41 - 50 of 151 results for: LINGUIST

Through readings and discussion, we will focus on two questions in this seminar:nn(1) Is the balance of top-down versus bottom-up information different when processing careful vs. casual speech?nn(2) What provides more information to a listener - Half of a clearly-articulated word, or an entire reduced word?nnThis is not a project-based seminar, but the seminar is linked to an ongoing research project, and we will use that project to ground how a researcher might go about addressing the above questions. We will refer to our in-progress project to provide concrete examples of (a) testable, theoretically-grounded hypotheses, (b) appropriately matched methods/design, (c) benefits/costs of different types of statistical methods, and (d) supported vs. speculative accounts. The seminar is heavily based on reading and discussion, but will be supplemented by the practical issues associated with a related project. At the end of the seminar, students will have a basic understanding of the literature related to the topic, what gaps/inconsistencies exist in that work, and how to pursue those gaps, if interested. A research proposal is required at the end of the quarter.

Introduction to phonological theory and analysis based on cross-linguistic evidence. Topics: phonological representations including features, syllables, metrical structure; phonological processes including assimilation and dissimilation; and phonological typology and universals; Optimality Theory.

A comparison of Stratal OT, Transderivational OT, and rule-based approaches, primarily on the empirical basis of stress, syllable structure, and prosodic organization. Course may be repeated once.

Principles of versification from a linguistic point of view. Traditional and optimality-theoretic approaches. The canonical system of English metrics, and its varieties and offshoots. The typology of metrical systems and its linguistic basis. The ideology of normative prosodic discourse in relation to changing poetic practice.

Word formation and the lexicon: empirical generalizations and theoretical approaches. Lexicalist and Distributed Morphology. How words are built and interpreted: constituency and headedness, morpheme order and scope, the mirror principle, bracketing paradoxes, the hierarchy of functional categories. Paradigms, blocking, gaps, periphrasis, syncretism. Locality, head movement vs. selection, constraints on allomorphy, incorporation, polysynthesis, cliticization and prosodic re-ordering phenomena.

The roles of the verb and the lexicon in the determination of sentence syntax and their treatment in modern grammatical theories. Empirical underpinnings of core phenomena, including the argument/adjunct distinction, argument structure and argument realization, control and raising, operations on argument structure and grammatical function changing rules. Motivations for a lexicalist approach rooted in principles of lexical expression and subcategorization satisfaction. Prerequisite: 120 or permission of instructor.

The nature of unbounded dependency constructions and their treatment in modern grammatical theories. Filler-gap dependencies, island constraints, and the relation between grammar and processing. Prerequisite: 222A.

May be repeated for credit.

Linguistic meaning and its role in communication. Topics include ambiguity, vagueness, presupposition, intonational meaning, and Grice's theory of conversational implicature. Applications to issues in politics, the law, philosophy, advertising, and natural language processing. Those who have not taken logic, such as PHIL 150 or 151, should also enroll in 130C. Pre- or corequisite: 120, 121, consent of instructor, or graduate standing in Linguistics.