This schedule will be a work in progress essentially until the final begins. Do not rely on the printed copy; instead, consult this page (http://ling.bu.edu/blogs/lx500f10/schedule/ ). Homework will generally be assigned on Thursdays and due on the following Thursday. The readings in the Readings column are those that pertain to the lectures that week.
| Date | Topic | Handout | Homework | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Sep 2 |
Introduction, language classification | 1 info | Survey | O’Grady et al. (1997, ch. 9, sec.1-2), Pinker (1994, ch. 8) |
| Tue Sep 7 |
Word order universals | 2a | Dryer (2007, sections 1-5 and 14) | |
| Thu Sep 9 |
Word order in noun phrases | 2b | HW1 | (Cinque 2005) |
| Tue Sep 14 |
Color terms and vowels | 3a (extra figures) | (Berlin & Kay, 1969; Crothers, 1978) | |
| Thu Sep 16 |
Adverb ordering | 3b (and Malagasy, and English) | reflect on universals |
(Cinque 1999) |
| Tue Sep 21 |
Antisymmetry and syntax | 4a | (Kayne 1994, Whitman 2001) | |
| Thu Sep 23 |
Noun phrase accessibility hierarchy, second language acquisition | 4b | HW2 | (Keenan & Comrie 1977, Doughty 1991) |
| Thu Sep 28 |
Ergativity | 5a | (Johns 1992, Mahajan 1997) | |
| Tue Sep 30 |
have, be, possessives, and locatives | 5b | HW3 | Harley, Richards |
| Tue Oct 5 |
Artificial language learning | 6a | (Nevins 2010) | |
| Thu Oct 7 |
Creoles | 6b | ponder universals |
(Bickerton) |
| Tue Oct 12: Monday schedule, no class | ||||
| Thu Oct 14 |
Indefinite and interrogative pronouns | 7 | Read Bencini (2003) | (Bhat 2000) |
| Tue Oct 19 |
Typology of question formation | 8a1 8a2 | Bencini 2003 | |
| Thu Oct 21 |
Question particles and wh-in-situ | 8b | “Midterm” | (Cheng 1997, ch. 2) |
| Tue Oct 26 |
First language acquisition: tense/case/agreement | 9a | (Wexler) | |
| Thu Oct 28 |
Sentence processing | Phillips et al. (2003) | No homework |
(Phillips et al. 2003, Babyonyshev & Gibson 1999) |
| Tue Nov 2 |
Syllable structure | 10a | (Prince & Smolensky, Blevins) | |
| Thu Nov 4 |
Stress assignment | 10b | No homework |
(Hagstrom 1997) |
| Tue Nov 9 |
Unaccusativity | (Levin & Rappaport Hovav 1995; Perlmutter & Postal 1984) | ||
| Thu Nov 11 |
Successive cyclic movement | 11b | meditate on universals |
(McCloskey) |
| Tue Nov 16 |
Semantic universals | (von Fintel & Matthewson 2008) | ||
| Thu Nov 18 |
Argument structure | HW7 | (Hale & Keyser) | |
| Tue Nov 23 |
Ehe, the project | 13 | No reading | |
| Thu Nov 25: Fall recess, no class | ||||
| Tue Nov 30 |
Agreement, concord | 14a | Final project |
(Baker 2008) |
| Thu Dec 2 |
Invented languages | 14b | (Okrent 2009) | |
| Tue Dec 7 |
Negation | 15a | Dahl | |
| Thu Dec 9 |
Outlook | 15b | Baker | |
| Semester ends | ||||