Monday, Week 4

Today we talked some more about phonetics:

HEL-31Jan

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(Once the recording starts playing, if you click on any place in the written notes, the recording will move to that place and start playing.)
Remember questions 4-8 are due in class on Wednesday.

Friday, Week 3

We continued talking about phonetics.

For a standard IPA chart (for all languages, not just English), check here:
http://www.cog.jhu.edu/courses/325-F2004/ladefoged/course/chapter1/chapter1.html This chart is particularly useful, because it allows you to click on a sound to hear a recording of it.

The first homework assignment is questions 4-8 pp. 27-8, due in class on Wednesday, 2 February.

For those who have not been able to get the textbook yet, check your e-mail.

Wednesday, Week 3

Today we started to discuss phonetics. We talked about the structure of the vocal tract. We discussed places of articulation, manners of articulation, and voicing.

Monday, Week 3

We continued to work through from PIE to Old English, using this presentation.

Assignment: Read chapter 2 in HEL. The first written assignment will be given on Friday, to be due next Monday.

Monday, Week 3

Just a note: Visit the BBC language timeline to get a brief overview of what this class will be looking at.

Friday, Week 2

Class canceled Friday.

Review the materials going over what we talked about in class on Wednesday, available here.

Read chapter 2 in A History of the English Language, that should help with your understanding of some of what we talked about on Wednesday. We'll be looping on some of this and discussing it in detail next week.

A useful resource is the companion website for A History of the English Language. I recommend visiting it and taking a look around.

Wednesday, Week 2

We discussed language families and language change. We began working through Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (add the pdf linked here to back up your notes).

Friday, Week 1

We finished discussing universal properties of language. Then we moved on to synchronic variation, registers, accents and dialects. We talked about geographic and social dialects and about synchronic variation as the seedbed for diachronic change.

Wednesday, Week 1

We continued discussing what language is.

Monday, Week 1

I've corrected the syllabus.  If you already have a copy, then you should download the new version. Notice on the corrected syllabus, the first week of readings are the first chapter of A History of the English Language and the introduction to The Stories of English.

We discussed the syllabus and course requirements in general for both 454 and 554.  Then we began working on what language is.  Click here to see the presentation we started today.

Before the First Week

Welcome to English 454 and English 554!

The course syllabus is available here for English 454 and here for English 554.

Please fill out the student information form below before the end of the first week of classes.