This page lists the course readings for the Spring 2005 offering
of Linguistics 001: Introduction to Linguistics at the University
of Pennsylvania (click for the syllabus or schedule).
Most weeks include a chapter from The Language Instinct by Steven
Pinker (the course textbook). The remaining readings are available as web
links.
- Many of these are pdf files, for which you will need the free
Acrobat
Reader. Some are copyrighted, in which case you are permitted to use
them only for the purposes of this class and cannot distribute them to
others.
- For public web pages, the main link is given as "html";
but if that server happens to be down when you try to access it, archived
copies (without images) can often be found under the "alternate"
link.
Most of these online readings will be posted only as the semester progresses,
so be sure to check this page every week. If you don't have the password
for course materials — the same one used to read the lecture notes
— contact your TA.
Jump to readings for week 1 - 2 -
3 - 4 - 5 - 6
- 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
- 11 - 12 - 13 - 14
Week 1
- The Language Instinct, chapter 1 (pp. 1-11) and chapter 12 (pp.
382-418).
- Geoffrey K. Pullum and Rodney Huddleston (2002), The Cambridge Grammar
of the English Language, chapter 1, pp. 2-13: "Prescriptivism,
tradition, and the justification of grammars", with adjacent material.
[pdf]
- Henry Churchyard (no date), "Singular 'their' in Jane Austen and
elsewhere". [html;
alternate]
- Charles Fillmore (1997), "A Linguist Looks at the Ebonics Debate",
Center for Applied Linguistics. [html;
alternate]
Week 2
- The Language Instinct, chapter 2 (pp. 12-43).
- Harry Markowicz (2001), "American Sign Language: Fact and Fancy."
Gallaudet University. Read the 7 myths linked on the page; the remainder
is optional but recommended. [html;
alternate, in one page]
- Gregory Hickok, Ursula Bellugi and Edward S. Klima (2001), "Sign
Language in the Brain", Scientific American, June, 58-65.
[pdf]
- Ann Senghas, Sotaro Kita, and Aslı Özyürek (2004), "Children
Creating Core Properties of Language: Evidence from an Emerging Sign Language
in Nicaragua", Science, September 17, 1779-1782. [pdf]
Optional:
- Howard M. Lenhoff, Paul P. Wang, Frank Greenberg and Ursula Bellugi
(1997) "Williams Syndrome and the Brain", Scientific
American, December, pp. 68-73. [pdf]
- John Horgan (1995) "A sign is born: Language unfolds among
deaf Nicaraguan children", Scientific American, December,
pp. 18-19. [pdf]
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
- The Language Instinct, chapter 4 (pp. 74-118).
- Beatrice Santorini and Anthony Kroch (2000), The syntax of natural
language: An online introduction using the Trees program.
Week 6
- The Language Instinct, chapter 5 (pp. 119-152).
- Anderson, Stephen R. (2003), "Morphology", vol. III, pp. 78-83.
Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, MacMillan. [html]
Week 7
- The Language Instinct, chapter 7 (pp. 190-230).
- Geoffrey K. Pullum and Rodney Huddleston (2002), The Cambridge Grammar
of the English Language, chapter 1, pp. 33-41: "Semantics, pragmatics,
and meaning relations". [pdf]
- The lexical semantics of "May we come in?" [html]
- The following short discussions, from The MIT Encylopedia of the
Cognitive Sciences (MITECS), require a PennKey for access if you're
not using a campus computer; or click on the alternate link:
Week 8
- The Language Instinct, chapter 3 (pp. 44-73).
- Terry Au (2001), "Language and thought", MITECS. [html;
alternate]
- Paul Kay (2001), "Color categorization", MITECS. [html;
alternate]
Week 9
Week 10
- These short readings are from the PBS
website accompanying the series "Do you speak American?"
- Connie Eble (2005), "Sociolinguistics Basics" [html]
- Carmen Fought, "Are Dialects Fading?" [html]
- J.K. Chambers, "Talk the Talk?" [html]
- John Fought, "R-ful Southern" [html]
- Matthew Gordon, "Vowel Shifting" [html]
- John Fought, "Gatekeeping" [html]
- Dennis R. Preston, "They Speak Really Bad English Down South
and in New York City" [html]
- Dennis Baron, "The Legendary English-Only Vote of 1795"
[html]
- Labov, William (1995), "The case of the missing copula: The interpretation
of zeroes in African-American English". In L. R. Gleitman and M.
Liberman (Eds.), An Invitation to Cognitive Science, Volume 1: Language,
25-54. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2nd edition. [pdf,
screen-readable only]
- Jim Quinn (1997), "Phillyspeak", The Philadelphia Citypaper,
August 14–21, 1997. [html;
alternate]
Week 11
- The Language Instinct, chapter 9 (pp. 265-301).
- Lila Gleitman and Paul Bloom (2001), "Language Acquisition",
MITECS. [html;
alternate]
- Marina Nespor (2001), "Acquisition of Phonology", MITECS.
[html;
alternate]
- Paul Bloom and Lila Gleitman (2001), "Acquisition of Word Meaning",
MITECS. [html;
alternate]
Week 12
- The Language Instinct, chapter 10 (pp. 302-339).
- Nina F. Dronkers (2001), "Neural Basis of Language", MITECS.
[html;
alternate]
- Michael S. Gazzaniga and Jeffrey J. Hutsler (2001), "Hemispheric
Specialization", MITECS. [html;
alternate]
- David A. Swinney (2001), "Aphasia", MITECS. [html;
alternate]
Week 13
- The Language Instinct, chapter 11 (pp. 340-381).
- Marc D. Hauser (2001), "Primate Cognition", MITECS.
[html;
alternate]
- Juliane Kaminski, Josep Call, and Julia Fischer (2004), "Word Learning
in a Domestic Dog: Evidence for 'Fast Mapping' ", Science,
June 11 (vol. 304), pp. 1682-83. [pdf]
- Paul Bloom (2004), "Can a dog learn a word?", Science,
June 11 (vol. 304), pp. 1605-06. [pdf]
- Ray Jackendoff (1999), "Possible stages in the evolution of the
language capacity", Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3.7, 272-279.
[pdf]
Supplemental:
- Morten H. Christiansen and Simon Kirby (2003), "Language evolution:
Consensus and controversies", Trends in Cognitive Sciences
7.7, 300-307. [pdf]
Week 14
- The Language Instinct, chapter 13 (pp. 419-448).
- Kenneth Wexler (2001), "Innateness of Language", MITECS.
[html;
alternate]
- Donald Brown (2001), "Human Universals", MITECS. [html;
alternate]
Supplemental: