UBC LING 101 Syllabus 2022 Jan to April PDF

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LING 101 004: Languages of the World

LING 101: Languages of the World (3 Credits) Instructor:

Gloria Mellesmoen ([email protected])

Office Hours:

Fridays 14:00-15:00 on Zoom

TA:

Michael David Schwan ([email protected])

TA Office Hours:

asynchronous via Canvas discussion board

Land Acknowledgement The land in British Columbia where we live, work, and learn is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of Indigenous communities with rich cultural and linguistic history. Reflect on where you are situated as you take this course and recognize the history of the land and the people who were there before you. (First Peoples’ Cultural Council is a good place to start learning about local languages and land in BC: https://maps.fpcc.ca/. If you would like to hear examples from local languages, check out https://www.firstvoices.com/.)

General Course Description A survey of the linguistic map of the world, examining how languages are genetically classified and how different languages evolve. Principles underlying different writing systems and the decipherment of historical documents. Issues of languages in contact, minority language endangerment, language death, and the role of English as a world language. Recommended but not required for an honours, major, or minor in linguistics or speech sciences.

Learning Outcomes Students will learn about the past, present, and future of languages of the world. At the end of this courses, students will demonstrate an understanding of linguistic diversity and typology from synchronic (current) and diachronic (historical) perspective. Students will also be able to explain factors that influence languages, including social context, language vitality, language revitalization projects, and writing systems. Students will be assessed on knowledge, understanding, and synthesis of the core themes of this course.

Prerequisites for LING 101 There are no pre-requisites for LING 101.

Assigned Readings and Course Material Most course content will be available in lecture slides, which will be posted shortly after each class. Students are also expected to read a Beginner’s Guide to Consonants (available on the Google Play store for $9.99). Exams and quizzes will cover material from lecture and the textbook. Information about how to access the textbook will be posted on Canvas under the Course Basics module. Optional readings may be posted on Canvas throughout the them.

Version: January 9, 2022

LING 101 004: Languages of the World

Course Delivery Lectures will be online (via Zoom) for the first two weeks of semester and then move to inperson lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays, with online lectures on Fridays. This shift will follow the official dates given for UBC’s return to in-person instruction and is subject to change. Until January 24* Online Lectures

Monday (13:00-14:00)

Zoom: Attendance Required

Wednesday (13:00-14:00) Zoom: Attendance Required Friday (13:00-14:00)

Zoom: Attendance Required

January 24 onwards* In-Person Lectures Monday (13:00-14:00)

ANGU 098: Attendance Recommended

Wednesday (13:00-14:00) ANGU 098: Attendance Recommended Friday (13:00-14:00)

Zoom: Attendance Required

Classes held on Mondays and Wednesdays will have a lecture format, and classes on Fridays will have more opportunities for discussion and participation. While attendance grades will come exclusively from online classes, attendance at inperson lectures is strongly recommended as there may be clarification or discussion of course content and assignments that in addition to the lecture slides. Lectures given inperson will not be recorded.

Course Structure Students will learn about cross-linguistic similarities and differences between languages throughout the term. The first half of the course focuses on the present and defines what counts as a language, who uses language, and what is found in across all human languages. In the first half of the course, we will focus on some of the social contexts that shape language, the relationship between languages and language families, and look at the different sound systems found across languages of the world. The second half of the course starts with the past and focuses on history of languages of the world and the type of changes that lead to present-day differences among languages from the same language family. Then, the course concludes on a more hopeful note by looking to the future: what can we do with language revitalization, institutional support/policy, and teaching to best support language vitality?

Version: January 9, 2022

LING 101 004: Languages of the World

Elements of the Class This course will broadly introduce students to topics in linguistic typology (with a focus on phoneme inventories), sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and language revitalization. The midterm and final are not cumulative: the midterm will cover the present topics (the Introduction, Social Context, and Typology Units), while the final will focus on the past and future topics (the Historical Development and Language Revitalization Units). Students are expected to know and understand the course content from the first half of the course, but questions on the final exam will be written based on the second half of the course. Attendance (6%):

Attendance at online classes is required and will count toward the final grade in this course. In each online lecture, students will be given a keyword to enter on a Canvas quiz that will be available from the beginning of lecture until half an hour after.

Discussion Posts (12%):

Students will provide four answer on the Canvas discussion board in reply to a given prompt. The prompt will be available throughout the week and direct posts are due before 11:59 at the time given on the syllabus.

Quizzes (18%):

Students are responsible for completing six timed quizzes throughout the term. These quizzes will be available from Wednesday until Friday at 11:59 PM on Canvas. As the quizzes are intended to be closed book, students will have a limited amount of time to complete the quiz once they have started.

Assignments (14%):

There are two assignments for this class, which are each worth 7%.

Midterm Exam (25%):

A midterm will be given following the first half of the course (the present of languages of the world). The delivery/format of this exam is subject to COVID-19 restrictions and will be finalized closer to the time depending on whether UBC has returned to in-person instruction.

Final Exam (25%):

There will be a final exam for this course that will be scheduled during the exam period. The exam will focus on the second half of the course (the past and future of languages of the world). This may be given as a take-home exam depending on the safety of in-person exams.

Version: January 9, 2022

LING 101 004: Languages of the World

Assessments and Grading 6%

Attendance

50% Exams 25% Midterm Exam 25% Final Exam 18% Quizzes (x 6)

12%

3%

Quiz 1: Languages and Language Families

3%

Quiz 2: Vowels and Writing Speech Sounds

3%

Quiz 3: Consonants, Prosody, and Phonotactics

3%

Quiz 4: Language Change, Part I

3%

Quiz 5: Language Change, Part II

3%

Quiz 6: Language Revitalization and Writing Systems

Canvas Discussions (x 4) 3%

Discussion 1: Dialects and Prescriptivism

3%

Discussion 2: Multilingualism

3%

Discussion 3: Heritage Languages and Language Revitalization

3%

Discussion 4: Writing Systems

14% Assignments (x 2) 7%

Sound System Assignment

7%

Language Change Assignment

Grading Scale A+

90%-100%

C+

64%-67%

A

85%-89%

C

60%-63%

A-

80%-84%

C-

55%-59%

B+

76%-79%

D

50%-54%

B

72%-75%

F...