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Senior Seminar in Linguistics Linguistics 4001W, code # 3170, Senior Seminar in Linguistics, Spring, 2011
e-mail: renniegons@yahoo.com
General Description of the Course: This course will investigate certain fundamental issues regarding the structure of a theory of language as this has developed since the introduction of generative grammar in the middle of the last century. Using Ray Jackendoff's Foundations of Language (2003) as our guiding source, we will look at a variety of proposals as to how the components of a grammar of a language--its lexicon, phonology, syntax, and semantics-are pictured as combining and interacting with each other in a theory of the structure of language that can form the basis for answering certain foundational questions about language. These questions concern such issues as how the language faculty might have evolved in humans, how a language is acquired by children, how language is processed in the brain during the production and comprehension of sentences, and how language is used by individuals for communication in real world contexts. Assignments will include a midterm, a final, and a term paper. Required Texts (available at Shakespeare and Co., at 150 Campus Road): Participation: Students must attend regularly, arrive on time and must be prepared to participate, having done the assigned work. Participation will count for 20% of the overall grade for the course..
Assignments: There will be an open-book midterm. There will be an open-book final. There will be a short term paper.
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