California Polytechnic State University ~ English Department ~ Dr. J. Rubba, Instructor
English 503: Graduate Introduction to Linguistics ~ Winter 2012

SYLLABUS & ASSIGNMENTS

Link to 503 home page

Last updated 3/2/12

The most recent assignment is at the top of the page.

Week 10 (3/6-8)

  • 2nd Mock-MA exam is due Thurs., March 8th by 4 pm. Electronic submission. Remember that you can take a couple of days to review material before opening the envelope and writing the exam. Please follow electronic submission instructions (and all other instructions!) carefully.
  • I think a few of you still haven't sent me a paper due date. Please do so as soon as you can. Thanks!

  • Topics: Punctuation; "Good and Bad English."
  • Reading:
    • For Tues.:
      • Review Kolln Chs. 6 and 13; review my online syntax handouts on phrases, clauses, and sentences.
      • Begin now, finish by Thurs.: my chapter "Good and Bad English." The figures are at the end of the doocument. I've moved it to #1 in Course Materials on Bbd.
    • Written homework:
      • For Tues.:
        • Kolln Exercise 44, p. 266. Revise the sentences by combining them into fewer, but longer, sentences. Be careful, though, not to make them too long. You can subordinate some of the clauses inside others, or you can use appositives within dashes or commas, or phrasal modifiers. For nos. 3 & 4, explain why you made the choices you did, including punctuation choices. Remember to rely on Kolln's rules and explanations for punctuation choices; keep rhythm and syntactic boundaries in mind. Here's a model:

          Birdwatching is a fascinating pastime. It is the fastest-growing hobby in the United States. Birding festivals take place all around the country at peak migration periods. Birdwatchers may travel thousands of miles to attend one of these. The festivals offer workshops and guided field trips, and birders attend them, because they hope to improve their birding skills.

          Revision:

          Birdwatching, the fastest-growing hobby in the United States, is a fascinating pastime. Birdwatchers may travel thousands of miles to attend one of the birding festivals that take place all around the country at peak migration periods. Birders attend the workshops and field trips the festivals offer in order to improve their birding skills.
        • For additional support on punctuation, see my Editing Tips page.

        • Kolln, p. 268, "For Group Discussion" #1& #2. Think through the questions and jot notes; we'll discuss this in class on Tuesday. Nothing to hand in, but do come prepared for discussion. It would be great if you could discuss this with each other sometime before class meets.

      • For Thurs.:
        • From "Good and Bad English": p. 25, Ex. 12.1. Use "This is My Living Room" ONLY. Copies of this story will be made available by Monday (it is extremely short). For 12.1 a., "translate" the nonstandard-dialect words or expressions into standard dialect, and describe from there with your best effort at using grammatical terms. Check these against our various materials if you need to feel sure of a term. For 12.1 b., write brief notes in response ot the prompt. We will discuss on Thursday; also, hand in both a. and b.
        • From "Good and Bad English": p. 28, Ex. 12.13. A piece of literature from the Renaissance or Enlightenment would be great.

Week 9 (2/28-3/1)

  • >>ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • I am changing some due dates:
    • I will hand out the second MA-style exam (essay this time) this coming Thursday, but it will be due on Thurs., March 9th instead of Tues., March 7th.
    • You will have a choice of due date for your term paper during exam week. Your choices are any day up to the day that the final exam is scheduled for (Thurs., 3/15, 7 pm). Papers, in hardcopy, are due at 5 pm on the designated day. PLEASE E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR PREFERRED DAY this week. I don't care how many people sign up for any given day. You may, of course, turn in your paper before exam week if you like. But I encourage you to visit me with a progress check beforehand. I'm not seeing people in office hours about your papers. You should be consulting with me!
    • No change on final exam due date (day/time of exam, Thurs., 3/15, 7-10 pm). Since the exam will be submitted electronically, we do not need to meet on that day, but I will be available in my office during that time.
  • For the rest of the quarter, our topics will be speech acts, punctuation, and my text "Good and Bad English" (on Bbd). Punctuation will include a (brief) review of sentence constituents.
  • Topic: Speech Acts, punctuation (projected for the second hour of Thursday)
  • Reading:
    • Begin now, finish by Thursday: Finegan Ch. 9, pp. 301-314 (stop above "The Organization of Conversation"). Kolln Ch. 13.
  • Written homework:
    • For Tuesday:
      • Finegan, p. 295, #8-7. Tips: recall that passive can serve two purposes (and can serve them simultaneously): 1) to put an undergoer of the verb's action in subject position when it is a topic or subtopic of the text, and 2) to put new and/or focused information about an undergoer into the predicate. Note that support, in "Support was found" can be considered given thanks to the mention of data in the preceding sentence. Data indicates a study or experiment; whether the data provides support for a correlation is a salient part of the schema for such studies.
      • From this Information Structure exercise, work #1, #3, and #4. 
    • For Thursday:
      • "Identifying Speech Acts"
      • Finish Information Structure exercise.
      • Kolln, p. 269, Exercise 45, FIRST PARAGRAPH ONLY. As you make your choices, read the sentence out loud to see if you can recognize how your choice affects the intonation of the sentence and therefore fits the meaning the context calls for. When you're finished, check your version against the original in the exercise key section. But wait until you've made all your choices before going there!

Week 8 (2/21-2/23)

  • Topic: Syntax: Information Structure
  • Reading:
    • For Tuesday: Review the assigned sections of Kolln Chs. 5 & 6; get as far as you can into Finegan Ch. 8, pp. 269-279. It's going to be confusing; take notes on the different categories of information structure with examples alongside each category. Explain each to yourself before moving on to the next; then think about what makes each category different from the others (categories = given, new, definite, generic, etc.).
    • For Thursday: The rest of Ch. 8 of Finegan. This contains much of the same information as Kolln; but Finegan brings in more distinctions among various types of information.
  • Written homework:
    • For Tuesday:
      • Ex. 1 & 2 of these Metaphor Exercises.
      • As you read (or you can go cruising on the Web), look for three examples of any of the following: it-clefts, what-clefts, there-transformations, or passive sentences. Copy out the sentence with some of the context around it. Say what pragmatic purpose probably motivated the sentence – did s/he want to put something in focus position? It would be great if each example were of a different one of these.
      • If you can't get all this done, don't stress. Bring what you have on Tuesday to share with your classmates and hand in the finished product later.
    • For Thursday:

 

Week 7 (2/14-2/16)

  • Topic: Metaphor
  • Reading:
    • For Tuesday: On Blackboard: Lakoff & Johnson excerpt (Metaphors We Live By) all; Lakoff & Turner (More Than Cool Reason) to p. 26 (stop above "Shakespearean Complexities"). I have posted there a document that explains the basics of cognitive-linguistic theories of metaphor and metonymy. (I do not plan on including metonymy in this unit.) You may find it helpful to look at before you do the reading. Also, I have put up an example of a pretty full metaphorical mapping about anger. This metaphor is interesting because the logic of heating liquids in a container carries over so fully to degrees of anger -- this is what is meant by systematicity.
      • A note: in past teaching, I've found that one of the most confusing points of metaphor theory is keeping SOURCE and TARGET domains straight. A metaphor is a comparison disguised as an equivalency; you are my sunshine appears to equate the addressee with sunshine, but what is intended is a comparison of the effects of sunshine with the effects of the addressee. Sunshine is the SOURCE; the addressee is the TARGET. The equivalency rests in assigning characteristics of the SOURCE (sunshine) to the TARGET (the addressee). You can keep this straight by remembering that the word SOURCE names the thing that the important qualities are coming from. Part of the reason this is confusing is that metaphors are stated in the order TARGET IS SOURCE, both in the theory (PEOPLE [target] ARE PLANTS [source]) and, often, in everyday language (you [target] are my sunshine [source]).
    • For Thursday: Finish the Lakoff and Turner excerpt.

Written homework:

  • For Tuesday:
    • Try your hand at a Metaphor Hunt. Lakoff & Turner have a list of basic metaphors for a few target domains on p. 52. There is a very long list with very simple outlines of source and target domains on this page: Index of Lakoff Metaphors. The list may be overwhelming, so the best thing to do is find a couple of metaphors whose source domains seem very obvious and then search the index for that domain (which you can do with the search function; the list is alphabetical in order of target domain). Alternatively, you can search by the target domain of the metaphors you find and hope for the one that fits. Note: It can be very hard to "see" metaphors because they're so conventional that we don't notice them. Do a little reading of current media, keeping an eye out for any statement that can't be taken literally (like keeping an eye out) . Cliches are often metaphors, too. Any questions -- just write me!
  • For Thursday:
    • Kolln p. 93, #15. For each paragraph, identify the main topic, and list the bits of new information the author wants to impart. (Write this up.) Then revise the paragraphs, striving to keep the topic and any other known information out of focus position, and the new information in focus position. Don't be afraid to use passive voice, move adverbials around, or combine sentences. You can also use it-clefts and what-clefts to place focus, and pronouns could also come in handy. Then explain why you made the revision choices you made. Here's a model, using #4:
        • Topic: what causes the common cold
        • New information:
          • not getting chilled
          • not getting your feet wet
          • not weather in general
          • viruses cause colds
        • Revision: The common cold is not caused by getting chilled or getting your feet wet. It is viruses, not weather, that cause colds.
          In this revision, I moved by getting chilled or getting your feet wet into the predicate by making cold the subject. Then I used an it-cleft to put viruses in a strong focus position.
    • Kolln p. 113, #18. Try to revise each sentence in at least two ways. Write some notes on how the context would differ depending on the item you put in focus in each revision.
    • Develop a mapping for the short poem I mentioned once in class. It's by Margaret Atwood, and it goes like this:
      • You fit into me
        like a hook into an eye
        A fish hook
        An open eye
    • This poem opens with a particular portrayal of the common metaphor EMOTIONAL INTIMACY IS PHYSICAL CLOSENESS (or LOVE IS A PHYSICAL CONNECTION). But it soon corrects the reader as to the understanding of the "hook." Describe the mapping for the poem's metaphors (the one she seems to begin with and the one she ends with). How do you interpret the poem, based on these metaphors? Did Atwood deliberately deceive us? If so, why? Type up your mapping and your interpretation (no more than 2 double-spaced pages, please, back to back if possible).
      • I strongly encourage you to discuss this poem with others.
  • Here is a link to an exercise I set for ENGL 495; go down to the key. This presents a model metaphorical analysis of a poem.

 

 

Week 6 (2/7-2/9)

  • Topic: Syntax
  • Reading:
    • For Tuesday: Kolln, Ch. 5, these sections only: Reader Expectation, The Known-New Contract, and The Role of Pronouns.
    • For Thursday: Kolln Ch. 5, The Role of the Passive Voice and Other Sentence Inversions; Kolln Ch. 6, Sentence Rhythm, pp. 105-116.

  • Written homework:
    • For Tuesday:
      • "More Parsing Practice" nos. 1-8 ONLY. For nos. 1, 2, 5, & 6, take the analysis from the sentence level down to the phrase levels. For instance, the prepositional phrase into the very cold stream would have the following phrase structure: [into + the very cold stream], then [the + very cold + stream], then [very + cold]. There is a key for the sentence-level parse; I will try to create a key for the remaining today or tomorrow. Note that I use "verb phrase" in the sense of "predicate." This is common in linguistics.
      • Kolln pp. 74-75, Exercise 12. Explain your choice of punctuation (or lack thereof). Consider both grammar (sentence structure) and meaning (relation between the sentences).
    • For Thursday:
      • Kolln p. 79-80, Exercise 14. For nos. 2, 6, and 8, make two revisions, switching the foregrounding/backgrounding relationship. (Study the African bees example above the exercise -- the main clause foregrounds information and the dependent clause puts it into the background.)
      • Another exercise is on the way. Stay tuned.

 

Week 5 (1/31-2/2)

>>FIRST MA-STYLE TEST WILL BE HANDED OUT ON TUES., 1/31<<

It will be a take-home test which you will submit electronically. It will be due Tues., 2/7.

  • Topic: Syntax
  • Reading:
    • For Tuesday:
      • Kolln Ch. 3 - Remember my correction to Kolln's oversimplified description of verbs. On p. 39, she refers to progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive as tenses, but they are aspects, independent of tense. Note that the auxiliary verb (be for progressive and have for perfect) is what carries the tense in progressive and perfect expressions.
    • For Thursday: Kolln Ch. 4.
  • Written homework:
    • For Tuesday:
      • Kolln pp. 46-47, Ex. 7, A ONLY. What is odd about #4?
      • Do also the Group Discussion exercise, p. 47, as follows: a) Copy out the passive sentences; b) transform them into active voice. Then comment on any differences you perceive in force or communicative effectiveness. Here, keep in mind that the subject position in a sentence is usually used for the main topic of a text or for a subtopic, and that the predicate generally contains the important information a writer wants to give about the topic. For instance, from this perspective, what is the subtle difference between "governments are instituted among men" and "men institute governments"? A helpful exercise here is to read the excerpt aloud several times, monitoring where you voice naturally becomes emphatic. How important are those stressed words to the message of the text?
      • Challenge exercise on the meaning of tense/aspect expressions: study the Grudin text on p. 41. Grudin shifts from simple past to past progressive (was flooding), to pat perfect (had all but disappeared) back to simple past and then to past perfect again (had become). Visual the scene in slow motion. Which verbs move the action forward? How do the verbs tell you when different events (such as the water coming up through the grates) came into the narrator's awareness? Nothing to hand in on this, but jot down notes you can use in class to tell us your conclusions.
    • For Thursday:

Week 4 (1/24-26)

  • Topic: Syntax
  • Reading:
    • For Tuesday:
      • Kolln (Rhetorical Grammar) Ch. 1
    • For Thursday:
      • Kolln Ch. 2. Review the section in Finegan Ch. 2 on subcategorization in verbs. This notion is very closely related to sentence patterns, because it is the subcategorization properties of the verb that determines the possible patterns. Think about this as you read Kolln; what relationship do you see?
      • I strongly recommend that you use these documents of mine for help and additional explanation:
        • "Phrases" -- pay special attention to the "Complements" section of that document.
        • "Clauses" -- this also relates closely to sentence patterns. Try to match up the predicate roles described there with the patterns Kolln describes.
        • "Verbs" -- gives some terminology for talking about verbs in sentences.
  • Written homework:
    • For Tuesday:
      • Kolln Ch. 1 Exercises 1 (p. 9) and 3 (p. 17)
      • "Morphology Exercise"
      • "More Morphology Exercises"
      • Derivational morphology: Go to WordSpy.com. This is a site that collects new words. It is somewhat respectable in that it cites published uses of the words (unlike Urban Dictionary). It's fun to browse there! What I'd like you to do is look for examples of the various ways that new words are derived in English, such as compounding, blending, and so on. Find five examples, each illustrating a different means of deriving (that is, not all compounds or blends). Do not use the examples on the home page. Dive into the alphabet; each of your words should begin with a different letter. Give the meaning of the word (please don't copy and paste), identify which kind of derivation it exemplifies, and talk about how it is related to the component words or origin word(s). For example, the word furkid refers to pets who are as important to their owners as children are, or pets that childless people treat as though they were their children. It is a compound of fur and kid. Fur derives from the fact that the most common pets, such as cats and dogs, have hair or fur. Kids is an informal word for children. It is a metaphor; the pets are perceived to be similar to kids, are given the properties of kids and are to receive the same kind of care as kids.  [Here's a note I didn't talk about yesterday with respect to compounds: the second word is always what we call the head: it names the kind of object that the whole compound names. A race horse is a horse, not a race, and a horse race is a race, not a horse. The first word gives specifics about the second, a kind of modifier function.]
    • For Thursday:
      • A stylistics exercise! Click here for the exercise. It's an analysis of a short, humorous piece from The New Yorker in which the author engages in a particular kind of word play involving derivational morphology and certain fixed expressions like to hold a candle to someone. NOTE: The text of the piece is not very clear at the size it is in the document. It will become very clear if you keep zooming in.

 

Week 3 (1/19)

>>NO CLASS TUES., 1/17. – MLK DAY OBSERVED. TUESDAY FOLLOWS A MONDAY SCHEDULE<<

  • Topic: Morphology, cont'd
  • Reading: No new reading.
  • Written homework:
    • For Thursday:
      • Read my Web page on Parts of Speech (lexical Categories). Try your hand at the exercise there. Follow the test instructions exactly; rely on your judgments as to whether a word passes a test or not. Do not consult a dictionary. There is a key at the bottom of the page. IMPORTANT NOTE: Finegan’s tests for lexical category are not all accurate, and some of his categorizations are not those recognized by most linguists. For instance, very is not considered an adverb by most modern linguists. You should always use only the tests on my web page.
      • Find a short news report from a major newspaper such as the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times. Tell me the title and date of the article you choose. Find two examples of each kind of word described on pp. 41-46 of Finegan. If his description does not help, try to work by analogy -- find an example that looks like one of his examples and seems to have the same meaning/function. Put a question mark next to these if you feel unsure. As for subcategories, you need look only for subcategories of pronoun, both coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, and look for more than one determiner. Watch out for words that can function in more than one category, such as this, which can be both a determiner (this book) and a pronoun (this is what I’am looking for).
      • Finegan p. 71 2-8, a. ONLY. Recall our discussion in class of mental lexicon entries for affixes: we know not only what the suffixes mean, but also what kind of base they require. To translate, I formulated “rules” such as adjective + -ness > noun; Finegan’s version would be Adjective + -NESS —> Noun.
      • Finegan p. 75, 2.18. Ordinarily, we will not do problems about other languages in this class, but this one relates to our “nature of language” discussion. You don’t have to do part b. of this exercise. As for part a., just describe in words how the plural is formed in this language. You need a few notions: syllable, which, in this language is either a consonant followed by a vowel (ma of mafuli, le of valea), or a vowel alone (i of kai); penultimate syllable, which means the syllable before the last syllable in the word (in tomato, ma is the penultimate syllable; in sofa, so is penultimate). Once you have figured out what is going on, tell me which aspect of language, from Chapter 1, this data illustrates.

Week 2 (1/10-12)

  • Topic: Introduction to language wrap-up. Begin morphology.
  • Reading:
  • Written homework:
    • For Thursday: Finegan p. 69 Practice Exercise, all parts A-G. Use the web document for help if you are unsure of a definition. For this class, please type all homework whenever this is feasible. Try for double-sided as well. Thanks!

 

Week 1 (1/3-5) 

  • Topic: Introduction to the course. Introduction to language. Some social issues.
  • Reading:
    • For Tuesday: Finegan Chapter 1. The section on animal communication is not required.
    • For Thursday: Language policy readings stipulated below.
  • Written homework:
    • Below is a list of your names with the name of a state and a URL/link beside each. You are to go to the link and read that state's language policy. Then, read the material linked to the two links below. Note differences/similarities between your state's policy and those of South Africa and Australia. Ponder the language policy issue in terms of symbolic value (identity politics), practical necessities, and human rights. Then think through which aspects of these language policies you would favor or disfavor. Type up no more than 2 pages of organized notes (single-spaced) to bring to class and hand in. We will discuss your findings on Thursday.
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