2. Use the Oxford English Dictionary to research the history of a single English word and write a paper of 4-5 double-spaced pages that describes the word’s history.  This is a purely informative paper – unlike the typical thesis-driven argumentative essays that you usually write in most of your other English classes.  Where and when did your word originate (etymology)?  When and how did it enter the English language (by borrowing or some process of word formation)?  How has it evolved over time in terms of meaning (semantics), spelling (orthography), pronunciation (phonology), lexical category (syntax), and affixes (morphology)?  (HINT:  You should choose a word that has been a part of the English language for a while – rather than a word borrowed or formed recently.  Think about the prehistory and history of the English language and about where your word and its meanings, spellings, pronunciations, and lexical and morphological changes might fit into that larger history.  Pay attention to dates and compare the dates relevant to your chosen word to the dates of major changes and trends in English as a whole.  While changes in your word’s history may not correspond exactly to overall changes in the language, many changes are likely to correspond more or less closely.)

GRADED HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS. In the course schedule below, there are four graded homework assignments in addition to the regular day-to-day homework.  You will not submit day-to-day homework or be graded on it, but you will submit the four graded homework assignments in writing on the assigned days for a grade.

The graded homework assignments will be graded Pass/Fail.  I am not looking for perfection in your submission but rather for a sincere attempt to complete the assignment.  As long as  you make a sincere attempt and submit it as a Google Doc shared with me before class on the assigned day, you will get a Pass and receive full credit (100% or A+) for that homework assignment.  If you do not seem to have made a sincere attempt or you submit the homework late, you may not receive full credit, and you may even receive a Fail (0% or F-).  If you do not submit the assignment at all, you will earn a Fail (0% or F-) for it.

When you share your graded homework assignments with me as Google Docs, be sure to give me “editing” or “suggesting” status.  If you only give me “viewing” status, I cannot comment or give feedback on your submissions.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  This schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the professor. Changes in the schedule made after the start of the semester will be in red.  Yule refers to The Study of Language (our textbook for class).

Date Topic Assignment
T Aug 25 Introductions ––––––––––
F Aug 28 Sounds of English Read Chapters 1-2 of Yule.
T Sep 1 Sounds of English Read Chapter 3 of Yule.  Do Study Questions 8-12 and Tasks B and D.  (By the way, there’s a mistake in the instructions for Task D.  Can you find it?)
F Sep 4 Sounds of English Do the “Phonetics Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
T Sep 8 NO CLASS MONDAY SCHEDULE instead
F Sep 11 Sounds of English Do the “Additional Phonetics Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.  Think about Task I and Discussion Topic/Project II at the end of Chapter 3 of Yule.
T Sep 15 Phonology and Sound Changes Graded Homework Assignment 1 (due as a Google Doc shared with me before class):  Transcribe a poem of 10-16 lines into the International Phonetic Alphabet (according to how the words of the poem would typically be pronounced).  I recommend “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” by William Shakespeare, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, “Thistles” by Ted Hughes, or “Kitchenette Building” by Gwendolyn Brooks (all four easily available online), but you may choose any poem that you like (as long as it’s of suitable length).  Submit the text of the poem and your phonetic transcription of it together.  NOTE:  If you have trouble typing IPA symbols that aren’t regular letters into Google Docs, you can go to https://ipa.typeit.org/full/ and use the keyboard there to type in your transcription of the poem (and then cut and paste your transcription into a Google Doc to share with me).
F Sep 18 Phonology and Sound Changes Read Chapter 4 of Yule.  Do Study Questions 2, 5, 7, 10, 11, and 12; Tasks D, H, and J; and Discussion Topic/Project I.
T Sep 22 Phonology and Sound Changes Do the “Phonology Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
F Sep 25 Word Formation and Morphology Graded Homework Assignment 2 (due as a Google Doc shared with me before class): Visit the Archive of Misheard Lyrics at http://www.kissthisguy.com.  Many misperceptions of song lyrics can be explained as the result of phonological processes and sound changes.  Examine at least three “mishearances” and try to explain them by phonological processes.  For example, is one sound being substituted for another?  What is the relationship between the two sounds (the correct one and the one substituted)?  Is the substituted sound an instance of assimilation?  Or is the mishearance a matter of metathesis, epenthesis, elision, and/or other common sound changes?  Don’t worry about changes in vowel sounds; focus on consonant sounds.  Be sure to include both the actual song lyric and the mishearance, as well as your brief analysis of the mishearance, for each of your three chosen examples.
T Sep 29 Word Formation and Morphology Read Chapters 5 and 6.  Do Study Questions 3, 7, 8, 11, and 12 at the end of Chapter 5.  Do Study Questions 1, 2, and 7 and Task H at the end of Chapter 6.
F Oct 2 Word Formation and Morphology Do the “Morpology Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
T Oct 6 Semantics PAPER 1 DUE in Canvas before midnight.
F Oct 9 Semantics and Mid-Term Review Read Chapter 9 of Yule.  Do Study Questions 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 and Discussion Topic/Project I.
T Oct 13 Syntax MID-TERM EXAM DUE before midnight
F Oct 16 Syntax Read Chapters 7 and 8 of Yule.  Do Study Questions 1, 2, and 7 at the end of Chapter 7.  Do Study Questions 6, 7, 8, and 12 and Task K at the end of Chapter 8.  Jamboard Link
T Oct 20 Transformations Do the “Diagramming Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.  Look at Task C and Discussion Topic/Project I at the end of Chapter 8 of Yule.
F Oct 23 Pragmatics and Conversation
Transformations
Do the “Transformations Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
T Oct 27 Pragmatics and Conversation Read Chapters 10, 11, and 15 of Yule.  Do Study Questions 1, 3, 11, and 12 and Tasks E and K at the end of Chapter 10.  Do Task B at the end of Chapter 11.  Do the “Conversation Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
F Oct 30 Pragmatics and Conversation Do Study Questions 1, 3, 11, and 12 and Tasks E and K at the end of Chapter 10.  Do the “Conversation Exercises” and the “Additional Conversation Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.  Do Tasks B, C, D, and E at the end of Chapter 11 of Yule.
T Nov 3 Neurolinguistics and Language Acquisition Graded Homework Assignment 3 (due as a Google Doc shared with me before class): Go to the MICASE web site at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/c/corpus/corpus?page=home;c=micase;cc=micase.  Choose a transcript of a conversation (a meeting, interview, advising session, office hour, or other).  Choose a portion of the transcript that seems interesting and includes about 8-10 turns.  Describe what is interesting in that portion with respect to speech acts, the cooperative principle, adjacency pairs, and turn taking.  Submit a copy of the relevant portion of the transcript with your analysis of it.
F Nov 6 Language Acquisition Read Chapters 12, 13, and 14 of Yule.  Do Task C at the end of Chapter 12.  Do Study Questions 8 and 9 and Task D at the end of Chapter 13.  Do “Language Acquisition Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
T Nov 10 Sound Changes and Semantic Change Graded Homework Assignment 4 (due as a Google Doc shared with me before class): Do Task C at the end of Chapter 5 of Yule.  I recommend that you use the Oxford English Dictionary for this assignment (as practice for using it for PAPER 2).
F Nov 13 Prehistory of English Read Chapter 17 of Yule.  Do Study Questions 6, 10, and 12. Do “Sound Changes Exercises” and “Semantic Change Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
T Nov 17 Early History of English Do “Indo-European Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
F Nov 20 Later History of English and Dialects Do “Old English Exercises” under “Modules” in Canvas.
T Nov 24 NO CLASS Thanksgiving Break
F Nov 27 NO CLASS Thanksgiving Break
T Dec 1 Later History of English and Dialects Read Chapters 16, 18, and 19 of Yule.  Do “Early Modern English Exercises” under “Modules” in CanvasDo Study Question 8 at the end of Chapter 18.  Do Study Question 4 and Task F at the end of Chapter 19.
F Dec 4 Final Review PAPER 2 DUE in Canvas before midnight.
Do Study Question 8 at the end of Chapter 18.  Do Study Question 4 and Task F at the end of Chapter 19.
T Dec 15 FINAL EXAM NO CLASS
Submit your exam before midnight.