Course information
Crosslinguistic Approaches to Acquisition, Spring 2019
(CAS LX 350, GRS LX 650)
| _ | _ |
|---|---|
| Meeting time | TR 3:30-4:45, CAS 321 |
| Instructor | Paul Hagstrom |
| hagstrom@bu.edu | |
| Phone | (617) 353-6220 |
| Office | 621 Commonwealth Ave., Rm. 105 |
| Office Hours | M 1-2; TR 2-3 (and by appointment) |
Prerequisite: CAS LX 250 (Introduction to Linguistics), or consent of instructor.
Course Description:
Human children acquire their first language(s) quickly and uniformly, yet not all languages are English. In this course, we’ll look at aspects of how both English and non-English languages are acquired, using our theoretical understanding of the adult languages to describe the development of language knowledge precisely and gain insight into how differences in the target languages shape the acquisition process. We’ll look closely at learnability and models of language acquisition in terms of parameter setting, current ideas on what parameters are and how they might be set. We’ll review studies and methodologies used to test hypotheses about acquisition, and design some of our own. Topics will include major results in syntax, semantics, morphology, and their interaction, as well as some exploration of innovation and creolization, acquisition of signed languages, and the relation between early first language acquisition and later second language acquisition. Throughout the course, emphasis will be on using the tools of theoretical linguistics to describe and understand what develops during acquisition, and on using results from the acquisition of a wide range of languages. The results will reveal what developmental diversity there is—as well as the intriguingly extensive areas of commonality across languages.
Learning objectives
Students completing this course will:
- Gain an understanding of the complexity of language acquisition
- Gain an understanding of the diversity of languages and how this diversity informs our understanding of language acquisition
- Learn a broad sample of influential results and hypotheses that inform the field’s current understanding of the process of acquiring language
- Learn how to use existing corpora (such as the CHILDES database) to test hypotheses in acquisition
- Gain understanding of how first language acquisition compares to second language acquisition, and the effect of age on the process
Course Requirements
Readings. Readings will be assigned to be read prior to most class sessions, to be read beforehand. Students registered for GRS LX 650 will have additional readings (often the entire paper, for which only excerpts are required for CAS LX 350, but sometimes additional related readings).
Homework. Weekly homework assignments, two of which are lab assignments studying corpora using computer applications. Students registered for GRS LX 650 will have an additional weekly assignment pertaining to the readings.
Midterm exam. There will be an in-class midterm around the middle of the semester.
Presentations. (GRS LX 650 only) Students registered for GRS LX 650 will give three presentations: During the course of the semester, two brief (15-minute) presentations of a paper on the topic being covered, and a presentation (20 minutes) of the final project, during the last week.
Final exam. (CAS LX 350 only) There will be a final exam at the normally scheduled time during finals period.
LX 350 will do the final paper as well and little presentation, as with GRS LX 650.
Final paper. (GRS LX 650 only) Students registered for GRS LX 650 will not have a final exam, but will instead draw from the course material to propose a hypothetical future study, specifying what the field could hope to learn from the study and the implications each of the potential results would have, backing it up using work from the literature covered in class or related works. A brief proposal and outline will be due two weeks before the end of classes.
Electronic communication
We live in an electronic age. You (unlike me) have always lived in an electronic age. You are expected to be reachable via your BU email address. The central communication center for the course is the course blog. Announcements, notes on readings, homework errata, and other information will be posted there on a regular basis, and things that are posted there will be assumed to have been communicated. Homework assignments can be sent (whenever feasible, and unless otherwise indicated) by email, or handed in on paper. It is your responsibility to ensure that electronically submitted material is in a readable format—if there is a question (for example, if you use a special font or an obscure word processor), send it early for verification. Unreadable submissions do not count as having been handed in.
Readings
There is no textbook for this course; the readings will be usually in the form of articles or chapters from various books.
Grading Scheme
| Homework (lowest dropped) | 40% |
| Midterm exam | 25% |
| Final exam (LX 350) / final paper (LX 650) | 25% |
| Regular attendance, participation | 10% |
CAS/GRS Academic Conduct Code
It is essential that you read and adhere to the CAS Student Academic Conduct Code. Graduate students must also follow the policies of the GRS Academic Conduct code.
https://www.bu.edu/cas/current-students/undergraduate/academic-conduct-code-2/
https://www.bu.edu/cas/files/2017/02/GRS-Academic-Conduct-Code-Final.pdf