KnowledgeBase:Syllabus Archive
English 293 The Structure of the English Language: Phonology Kirk Hazen Fall, 1999 Home
The Structure of the English Language: Phonology

Instructor: Dr. Kirk Hazen
Office: 331 Stansbury
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 1-3
Email: khazen2@wvu.edu
Phone: 293-3107x414

Purpose: The purpose of this course is to direct you in rigorously studying the structure of language in general and the English language in particular. We will focus on the phonological system during this semester.

Goals:
1. Confront the assumptions of traditional prescriptivism.
2. Develop respect for human language.
3. Develop a non-patronizing respect for diachronic and synchronic language variation.
4. Understand the modern concepts of the mental grammar.
5. Understand the process of scientific inquiry with respect to language.
6. Understand the nature of linguistic argumentation.
7. Acquire skills in phonetic transcription.
8. Acquire analytical skill in phonology.
9. Understand the modern concepts and debates in phonological theory.

Sources: Kenstowicz, Michael. 1994. Phonology in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. (Available for purchase at Stilwell's book shop).

Attendance: There is no attendance policy for this course. I believe that the course, the exams, and the material will be interesting and difficult enough to keep you in class in order to learn and pass.

Advice: If you feel lost or even the slightest bit confused, contact me. Email me or come by during office hours. If you cannot make office hours, we can set up a time to talk. The quicker you get your questions straightened out, the better off you will be.

Web Assistance: This course has supplemental material linked through the student portal site at http://www.as.wvu.edu/~khazen/. The course is listed on the WebCT page. Every student will receive a user name and a password. This site should be used for discussion of homework problems, quizzes, and useful linguistic links. The system gathers for me what pages you look at, how long you spent on each page, your quiz grades, and your discussions. I expect you to use these resources.

Grades: HOMEWORK: Homework will be due every Tuesday. The homework will come from the book and from online quizzes. Homework assignments are due on their due date. Your grade will be adversely affected if you turn your homework in late. The homework will consist of either linguistic problems or short papers.

EXAMS: There will be 3 exams in this class. The first two will be regular tests and then the final will come during finals week. The final exam will be cumulative. Each one will probably consist of identifications (i.e. define and give an example), problems to solve, and short answer questions. There will be no graded quizzes in this class (although the online quizzes will count as homework).

THE NUMBERS:
Homework (cumulative) 30%
First Exam 20%
Second Exam 20%
Final Exam 30%

In this class I assign pluses and minuses. The official percentages are 100-97 = A+; 96-93 = A; 92-90 = A-; 89-87 = B+; 86-83 = B; 82-80 = B-; 79-77 = C+; 76-73 = C; 72-70 = C-; 69-67 = D+.

Workload: I expect everyone to have the reading done for each class period. I also expect you to complete the assigned exercises. The workload may appear unwieldy at times, but the time involved will greatly benefit your education in this class.

PRELIMINARY CLASS PLAN

Phonetics: (2 week)
Chapters 1, 4 (parts)

Rules, Representations, Alternations, and Derivations: (3 weeks)
Chapters 2 and 3

Lexical Phonology: (2 weeks)
Chapter 5 (parts)

The Syllable: (2 weeks)
Chapter 6 (maybe parts)

Autosegmental Phonology: (2 weeks)
Chapter 7 (parts)

The Phonological Skeleton: (2 weeks)
Chapter 8 (parts)

FREE!! Added Special Bonus FREE!!
Optimality Theory Lecture

 

Unless otherwise noted, items published by the Center for Literary Computing are copyrighted by the authors and may be shared in accordance with the Fair Use provisions of U.S. copyright law. Redistribution or republication on other terms, in any medium, requires express written consent from the author(s) and advance notification of the publisher.
Go To Top