24.900  Introduction to Linguistics

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24.900  Introduction to Linguistics

Fall 2016

Instructors: Adam Albright, Amy Carleton, Janis Melvold

TAs: Rafael Meghani Abramovitz, Verena Hehl, Masa Mocnik, Sophie Moracchini, Dmitry Konstantinovich Privoznov, Milena Sisovics

Lecture:  MW 11:00am-12.30pm  (4-370 ***NOTE CHANGE***)
Recitation 1:  F 9-10am  (56-162)
Recitations 2-3:  F 10-11am  (56-162, 66-156)
Recitation 4-5:  F 11am-12pm  (56-162, 66-156)
Recitation 6:  F 1pm-2pm  (56-162)

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 2, 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:

• Pinker, Steven (2014) The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Viking.

• Baker, Mark (2001) The Atoms of Language: The Mind's Hidden Rules of Grammar. Basic Books.

In addition, there is one optional textbook:

• O'Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, and Rees-Miller (2010) Contemporary Linguistic Analysis: An Introduction. 6th edition. MacMillan.

The O'Grady text contains readings on additional topics that we won't have time to cover in class, but no assignments or test material will require owning the book. There will be additional required readings posted to the materials section of the course website on Stellar.

OCW archive available

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