Ling 620 -- Course objectives, requirements, and grading




Class Meeting Time and Location: 
MW 2:30-3:45 pm
Honors Residence Hall (HRH) B119

Description:

The main focus of this course is, of course, syntactic theory, and the readings and discussion pursued in this class are aimed at helping its participants to understand the fundamentals of a syntactic theory. This is important, whether or not your ultimate research goals include syntax as a major component.  Since all linguistic expression involves sentences and/or phrases, and since these have structure, it is important to know both what syntactic theory can tell us about linguistic knowledge as well as what it cannot.  If your specialization is language acquisition, then you must necessarily be concerned with the acquisition of grammar.  If it is historical linguistics, then you must understand how grammar works in order to understand how it changes.  If your focus is discourse, pragmatics, or conversation, then it is important for you to know which aspects of communication are determined by grammatical structure and which are not. (Enrollment in Ling 620 is restricted to graduate students.)
 

Outcomes - Students successfully completing this course will:

1. Understand the applications of syntactic analysis
2. Gain further understanding of the fundamental principles of syntactic theory
3. Be able to distinguish between theoretical claims and the formalisms used to express them
4. Develop a critical understanding of linguistic (syntactic) argumentation

Grading:

Grading distribution: 
Graded homework assignments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%
Midterm exam  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15% 
Posting of Class notes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15% 
Participation (questions/comments) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15% 
Class presentation of problem solutions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
Final exam   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15% 
Grading scale (verbal): 
A    =  excellent, extraordinary, exceptional, exemplary
B+  =  very good, commendable, admirable, praiseworthy
B    =  good, acceptable, adequate, passable, ok
C+  =  not graduate level
C    =  unsatisfactory
Grading scale (numerical):
A   =  92.0 - 100.0
B+ =  88.0 - 91.9
B   =  82.0 - 87.9
C+ =  78.0 - 81.9
C   =  72.0 - 77.9
D+ =  68.0 - 71.9
D   =  62.0 - 67.9
F   =  61.9 or below

Policies and requirements:

Attendance and punctuality —
Attendance is a requirement in this course. Although there is no specific penalty for missing a class, you will be held responsible for the content of every lecture and for knowing about assignments. If you should need to miss a class, be certain to check with me (the instructor) to ascertain whether you will be missing a quiz or assignment. If you should miss a class or arrive late, be sure to find out what you missed. It is very important that you come to class on time. Failure to do so is disruptive and impacts negatively on the rest of class.

Exams —
All exams will require the use of “blue books”, and it is your responsibility to bring them to the exam. A missed exam receives a grade of “0". There will be no make-ups given in the case of missed exams.

Homework assignments —
It is your responsibility, whether you are present or not, to be aware of due dates and times for assignments. An assignment can only be accepted for a late grade if it has not been reviewed in class. Late assignments (when accepted) will be lowered one-half of a letter grade for each day late (including weekend days). Homework that is not accepted late (check to find out) will not be graded, and will receive a “0".

Readings —
The schedule of readings is provided in your syllabus. It is your responsibility to have already read the material being discussed in class on any given day.

Participation (questions/comments) —
To facilitate the reading and class discussion, students are required to submit at least one discussion question or comment prior to each lecture, based on the readings for that lecture. These must be received before 8:00 a.m. on the day of the lecture. Discussion questions and comments received after that are welcome and may also be posted, but will not receive credit toward a grade in this requirement.

Taking notes —
Students will take turns taking and posting notes for each lecture. The rotation will be determined alphabetically, with two students assigned to each lecture. An MS Word version of the lecture notes must be submitted for posting two days following the lecture (i.e. lecture notes for a Monday lecture are due on Wednesday and lecture notes for a Wednesday lecture are due on Friday). Each student will take notes three times during the semester.

Presentation of problem sets —
Each student will present the solution for one problem set to the class. This will require that the problem set be written up and either copied or projected to screen. Students will volunteer to do this, first come/first served.