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Bar Ilan University
English Department
LINGUISTICS
Course Descriptions for 2010-11
184.
Introduction to Linguistics
The course begins from a perspective of general intellectual curiosity and expects to instill
an understanding of modern scientific linguistics. Topics include: brain and language,
morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, phonetics, phonology, language acquisition,
bilingualism, language processing, computational linguistics, reading, sociolinguistics,
language and aging, and translation. The main goal of the course beyond the content
material is to improve skills in written composition
286.
Phonetics and Phonology
Introduction to the study of systems and patterns of sounds and structures in human
languages.
287.
Syntax
An introduction to the generative approach to understanding sentence structure. Elements of
syntactic analysis are introduced: constituents and tree diagrams, X-bar theory,
complements and adjuncts, theta roles and the theta criterion, movement and the Dstructure/S-structure distinction. This course provides the tools to understanding the source
of phenomena such as structural ambiguities and the formation of interrogative sentences.
289.
Semantics
This course is an introduction to Semantics, i.e. to a theory of meaning in natural language.
We will develop a theory of Semantics within the Chomskian framework of generative
grammar. The theory we will focus on is formal (or – model theoretic) Semantics, which
gives interpretation to natural language expressions by using formal tools of logic and
philosophy of language, and which has proved to be extremely productive in accounting for
a wide variety of semantic phenomena. Among other things, this theory will enable us (a) to
“understand what we understand” in a precise and noncircular way, (b) to systematically
predict the meaning of complex expressions on the basis of the meaning of their parts (c) to
account for semantic productivity (the fact that we can create and understand the meaning
of sentences we never hear before) (d) to account for a variety of other semantic phenomena
such as entailment, synonymy, contradiction, semantic ambiguity, semantic infelicity,
presuppositions, etc.
440..
Technical, Professional and Business Writing
This course is an attempt to help our students who are getting degrees in English to gain
further writing skills that will help them get jobs and make their degrees more attractive.
468.
Spelling Acquisition
The seminar will review current models of spelling acquisition with focus on English.
Further, with a cross-linguistic lens, it will address cross-linguistic differences in
orthographic structure and linguistic structure and their effect on spelling development in
different languages. The relationship between reading and spelling development will be
addressed.
500.
First Language Acquisition
The course will focus on the process of first language acquisition across languages,
explaining various phenomena (such as the acquisition of word order, inflections and
subordination) from the different theoretical perspectives: developmental psycholinguistics
on the one hand and the generative (nativist) theory on the other hand. The course will also
give some insight to research methodologies used in this field.
509.
Language and Evolution
The course aims to give both a broad overview and detailed analyses of the most important
theories on the evolution of the brain and its ability for language - motor, cognitive and
environmental theories. The course will cover new comparisons between communication in
apes and monkeys and ethological studies of communication and language of humans,
which bring quite new insights. In addition it will briefly cover the development of
language in children for further comparison. Finally the course examines data on the
evolution of language ability in birds and non-primate mammals which contradict many of
the accepted models. Using the insights gained from all these approaches, the final aim is to
reach a plausible new synthesis for a scenario on the evolution of language in humans.
517.
Methodology/Research Methods in Linguistics
The course provides background in research methodology, literature searches, statistics,
academic publishing.
522-1
Psycholinguistics
The course examines two main questions about the mind. The first is how children acquire
language. Two main views about language acquisition will be discussed: the nativist
(generative) and the empiricist approaches (in which we may include the connectionist
approach, and the neural networks approach).
The second question is how language is processed in the mind. Several models will be
discussed that deal with such a question. In an attempt to answer both questions, the course
will provide insight to research methodologies used in the field.
529.
Sociolinguistics
The purpose of the course is to explore facts about language use in social contexts. Main
topics of interest and some practical methods of sociolinguistics will be introduced.
569.
Linguistics of Literacy
The course will address foundational issues in the linguistic processing of print. In
particular, it will focus on the relevance of linguistic structure, linguistic units, and
linguistic representations in the acquisition of word reading and spelling. The course will
also provide a cross-linguistic perspective on the interaction between linguistic structure
and the processing of printed words in different languages.
585.
Applied Linguistics
Applied linguistics uses linguistic theory to deal with real- world problems, mainly
educational ones.
The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the major topics in the field of applied
linguistics: Bilingualism, first and second language acquisition, learning strategies, teaching
methodologies, language education.
586.
Advanced Phonology
(Prerequisite 286)
A continuing course which will deal with more abstract representations of speech sounds as
well as the patterning and grouping of speech sounds into larger organizational units such as
syllables. This course will present more formal devices such as rules and constraints to
describe linguistic processes and larger sound systems.
587.
Advanced Syntax
(Prerequisite 287)
Introduction to the central components of modern syntactic theory: functional projections in
X-bar theory, Theat theory, Casetheory, Binding theory, locality and movement. Abstract
notions such as empty categories (PRO,trace) and levels of representations are developed,
with the goal of arriving at a systematic theory of syntax that can not only describe the
language but also explain why it has the observed properties. Prerequisite: Grammatical
analysis (287).
589.
Advanced Semantics
(Prerequisite 289)
This course is a continuation of “Introduction to Semantics” (289). I.e. it assumes
knowledge of basic Predicate Calculus (PC) and ability to translate English expressions
(with combinations of e.g. negation, disjunction, implication, universal and existential
quantification) to PC, and vice versa.
In the present course we will extend and improve the basic theory so (a) it is much more
systematically compatible with the principle of compositional interpretation and (b) we are
able to translate and define the meaning of more interesting constructions in English. We
will look at Frege’s idea of functional application, the theory of semantic types, different
types of modifiers, generalized quantifiers theory, etc.
591.
Meaning and Use: Foundational Topics
This course is an informal introduction to essential semantic and pragmatic conepts
underlying linguistic analysis including definiteness, intensionality, counting and
measuring, reference and quantification. It is intended not only as a background for students
wanting to continue in semantics but also crucially for students wanting to pursue other
areas of linguistic research for whom familiarity with these concepts is essential.
851.
Fascinating Adverbials
This seminar will deal with the semantics and pragmatics of several adverbials in English,
and their (sometimes apparent) correlates in Hebrew and other languages, like simply and
just ("pshut"), merely("stam"), really("mamash" and "beemet"), basically /roughly speaking
("begadol", "ba-klali"), the Hebrew davka (no real correlate in English) etc. We will look at
ways to derive the variability of observations concerning the interpretation, felicity, focus
sensitivity and context dependence of such adverbials from a unified definition of their
semantics and pragmatics. This kind of examination will involve a study of more general
questions concerning the division of labour between semantics and pragmatics, the precise
characterization of scales, the nature of the interaction between intonational focus and
interpretation etc. Such questions will be examined in light of recent theories concerning
presuppositions, gradability and vagueness, context update etc.
872.
Features in Syntax
Grammatical features, such as number, gender, person and tense, play a central role in all
contemporary approaches to syntax. This seminar focuses on some of the central issues
related to features in syntactic theory, such as: analyzing agreement and its relation to other
components of the grammar; feature geometrics and asymmetries in feature values; the role
of morphosyntactic features at the syntax-semantics interface; and alternative views of the
notion feature' itself and the kinds of feature values allowed by the grammar of human
languages.
875.
Linguistics of Narrative
The study of narrative in linguistics has become a subfield in its own right, nurtured by
research across the humanities (literature, philosophy) and social sciences (psychology,
sociology). This seminar casts a wide net on the study of narrative, looking at structural
approaches such as Story Grammars (Stein & Glenn 1979), work in Systemic Functional
Linguistics (Martin & Rose 2008) as well as more functional/integrated approaches (Labov
1967, 1972, 2001) and Berman ("Ravid & Berman 2009). Narratives allow one to
investigate multiple linguistic levels, particularly: lexis, grammar, discourse. In addition,
they ground language use in the speaker's social world, where the pragmatics is an umbrella
for linguistic features. Participants will analyze narrative data and write research papers
based on: immigrant and minority narratives from English- Hebrew –Yiddish bilingual
aphasics and Russian-Hebrew schizophrenics; retelling of familiar and unfamiliar stores
among English-Hebrew and Russian-Hebrew bilingual preschool children; and children's
Holocaust testimonies.
876.
A Cross Linguistic Approach to Counting and Measuring: The Grammar of Classifier
This course is an exploration of the syntax and semantics of counting and measuring
constructions cross-linguistically. We assume that the conceptual distinction between
counting and measuring is independent of language, and explore the mechanisms that
different languages use to represent these operations linguistically.
877.
Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics of Sentence Processing
Humans assign structure and meaning to sentences on the fly, under conditions of great
uncertainty. In this class we will present current models of human on-line sentence
processing, and discuss recent findings that bear on these models. We will cover two classes
of empirical data: (a) Psycholinguistic experiments, using methods such as self paced
reading and eye tracking; (b) Neurolinguistic experiments, which utilize state-of-the-art
brain imaging methods including ERP, MEG and MRI. We will discuss the mutual
contribution between these two streams of studies and the theoretical and empirical benefit
in combining psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic perspectives in the study of language
processing.
922.
Psycholinguistics and Research Methods for Graduate Students
The course will focus on clinical aspects of psycholinguistics with a strong emphasis
on language acquisition and language impairments (both developmental and acquired). The
course will discuss both theoretical and empirical issues from different theoretical
perspectives: developmental psycholinguistics, the generative (nativist) theory and the
connectionist perspective. The course will explore methodological issues related to
experimental design and statistical analysis of findings.
975.
Challenges to Language Acquisition: Bilingualism and Language Impairment
The course compares the process second language acquisition by sequential bilingual
children with and without Specific Language Impairments, and that of monolingual children
with SLI. The discussion will be limited to theoretical issues focusing on the acquisition of
morphology and syntax by the three groups.
981.
Language and Psychiatry
The relationship between language and psychiatric disorders, based on systemic theory,
theoretical issues and the analysis of texts.
987.
Introduction to Syntax/Semantics
This course gives the basics of syntactic and semantic theory within generative
(Chomskian) semantics. In the syntax part we will develop tools to account for a variety of
syntactic phenomena (such as ungrammaticality, ambiguity, infinite structures, etc.). We
will look at the notion of syntactic constituents and use tree diagram representations to
capture syntactic structures. In the semantic part we will learn how to use formal tools
(adopted from logic and philosophy of language) to build compositional interpretations of
complex expressions, and to account for semantic phenomena such as semantic ambiguity,
infelicity, entailment, contradiction, tautology, etc.
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