Your second in-class quiz will be on Friday, October 12.  The basic format of the quiz will be just like the first one:  a handful of short-essay responses, requiring a paragraph or so of discussion, as well as a longer essay response.  It will cover the following topics, which we have encountered in class and in our readings:

• knowledge of English sound patterns (phonology)
• knowledge of English sentence patterns (syntax)
• empiricist vs. nativist views of language acquisition, and the “poverty of the stimulus” argument
• the structure of Universal Grammar (our topic for next Tuesday, Oct. 9 and Wednesday, Oct. 10)

Just as before, you won’t be responsible for memorizing some of the very specific facts that have been introduced in class (for instance, the exact form of our English phrase structure rules), but you should understand the larger conclusions regarding our knowledge of language and its acquisition that these facts served to illustrate (for instance, the importance of structural ambiguity and recursion).

Note:  since our discussion of English sound patterns (phonology) occurred some time ago, it will receive relatively little attention on the quiz, in comparison to our more recent class topics.

Note:  extra copies of all the class handouts can be found in the mailbox outside of my office door (621 Commonwealth Avenue, #110).

Finally, since next week’s holiday schedule obliterates my regular Tuesday office hours (for scheduling purposes, there will be no Tuesday next week), I will be holding make-up office hours on Thursday, October 11, from 4-6pm.