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LANGUAGE and THOUGHT 85-421/721 Meetings: MW 10:30-12, Baker 340A Instructor: Brian MacWhinney, 254M Baker, 268-3793, [email protected] Office Hours: after class. I am also happy to receive email about anything. Prerequisites: either a basic course in Linguistics or a course in Cognitive Psychology – preferably both Topic: How language expresses thought Goals: The basic goal of the course is to understand the nature of language and how it expresses thought. This question can be unpacked into a set of 14 more specific questions. Our exploration is designed to address a series of key questions about language and thought: 1. Is language a unique Special Gift? 2. What is unique about human language? human thought? 3. How did language evolve? human thought? 4. What is the genetic basis for language? 5. Does genetics specify periods? 6. Does language reveal thought? 7. Does language shape thought? How? 8. Is the mind separate from the body? 9. How do we process language? 10. How do children learn language? 11. How do people learn second languages? 12. Are there language universals? 13. How do we deal with language variation? 14. How and why do languages change over time? 15. What are the practical consequences of understanding these issues? 1

Language and Thought Syllabus€¦  · Web view2017-11-27 · syntax, mental models, conversation, and discourse, as well as an examination of how these levels interact during processing

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Page 1: Language and Thought Syllabus€¦  · Web view2017-11-27 · syntax, mental models, conversation, and discourse, as well as an examination of how these levels interact during processing

LANGUAGE and THOUGHT 85-421/721

Meetings: MW 10:30-12, Baker 340A

Instructor: Brian MacWhinney, 254M Baker, 268-3793, [email protected]

Office Hours: after class. I am also happy to receive email about anything.

Prerequisites: either a basic course in Linguistics or a course in Cognitive Psychology – preferably both

Topic: How language expresses thought

Goals: The basic goal of the course is to understand the nature of language and how it expresses thought. This question can be unpacked into a set of 14 more specific questions.

Our exploration is designed to address a series of key questions about language and thought:

1. Is language a unique Special Gift?2. What is unique about human language? human thought?3. How did language evolve? human thought?4. What is the genetic basis for language?5. Does genetics specify periods?6. Does language reveal thought?7. Does language shape thought? How?8. Is the mind separate from the body?9. How do we process language?10. How do children learn language?11. How do people learn second languages?12. Are there language universals?13. How do we deal with language variation?14. How and why do languages change over time?15. What are the practical consequences of understanding these issues?

There are two major approaches to these issues: the earlier theory of Universal Grammar and the newer theory of Emergentism. We will review both, but elaborate the newer approach in more detail. Emergentism is based on three frameworks:

1. Competition theory relies on a Darwinian analysis of proliferation, competition, and natural selection. This theory can also be applied to the competition between linguistic forms and functions.

2. Structural analysis involves a decomposition of language skills into the recognized hierarchical levels of audition, articulation, lexicon, morphology,

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Page 2: Language and Thought Syllabus€¦  · Web view2017-11-27 · syntax, mental models, conversation, and discourse, as well as an examination of how these levels interact during processing

syntax, mental models, conversation, and discourse, as well as an examination of how these levels interact during processing.

3. Timescale analysis examines how processes that operate across years and decades mesh with neuronal processes that operate across milliseconds. Timescales can be classed into four groups:

a. Processing is what happens when we are talking and listening.b. Consolidation involves the memories and routines we form when talking

and listening.c. Social diffusion involves the spread of memes across social groups

through time.d. Genetic diffusion involves slow-term changes in population genetics.

Given this basic goal and analysis, we can state the course goals more specifically as:

1. The student needs to learn about alternative possible answers to these 15 questions and the evidence in support of each.

2. The student needs to understand how UG and Emergentism provide comprehensive answers to these 15 questions.

3. The student needs to understand the scientific, and analytic methods that are used to settle debates in this area and acquire new information.

4. Finally, the student should be aware of the practical use of these ideas for education, training, communication, intelligence, policy, marketing, and computation.

Textbook: Sedivy, Julie. Language in Mind: an Introduction to Psycholinguistics, Sinauer.

Readings: All readings and lectures can be downloaded from Canvas in PDF format. The names of the readings and lectures indicate the session for which they are relevant. For example 1b-hauser is the reading for session 1b and the lecture for that session is 1b-special. In addition to published articles, there are chapters I have written that align with the lectures.

At the beginning of the term, all 15 weeks of materials may not yet be available on Canvas. I will keep Canvas readings at least one week in advance of the current week. By the middle of the term, all 15 weeks should be up on Blackboard.

Mobile Devices: I would like to ask you not to open laptops, tablets, or phones in class. If you wish to take notes, please use paper and pencil. All of the lectures are online, so there should be no need to enter the content into new files.

Forum Postings and Presentations: I will configure Canvas forums for each day’s readings. Each student will be responsible for posting 2-4 questions for discussion at the forum for each day. For each day, I will assign a student to lead a 20-25 minute discussion of the questions at the beginning of each class session.

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Page 3: Language and Thought Syllabus€¦  · Web view2017-11-27 · syntax, mental models, conversation, and discourse, as well as an examination of how these levels interact during processing

Grading: Grades will be based on the total number of points earned during the semester. A: 90, B:80, C: 70, D: 60. The 100 available points will be distributed as follows:

Component Points DescriptionMidterm 20 MidtermFinal 24 Covers the whole course

Forum Reports 12 Each student will do two sessions

Exercises 30 5 exercises, 6 points eachClass Participation 14 Contributing to discussions

To receive full credit for the Participation component, a student will attend classes regularly, make Forum postings, and contribute to class discussions. It is not important to have the “right answers.” What is important is to ask interesting questions that suggest you have done the readings and thought about the relevant issues.

The 5 exercises will involve applications of ideas and methods from class to specific texts, recordings, or corpora. Grading on these exercises is based on the thoroughness of your analysis. University policy http://www.cmu.edu/academic-integrity/index.html prohibits plagiarism.

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Week Date Topic Articles1a Jan 13 Why is language interesting?1b Jan 15 Special Gift, UG2a Jan 20 Design Features, FLN2b Jan 22 Components3a Jan 27 Emergentist mechanisms3b Jan 29 Timeframes4a Feb 3 Evolution4b Feb 5 Whorf5a Feb 10 Audition5b Feb 12 Segmentation6a Feb 17 Articulation6b Feb 19 Phonology7a Feb 24 Production7b Feb 26 MidTerm8a Mar 3 Word Learning8b Mar 5 Word Learning9a Mar 17 Morphology9b Mar 19 Item-based patterns10a Mar 24 The Logical Problem10b Mar 26 The Logical Problem11a Mar 31 Fundamental Difference Hyp.11b Apr 2 Competition Model12a Apr 7 Unified CM12b Apr 9 SLA13a Apr 14 Perspective13b Apr 16 Perspective14a Apr 21 Neurolinguistics14b Apr 23 Neurolinguistics15a Apr 28 Disorders15b Apr 30 Gesture

 

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