Professor: Dr. Battenburg 
Office: 38-109 
Phone: 756-2945  E-mail:  jbattenb@calpoly.edu 
Office Hours: M, W 9-10 or by appointment 

Text:

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams.  2007. An Introduction to Language.  8th ed. Boston:  Thomson Wadsworth. 

Course Description: 

ENGLISH 290 is an introductory course in linguistics. Emphasis will be placed upon both theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics. Throughout this quarter a number of questions will be considered: What is language? Why does human language differ from animal communication? How can language be described in terms of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics? How is language acquired or learned? Why and how does language change? How can dialectal varieties be described? And, how can computers be used to analyze and produce language? 

In-class activities and reading assignments will be supplemented by accessing websites in linguistics. Students will be required to use the computer to participate in these online activities. The address for my Cal Poly Linguistics Site is as follows: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jbattenb/ling

Class Requirements and Grading Procedure:

1. Attendance is required. More than three absences will significantly lower your final grade in this class. 
2. No late assignments, quizzes, or exams will be accepted. If you miss class, make sure to contact a classmate to catch up with lecture material and assignments. 
3. Class participation: 10% 
4. Assignments and quizzes: 30% 
5. Midterm and final exam: 60%

Grading Scale: A 100-94, A- 93-90, B+ 89-87, B 86-84, B- 83-80, C+ 79-77, C 76-74, C- 73-70, D+ 69-67, D 66-64, D- 60-63, F 59 and below

Class Outline

Tentative Schedule :

Week 1 September 23

Chapter 1--"What is Language?"

FAQ Linguistics
Wikipedia: Linguistics

Week 2 September 28 & 30

Chapter 6--"Phonetics: The Sounds of Language"

Cal Poly IPA Website
International Phonetic Association 

Week 3 October 5 &7

Phonetics (continued)

Chapter 7--"Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language"

Online Linguistics Assignment Due Wednesday, October 7
 
Minimal Pairs for English RP
Speech Accent Archive

Week 4 October 12 & 14

Phonology (continued)

Chapter 3--"Morphology: The Words of Language" 

Acronymn and Abbreviation List
English Neologisms

Week 5 October 19 & 21

Chapter 4--"Syntax: The Sentence Patterns of Language"

Chomskybot
Grammar: Common Mistakes and Tricky Choices

Week 6 October 26 & 28

Syntax (continued) 

MIDTERM EXAM: Wednesday, October 28 (Bring a large exam book.)

Week 7 November 2 &4

Chapter 5--"The Meaning of Language"

Componential Analysis
California Central Coast Online Dictionary

Chapter 11--"Language Change: The Syllables of Time" 

Early British Kingdoms
Lord's Prayer in Old, Middle, and Modern English

Week 8 November 9

Language Change (Continued)

Week 9 November 16 & 18

Chapter 10-- "'Language in Society"  

LSA Resolution on "Ebonics"
Pidgins and Creoles

Week 10 November 23

Chapter 8--"Language Acquisition"

Language Acquisition
Proposition 227

Week 11 November 30-December 2

Chapter 9--"Language Processing: Humans and Computers"

ELIZA

Animal Communication

Anthropogical Linguistics

Languages of the World

Languages of the World

FINAL EXAM: Monday, December 7 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm (Bring a large exam book.)