Schedule of topics

Structure of Japanese · Fall 2023

Highlighted items are future plans that may be subject to adjustment.

Tuesday
Thursday
[outline] Aug 22 | intro
Intro to course:
Japanese and linguistics
[outline] Aug 24 | phonetics
Vowels of Japanese
Consonants of Japanese
Aug 29
Class cancelled
[outline] Aug 31 | phonology
Mental sound patterns
Japanese vs. English phonology
Sept 5
WELL-BEING DAY
[outline] Sept 7
Segmental phonology:
Rules and "exceptions"
[outline] Sept 12
Pitch accent
[outline] Sept 14
Prosodic categories
Sept 19
Guest lecture:
Onomatopeia and teaching Japanese
[outline] Sept 21 | morphology
Phonology: Wrap-up
Structure of words; V and A morphology
[outline] Sept 26
Verb morphology and phonology
[outline] Sept 28
V morphology, cont.
Diagnosing word class: N, AN, A
[outline] Oct 3
Online tools for linguistic analysis
Syoonagon, OJAD
[outline] Oct 5
Compounds and rendaku
[review] [outline] Oct 10
Review for exam
Oct 12
Midterm exam
[info] [outline] Oct 17 | projects
Final project information
Designing project materials
Oct 19
FALL BREAK
[outline] Oct 24 | sociolinguistics
In-group/out-group; politeness dimensions
Language, gender, and identity
[outline] Oct 26
Thematic roles, case
Verbs of giving and receiving
[outline] Oct 31 | syntax
Sentence structure
Constituents and trees
[outline] Nov 2 (Article summary Th Nov 2)
Subcategorization; empty categories
"Double ga" sentences
[outline] Nov 7
Flexible word order/configurationality
Implications for syntax
[links:DSyll] Nov 9 (Topic proposal M Nov 13)
Workshop: Project planning
[outline] Nov 14 | semantics
Tense and aspect
[links:DSyll] Nov 16
Workshop: Project methodology
(Methodology plan M Nov 20)
[outline] Nov 21 | discourse (etc.)
The topic marker wa
Nov 23
THANKSGIVING
Nov 28 | historical ling/dialects
Reconstructing phonology
Nov 30
Differences among Japanese dialects
Is Japanese related to any other languages?
Dec 5
Project presentations (LING grad students)
Course summary and conclusions

** Final exam period (presentations): F Dec 8, 12-3pm **