Fayetteville State University

College of Arts and Science

Department of English
EDCU 301 Introduction to Linguistics
Spring 2015

FSU Policy on Electronic Mail: Fayetteville State University provides

to each student, free of charge, an electronic mail account
(username@broncos.uncfsu.edu) that is easily accessible via the Internet. The
university has established FSU email as the primary mode of correspondence
between university officials and enrolled students. Information from FSU or
FSU students pertaining to academic records, grades, bills, financial aid, and
other matters of a confidential nature must be submitted via FSU email. The
student is responsible for ensuring the mailbox remains available to receive
notifications. FSU is not responsible for issues related to notifications that are
not deliverable due to full mailboxes. Inquiries or requests from personal email
accounts are not assured a response.
Rules and regulations governing the use of FSU email may be found at
http://www.uncfsu.edu/PDFs/EmailPolicyFinal.pdf
II. COURSE DESCRIPTION:
An introduction to the inductive method of studying language, exploring the
phonological, morphological, and syntactical aspects of language, dialectical
variations, graphemics, sound, spelling, linguistic changes, bilingualism, field
linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, uses of linguistics, and related topics.
Prerequisits: ENGL 110 and ENGL 120
III. Disabled Student Services: In accordance with Section 504 of the 1973
Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ACA) of 1990, if you have
a disability or think you have a disability to please contact the Center for Personal
Development in the Spaulding Building, Room 155 (1 st Floor); 910-672-1203.
IV. Title IX Sexual Misconduct
Fayetteville State University (University) is committed to fostering a safe campus
environment where sexual misconduct including sexual harassment, domestic
and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking - is unacceptable and is not
tolerated. The University encourages students who may have experienced sexual
misconduct to speak with someone at the University so that the University can
provide the support that is needed and respond appropriately. The Sexual
Misconduct policy can be found at the following link:
http://www.uncfsu.edu/Documents/Policy/students/SexualMisconduct.pdf

Consulting with a Health Care Professional - A student who wishes to

confidentially speak about an incident of sexual misconduct should contact either of
the following individuals who are required to maintain confidentiality:
Ms. Pamela C. Fisher
Ms. Linda Melvin
Licensed Professional Counselor
Director, Student Health
Services
Spaulding Building, Room 165
Spaulding Building, Room 121
(910) 672-387
(910) 672-1454
psmith@uncfsu.edu

lmelvi10@uncfsu.edu

Reporting an Incident of Sexual Misconduct - The University encourages

students to report incidents of sexual misconduct. A student who wishes to report
sexual misconduct or has questions about University policies and procedures
regarding sexual misconduct should contact the following individual:
Ms. Victoria Ratlif
Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Students
Spaulding Building, Room 155
(910) 672-1222
vratlif@uncfsu.edu
Unlike the Licensed Professional Counselor or the Director of Student Health
Services, the Deputy Title IX Coordinator is legally obligated to investigate reports of
sexual misconduct, and therefore cannot guarantee confidentiality, but a request for
confidentiality will be considered and respected to the extent possible.
Students are also encouraged to report incidents of sexual misconduct to the
Universitys Police and Public Safety Department at (910) 672-1911.
V. TEXTBOOK
Denham, K. & Lobeck, A. Linguistics for Everyone. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
2010.
VI. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of this course, prospective facilitators of learning will be able to:
1) Recognize the diversity of language systems and their fundamental
similarities and constant change.
2) Recognize historical developments between and within languages (for
example, Old English to Present-Day English).
3) Employ IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols to diferentiate and
transcribe sounds.
4) Explain phonological rules.
5) Distinguish lexical categories and morphological structures.
6) Examine their beliefs and attitudes about language and language use.
7) Construct phrase structure diagrams (tree diagrams) to diferentiate and
transcribe sounds.
VII. Course Requirements and Evaluation Criteria
The final grade you receive in this course will be based on how well you have
completed the learning activities, examinations, and group activities. An average of

scores from these activities, credit for presentations, professional development

activities, and exams will determine your final grade.
1. Grading Scale:
900 - 1000 = A
800 - 890 = B
700 - 790 = C
600 690 = D
Below 590 = F
2. Attendance Requirements According to the Fayetteville State University
Undergraduate Catalog, "Class attendance is required for all students enrolled in
courses at the 100 and 200 levels. Class absences will be excused only when valid
documentation is provided for participation in university sponsored activities,
serious illness, and family emergencies." In regards to tardiness, the FSU Catalog
states, "Students are required to arrive at each class on time and remain in class
until dismissed by the instructor." It is important for you to attend class. I do not
accept makeup work for unexcused absences. Having poor attendance lowers your
grade for the course.
3. Graded assignments
Assignments
Percent
age of
Final
Grade
Homework Assignments will be given frequently; they give practice in
applying the principles studied in class and in analyzing particular linguistic
20%
phenomena. Worksheets and chapter exercises will be reviewed in class.
Students are required to correct any incorrect answers on their worksheet.
Midterm Exam will test knowledge of basic facts and concepts covered in
the first half of the course.

20%

Article Review: These short readings are from the PBS website
accompanying the series "Do you speak American?"
Carmen Fought, "Are Dialects Fading?"
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/tv/
J.K. Chambers, "Talk the Talk?"
http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/mediapower/media/
John Fought, "R-ful Southern"
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/southern/
John Fought, "Gatekeeping"
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/correct/gatekeeping/
Dennis R. Preston, "They Speak Really Bad English Down South and in
New York City"
http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/prejudice/attitudes/
Jim Quinn (1997), "Phillyspeak", The Philadelphia Citypaper, August
1421, 1997.
http://citypaper.net/articles/081497/article008.shtml

10 %

Linguistic Project Presentation: As we are working through the first five

weeks of the course, you should be thinking about a topic that you would
like to explore further for your linguistic project. The project will come under
one of the following general topic areas:
1. language and language acquisition

20 %

2. pragmatics, semantics, discourse (speech acts such as apologies;

discourse pragmatics)
3. language and society (regional dialects, ebonics; womens speech;
speech communities (e.g., childrens language)
4. language diversity (diferent languages, language change)
5. language and education (literacy, writing systems)
6. animal communication
7. other (lets discuss)
CLA-Style Posttest on April 14, 2015

10%
20%

Final exam will cover material from the entire course, with more emphasis
on the second half (since it is not included on the midterm).
Please note: If these evaluation criteria must be revised because of
extraordinary circumstances, the instructor will distribute a written
amendment to the syllabus.
4. Policy on Missed or Late Assignments: Late work is not acceptable unless
students have valid excuses that are submitted timely. In case of unforeseen
emergency, provide me with written, verifiable documentations as soon as possible
after your emergences.
5. Academic Dishonesty: According to the FSU Code of Student Conduct, a
student violates the Academic Dishonesty Policy if he or she attempts to cheat or
plagiarize, cheats (receiving unauthorized aid or assistance on any form of
academic work), plagiarizes (copies the language structure, ideas and/or thoughts
of another without giving appropriate recognition and/or adopting it as ones own
original work), falsifies (unauthorized changing of grades or conduct involving any
untruth, spoken or written, regarding any circumstances related to academic work),
or aids and abets others to cheat or plagiarize. Penalties include failing the course,
suspension, and expulsion, and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.
VI. Academic Support Resources Smarthinking
Learning Center
VII. Course Outline
Class
In Class Activities & Topics
Week 1 Course Expectations: overview, mechanics,
course policies and procedures; Course syllabus.
Chapter 1 What Is Language: The nature of
human language
Week 2 Chapter 2 Brain and Language
CLA- Style Pretest
Week 3 Chapter 5 Morphology: Morphemes, Rules of
Word Formation
Week 4 Chapter 6 Inflectional Morphemes /
Morphological analysis: Identifying Morphemes
Week 5 Chapter 7 Syntax: The Sentence Patterns of
Language
What the Syntax Rules Do/ UG Principles and
Parameters
Week 6 Chapter 8 Sentence Structure Review

and University College

Assignments due

Ch.1 Exercises
Worksheet #1
Ch. 2 Exercises
Ch. 5-6 Exercises
Worksheet #2

Ch. 7-8 Exercises

Week 7

Week 9

Chapter 9 The Meanings of Language: Lexical

Semantics
Chapter 9 The Meanings of Language:
Pragmatics
Midterm Exam
Midterm Break: No classes

Week
10

Midterm review
Chapter 3 Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics

Week
11

Chapter 3 Phonetics: IPA transcription

Week
12

Chapter 4 Phonology: The Sound Patterns of

Language: Phonological Rules

Ch. 3 Exercises
Worksheet # 5

Week
13

Language Acquisition: Stages in Language

Acquisition & Bilingualism
Language Processing: Human Language
Processing
Chapter 12 Language in society: Dialects
Chapter 14 Language Change:
Phonological/Morphological/Syntactic/ Lexical
change
CLA- Style Posttest
Linguistic Project Presentations

Ch. 4 Exercises
Worksheet #6

Linguistic Project Presentations

Final exam review

Linguistic Project due

Week 8

Week
14

Week
15
Week
16

Worksheet #3
Ch. 9 Exercises
Worksheet #4

Ch.12 Exercises

Linguistic Project due

Final Exam: May 7 (Thursday) 8 a.m.-9:50 a.m.

Note: As the instructor, I reserve the right to make changes, when
necessary, to this course outline.
XII. TEACHING STRATEGIES: Teaching strategies include the use of structured
overview, large and small group activities, individual and group projects, individual
oral presentation, reflections, structured overview, demonstration, discussion,
Internet research and reading.
XIII. Bibliography (Suggested Readings, Internet and/or Multi-media
Resources)
Alfano, Christine, and Alyssa OBrien. Envision: Persuasive Writing in a Visual
World. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.
Costanzo, William. The Writers Eye: Composition in the Multimedia Age.
Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. New
York: Cambridge UP, 1995.
Durkin, Diane and Lisa Gerrard. Seeking Common Cause: Reading and Writing in
Action. Boston: McGraw Hill. 2006.

Mayberry Katherine. For arguments sake. New York: Longman, 1999.

McWhorter, Kathleen. Successful College Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2006.
Langan, John. College writing skills with readings. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2001.
Kennedy X. J, et. Al. The Bedford guide for college writers. Boston: Bedford/ ST
Martins. 2005.
Sedley, Dorothy. Anatomy of English: An Introduction to the Structure of Standard
American English. New York: St. Martins Press, 1990.
Skwire, Sarah and David Skwire. Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric and Reader.
Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
Trent, Mary. Ethics in the 21st Century. New York: Longman, 2005.
Trimbur, John. The Call to Write. New York: Person Longman, 2007.
Webb, Igor. Ideas Across Time: Classic and Contemporary Readings for
Composition. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008.