24.900 Introduction to Linguistics
Fall 2012
Language is more orderly than this building, but just as unexpectedly spectacular.
Instructor: David Pesetsky
TAs: DaeYoung Sohn, Coppe van Urk, Gretchen Kern, Michelle A Fullwood, Snejana Petkova Iovtcheva, Hadas Kotek
Lecture: MW1-2.30 (32-155)
Information:
This class will provide some answers to basic questions about the nature of human language. Throughout the course, we will be examining a number of ways in which human language is a complex but law-governed mental system.
In the first two thirds of the class, we will study some core
aspects of this system in detail. In the final part of the class,
we will use what we have learned to address a variety of other
questions — including how language is acquired, how dialects arise,
how languages change over time, and others.
Announcements
Papers, grades and thanks
Dear 24.900 students,Thank you for being a *great* class. I also want to thank our valiant TAs DaeYoung, Snejana, Coppe, Gretchen, Michelle and Hadas -- and our great writing advisors Janis Melvold, Amanda Sobel, and Robert Irwin.
The comments on your final paper have now been posted on Stellar (and the final grades are in as well). If any of you want to look at your final exams, just let me know and we can arrange a time for you to come by in January. And if you ever want to come and talk about linguistics some more, January is a great time to do that as well.
Have a wonderful break!
-David
Announced on 21 December 2012 9:59 p.m. by David Pesetsky
Language Acquisition lecture notes typo
One of you just wrote me:"In the language acquisition lecture notes, one bold point on page -2- says "Perception/knowledge lags behind production", but there are two points on the page before that says the exact opposite, does production take a lead against perception in this time or is this a contrasting view?"
My apologies! Production lags behind perception/knowledge. Little kids always know more (and perceive more) than they produce. The section heading on page 2 is backwards. Sorry!
-DP
Announced on 18 December 2012 10:08 p.m. by David Pesetsky
Final Exam time & place
Here are the details on the time and place of the final exam:Location: du Pont
http://web.mit.edu/registrar/classrooms/exams/rooms/duPont.html
Wednesday, December 19
1:30PM - 4:30PM
tip: It may be cold in the room, so bring something warm.
Announced on 18 December 2012 7:34 p.m. by David Pesetsky
three small mistakes on the final exam review sheet
In the review session just ended, three mistakes in the review sheet were pointed out (one of which I actually fixed before the session). I will try to fix these in the on-line version tomorrow, but meanwhile, here they are:Phonology section, first bullet under "best advice": I should have included the term "minimal pair" somewhere in that list.
Semantics section, page 3, right column second bullet: "definite article 'there'" should be "definite article 'the'". (I actually fixed this, so if you're downloading now, it's fixed.)
Historical section, page 4, top: "Know the amusing (and true!) story of animal vs. meat names in Middle English." I didn't actually get to this in class (though it's in the lecture notes, and fun too) -- and I intended to delete it when I revised this study guide from an earlier version. Just ignore this bit for final exam purposes.
-DP
Announced on 16 December 2012 8:46 p.m. by David Pesetsky
bring to the final exam review ...
I've found it helpful if you bring to the final exam review a way of looking at the various lecture notes I've posted: laptop, tablet or print-out - whatever is convenient for you.Word of warning in advance: the content of these reviews is in *your* hands. I will boringly and methodically mention each topic in turn, and point out things that you might want to spend extra time on - but it's up to you to ask me questions and bring up problems.
This is not a time to ask me *interesting* questions that go beyond the class. Feel free to e-mail me those, or come by and talk. (I'd love to chat over IAP if you have more questions about linguistics.) My idea is to have an efficient and practical final exam review, so you can get back to your other studying (or creative procrastinating) -- and I will do my best to keep us on track.
Since the times and rooms seem to have scrolled off Stellar, here they are again:
DATE: Sunday, December 16, 2012
TIME: 7:00 p.m
ROOM: 32-155 (our regular classroom)
DATE: Tuesday, December 18, 2012
TIME: 5:30 p.m
ROOM: 32-141 (not our regular classroom)
NOTE THAT THE TIMES ARE DIFFERENT ON THE TWO DAYS!
-DP
Announced on 16 December 2012 9:11 a.m. by David Pesetsky
