Learning activities

Each week in this course, there will be asynchronous (self-paced) learning activities. These include one or more short learning assignments, which are graded pass/fail, to help you check your understanding of the new material.

Unless otherwise specified, learning activities become available here on Mondays or Tuesdays, and learning assignments are due on Sakai by Thursdays at noon (Eastern time) [compare Eastern to your time zone].

Current learning activities and assignments

For W Nov 11 (open Tu Nov 10 – Th Nov 12)

• Read: 1111.1 What to remember about language / Linguistics research today
• Watch: Why language is humanity's greatest invention (David Peterson (creator of the High Valyrian language from Game of Thrones), TEDx Berkeley; 14:25)

• Learning assignment: Post to the Sakai Discussion Forum 11.11 Final thoughts and respond to this question: What is one fact about human language you have learned in LING 101 that you did not know before? | due Th Nov 12 by 11:55pm

Past learning activities and assignments

For W Aug 12 (open Tu Aug 11 – Th Aug 13)

• Read: Course information and policies document
• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "08.12a Syllabus Quiz" | due Th Aug 13 by noon EDT
  • LA 08.12a questions as PDF for review

• Read: 0812.1 Grammaticality judgments
• Watch: The Significance of Linguistic Profiling (John Baugh, TEDx Emory) up to time point 3:37 (stop at "As we move ahead...")
  • The whole video is only about 18 minutes long — watch it all if you are interested!
• Read: 0812.2 Mental grammar and language diversity
• Watch: Hark the Sound of Dialect Diversity at UNC-Chapel Hill (9:39)
• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "08.12b Grammaticality & lg diversity" | due Th Aug 13 by noon EDT
  • LA 08.12b questions as PDF for review

For W Aug 19 (open Tu Aug 18 – Th Aug 20 W Aug 26)

• Watch: An MRI video of a person speaking (YouTube) — just watch and try to get a sense of how quickly the articulators move
  • After he stops speaking, you can also see him swallow
  • For fun: Can you tell what language this is?
  • MRI = magnetic resonance imaging (similar to X-ray, but without radiation)

• Read: 0819.1 English consonants: Symbols to know
• Listen: Links to audio files illustrating IPA symbols are included in the slide set above
  • The web site used for this is the clickable IPA chart from the book A Course in Phonetics
  • That web site may ask you for permission to access your microphone — this is not necessary for listening to sound examples

• Read: 0819.2 English consonants: Properties to know
• Watch: Links to MRI videos files illustrating IPA symbols are included in the slide set above
  • The web site used for this is from the Speech Production and Articulation Knowledge Group, USC

• Read: 0819.3 American English vowels: Symbols and properties to know
• Listen: Links to audio files illustrating IPA symbols are included in the slide set above
  • The web site used for this is a clickable English vowel chart from the book A Course in Phonetics
  • That web site may ask you for permission to access your microphone — this is not necessary for listening to sound examples

• Watch: Play the first video again and see if you can recognize the properties of the consonants and vowels that you hear!
  • Can you see the velum open and close for nasal and oral sounds?
  • Can you see the lips move for labial sounds or round vowels?
  • Can you see the tip/blade of the tongue and the body of the tongue form constrictions?
  • Can you see which vowels are higher/lower, more front/more back?

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "08.19 IPA symbols and sound properties" | due W Aug 26 by noon EDT
  • LA 08.19 questions as PDF for review

For W Aug 26 (open Sa Aug 23 – M Aug 31)

• Watch: Three optional videos to keep you thinking about linguistics
  • An overview of linguistics as language science
    "Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain" - Steven Pinker (50:01 min) | YouTube
  • One practical application of linguistics in real life
    "Forensic Linguistic Profiling & What Your Language Reveals About You" - Harry Bradford at TEDx Stoke (13:36 min) | YouTube
    • Bonus: Hear this British English speaker use the "different to" construction several times!
  • An excerpt from a documentary about the Cherokee language, discussing the Cherokee verb classifier system
    "Cherokee grammar" - NC Language and Life Project at NCSU (1:27 min) | YouTube

For W Sept 2 (open Tu Sept 1 – Th Sept 3)

• Watch: "German Coast Guard - Lost in Translation" (YouTube, 0:40 sec)

• Read: 0902.1 Sounds in predictable environments
• Read: 0902.2 Natural classes; stating allophone environments
• Read: 0902.3 Phonological rules

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "09.02 Phonology" | due Th Sept 3 by noon EDT
  • Data set to use for learning assignment: Predictable or unpredictable environments?
  • LA 09.02 questions as PDF for review

For W Sept 9 (open M Sept 7 – Th Sept 10)

• Read: 0909.1 Word-structure puzzle: Swahili verbs
• Play: Swahili matching puzzle (Quizlet)

• Read: 0909.2 Morphology: The structure of words
• Play: How many morphemes? (Quizlet)

• Read: 0909.3 Morphological analysis: What we can learn from plural nouns in English

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "09.09 Finding morphemes" | due Th Sept 10 by noon EDT
  • CL exercise to use for learning assignment: Exercise 3 in Ch 4, p 155
  • Data set to use for learning assignment: Plurals in Hungarian
  • LA 09.09 questions as PDF for review

For W Sept 16 (open Tu Sept 15 – Th Sept 17)

• Read: 0916.1 Derivation and inflection
• Play: English — Inflectional or derivational morpheme? (Quizlet)
  • As a matching game
  • As flash cards
• Read: 0916.2 Compounding and other word-formation processes

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "09.16 Types of morphemes" | due Th Sept 17 by noon EDT
  • LA 09.16 questions as PDF for review

For W Sept 23 (open Tu Sept 22 – Th Sept 24)

• Check (if you haven't already): Answers to the practice X' trees in the lecture outline from M Sept 21
  • Be sure to check your understanding of the X' schema and phrase/sentence trees before moving on
  • Always remember to review the lecture outline from Monday after class, every week!

• Read: 0923.1 Constituents
• Watch: Substituting Constituents (Caroline Heycock, University of Edinburgh) - up to timepoint 7:50 (stop when she gets to "WH questions")
  • Discussion and examples of the movement test for constituency applied to different types of phrases
  • Demonstrates that movement examples often need a context of contrasting information to sound natural

• Read: 0923.2 Complement options and clausal complements
• Watch: No Clause for Alarm (Moti Lieberman, The Ling Space) - up to timepoint 4:05 (stop when he gets to relative clauses)
  • Discussion of CPs and embedded clauses (embedded sentences)
  • This video uses "DP" instead of "NP" in trees; don't worry about that difference

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "09.23 XPs, constituents, and complements" | due Th Sept 24 by noon EDT
  • LA 09.23 questions as PDF for review

For W Sept 30 (open Tu Sept 29 – Th Oct 1)

• Check (if you haven't already): Answers to the practice X' trees in the lecture outline from M Sept 28

• Read: 0930.1 Movement (1): Inversion
• Try it: Can you analyze the structure of this yes-no question? (Step-by-step trees)

• Read: 0930.2 Movement (2): WH movement
• Read: 0930.3 Do insertion

• Watch: "LING 101: How to draw syntax trees - Part 6 | Diagramming questions" by Caleb Hicks for Carolina Courses Online (15:05)
  • Warning: This older UNC-CH LING 101 video was written to go with an older edition of the CL textbook
  • The main difference is that our "TP" phrase is called "IP" here — don't let this label switch confuse you

• Try it: Questions in embedded sentences (This puts a few of our newer syntax ideas together)

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "09.30 Modifiers and syntactic rules" | due Th Oct 1 by 11:55pm
  • LA 09.30 questions as PDF for review

For W Oct 7 (open Tu Oct 6 – Th Oct 8)

• Midterm exam
  • In Sakai Tests & Quizzes
  • Open Tu Oct 6 12:00 noon – Th Oct 8 11:55pm (EDT)
  • Once you begin, you have 3 hours to complete the exam
  • Schedule of instructor availability by email (for asking questions during exam)
    • You are welcome to email any instructor, not just your recitation TA
    • You might want to plan when to take the exam based on when you can get questions answered
  • Midterm information and review guide

For W Oct 14 (open Tu Oct 13 – Th Oct 15)

• Read: 1014.1 Semantics: Sentence meaning relations
• Read: 1014.2 Pragmatics: Presupposition
• Play: How are these sentence meanings related? (Quizlet)

• Read: 1014.3 Pragmatics: Maxims of conversation
• Watch: Grice's Maxims of Conversation, by THUNK (8:16)

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "10.14 Semantics and pragmatics" | due Th Oct 8 by 11:55pm

For W Oct 21 (open Tu Oct 20 – Th Oct 22)

• Read: 1021.1 Social factors in language variation
• Watch: Code-Switching, from the documentary Talking Black in America (Language & Life Project, NCSU, 3:54)

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "10.21 Sociolinguistics" | due Th Oct 22 by 11:55pm

For W Oct 28 (open Tu Oct 27 – Th Oct 29)

• Read: 1028.1 L1 acquisition of morphology
• Watch: A classic "wug" test experiment demonstration, featuring original "wug" researcher Jean Berko Gleason (1:06)
• Watch: An amateur "wug" test (4:44, but just watch a few trials to get the idea – the image turns right-side up by 0:15)
  • Shows some of the pitfalls of child language experiments!
  • This child is a little younger and doesn't have adult-like responses to all items (she also seems to lose interest)

• Read: 1028.2 L1 acquisition of syntax
• Watch: A syntax acquisition experiment on Wh Movement (Linguistic Society of America, 3:25)

• Read: 1028.3 Some factors that do not explain L1 acquisition

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "10.28 L1 acquisition" | due Th Oct 29 by 11:55pm

For W Nov 4 (open Tu Nov 3 – Th Nov 5)

• Read: 1104.1 Genetically related languages and comparative reconstruction
• Watch: Recovering History (Moti Lieberman, The Ling Space, 9:25)
• Watch: Grimm's Law and the Regularity of Sound Change (Jackson Crawford, 10:37)

• Learning assignment: Complete the Sakai T&Q "11.04 Genetically related languages" | due Th Nov 5 by 11:55pm