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24.900  Introduction to Linguistics

Fall 2017

Instructors: Adam Albright, Rodger LeGrand, Janis Melvold, Michael Schandorf

TAs: Colin P Davis, Yadav S Gowda, Verena Hehl, Nicholas Steven Longenbaugh, Elise S Newman

Lecture:  MW11-12.30  (4-163)        

Course information: 

Description

This course will provide some answers to basic questions about the nature of human language. Throughout the semester, we will be examining a number of ways in which human language is a complex but law-governed mental system.
During the first two-thirds of the semester, we will examine various aspects of linguistic structure: the structure of words (morphology), the organization of sounds (phonetics, phonology), word order (syntax), and the meaning of sentences (semantics). You will use what you learn to investigate the structure of a language that is unfamiliar to you. We will then look at how linguistic structure influences and is affected by language transmission: how is language acquired? how do languages change over time? how do new dialects and languages arise?

Enrollment and waitlist information

This is a CI-H class, so you must register using the CI-H enrollment system (enrollmenttools.mit.edu). If you would like to take the class, but didn't get placed in via the initial lottery on September 1, don't lose hope! In our experience, we have usually been able to find space for just about everyone who wants to add the class. Put yourself on the waitlist and come to the first lecture, and we'll try to find space for you. Note that even if the waitlist looks long on-line, there's still a good chance we can find space for you! Just let us know that you're still interested, and we'll do our best to get everyone in.

Textbooks

There are two required books for this class:

Announcements

Two quick reminders

Hi all,
Here are two quick reminders as we reach the final stretch:

- If you have taken any extensions to turn in assignments this week, the last date to submit them is tomorrow (Wed, the last day of class)

- The final exam is on Monday (12/18) from 1:30-4:30 in duPont Gym

Tomorrow in lecture, I'll provide a brief summary of topics to help remind you what the final covers, as well.
Best,
--Adam

Announced on 12 December 2017  1:55  p.m. by Adam Albright

Moving office hours to Thursday 3-4pm

Hi everyone,

I will be shifting my office hours from tomorrow to Thursday 12/14 from 3-4pm! (office 32D-866) Feel free to come by with questions.

Good luck with your last week of classes!
Elise

Announced on 11 December 2017  9:34  p.m. by Elise S Newman

Paper 3 grading rubric posted, for your reference

Hi all,
This is just a quick reminder that Paper 3 (a short research proposal) is due on Friday, along with presenting your brief (~3 min) elevator pitch in small groups in recitations.

I've posted a copy of the criteria that we'll be using to evaluate the written proposal, for your reference. One thing to notice about it is that a substantial portion of the grade is based on the organization of the proposal: is it focused on a specific problem/question, does it provide enough background to explain why this is an interesting question, does it provide a hypothesis, explain how it will be tested, and make a prediction about the results?

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know.
Best,
--Adam

Announced on 28 November 2017  2:50  p.m. by Adam Albright

A phonetics study guide

Hi all,
I've just posted a few slides in the "Phonetics" portion of the Stellar site, pulling together a few handy reference diagrams and tables from the phonetics unit. This does not contain any new information, but just gathers the IPA charts and terminology for places of articulation, in case that's handy.
Best,
--Adam

Announced on 07 November 2017  6:23  p.m. by Adam Albright

The plan for the next couple weeks

Hi all,
As announced in lecture yesterday, here are the things to keep in mind for the next couple weeks:

1) Assignment 5 (posted) involves collecting the rest of the data for your analytical description (paper 2, part 2). It's due next Tues, 11/7. We're aiming to have feedback on that and on part 1 of the paper to you by the end of next week, so you can incorporate it into the paper.

2) Next Wednesday (11/8) we'll have the quiz during lecture on phonetics and a bit of syntax (movement). The quiz will take about half of lecture, and it will be shorter than quiz 1. It will be graded similarly to the homeworks (check grades for completing it to a modest standard). The goal is to give you a chance to see how you stand on this material, so you can gauge what you need to know for the final, which will be graded by points.

3) Paper 2, part 2 is due Friday, November 17. The assignment for this is already posted, too, so you can look ahead and see what you'll need to do. This should be useful as you decide what to collect for Assignment 5.

As always, if you have any questions, just let us know!
Best,
--Adam

Announced on 02 November 2017  9:03  a.m. by Adam Albright

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