PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (830:351:01/615:371) Fall 2007
(Last Updated 11/20/07)
Prof.
Karin Stromswold Course
time: Mon & Thurs 10:20 -11:40 am
E-mail: karin@ruccs.rutgers.edu Course
location: SEC 210
Phone: (732) 445-2448 Office hours: Thur 2-3 pm, Psych 233
Course website: http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/351syllabus.htm
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
LECTURE
NOTES/READINGS. The syllabus now has links to all available lecture
notes and out-of-print readings.
See the Key Concepts section
REVIEW SESSIONS. There
will be an in-class review session on December 10th. Please bring questions.
FINAL EXAM. The final exam is a cumulative, multiple-choice exam
(no essay option) worth 65 points. As per the vote of the class, the final exam will have 75
questions. Approximately 35% of
the questions on the final will cover material from the first 1/2 of the course
and approximately 65% of the questions will cover material from the second 1/2
of the course. The exam will be held in the regular classroom on December 18th,
12-3 pm.
MAKE-UP FINAL EXAMS. Students who cannot make the regularly scheduled final exam
because of exam conflicts etc. must tell me no later than December 10th
EXTRA CREDIT. Extra
credit assignments must be handed in no later than December 10th. No late extra credit assignments
will be accepted. For more
information on how to earn extra credit, see the section on ÒExtra CreditÓ
below.
FINAL GRADES. All studentsÕ grades will be calculated two ways, and students will get the better of the two grades. The first method is based on your cumulative performance in the course (i.e., number of points on midterm + number of points on final exam + number of extra credit points). The second method is based solely on your performance on the final exam plus any extra credit points earned. For example, if you get a 92% on the questions on the final correct, you will get an A for the course, even if you failed the midterm. For more information on grading, see the section on ÒGradingÓ below.
Unit 1: Language, Communication & Thought |
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Thur 9/6 |
Introduction to Language & Communication |
Pinker chap. 1-2 Gleason & Ratner chap. 1 |
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Mon 9/10 |
Animal Communication |
Crystal, pp 396-402 |
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Thur 9/13 |
No class (Rosh Hashana) |
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Mon 9/17 |
Language and Thought |
Pinker chap. 3 |
|
Unit 2:
Sounds: Phonology,
Acoustics & Speech
Perception |
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Thur 9/20 |
Phonology
& Phonetics |
Pinker chap. 6 |
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Mon 9/24 |
Speech Perception |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 3 |
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Thur 9/27 |
No class (conference) |
|
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Mon 10/1 |
Speech Perception |
G & R chapter 3 |
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Unit 3:
Words: Morphology,
Semantics & the Lexicon |
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Thur 10/4 |
Morphology |
Pinker chap. 5 |
|
Mon 10/8 |
Lexicon |
Pinker chap. 5 |
|
Thur 10/11 |
Lexicon |
Pinker chap. 5 |
|
Mon 10/15 |
Words & Meaning |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 4 |
|
Thur 10/18 |
Words & Meaning |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 4 |
|
Mon 10/22 |
Midterm Exam (Units 1-3) |
In regular room
|
Unit 4: Sentences: Syntax, Parsing & Production |
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|
Thur 10/25 |
Sentences & Syntax |
Pinker chap. 4 |
|
Mon 10/29 |
Sentence Processing |
Pinker chap. 7 |
Thur 11/1
|
Sentence Processing |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 5 |
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Mon 11/5 |
Sentence Processing |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 5 |
|
Thur 11/8 |
Sentence Production |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 6 |
|
Unit 5:
Biological Bases of Language |
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|
Mon 11/12 |
Language Acquisition |
Pinker chap. 9 |
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Thur 11/15 |
No class (conference) |
|
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Mon 11/19 |
Language Acquisition |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 8 |
|
Tue 11/20 |
Neurolinguistics:
(Thanksgiving day change) |
Pinker
chap. 10 |
|
Thur 11/22 |
No
class (Thanksgiving) |
|
|
Mon 11/26 |
Neurolinguistics |
Gleason
& Ratner chap. 2 |
|
Thur 11/29 |
Neurolinguistics |
Gleason & Ratner chap. 2 |
|
Mon 12/3 |
Genetics
& Evolution of Language |
Stromswold,
Pinker
chap.11 (2nd half) |
|
Thur 12/6 |
Genetics
& Evolution of Language |
Stromswold Pinker
chap.11 (2nd half) |
|
Mon 12/10 |
Course
review. Bring questions |
|
|
Tues 12/18 |
Cumulative
Final Exam
|
In regular
room. 12-3 pm
|
Gleason, J.B &
Ratner, N. B. 1998. Psycholinguistics, 2nd edition. Wadsworth
Pinker,
S. 1994. The Language Instinct.
William Morrow. Any edition
is fine.
Crystal, D. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Language, pp. 396-402. http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Crystal.pdf
Stromswold,
K. 2005.. Genetic specificity of linguistic heritability. In A. Cutler (Ed.), Twenty-First
Century Psycholinguistics: Four Cornerstones. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/GeneticSpecificity.pdf
GRADING
Final grades will be determined by the total number of points earned in the class. Grades will be scaled so that the top-scoring student receives 100 points for the course. For example, if the top scoring student earns 95 points during the course, all students will have an additional 5 points added to their final grade.
All studentsÕ grades will be calculated two ways, and students will get the better of the two grades. The first method is based on your cumulative performance in the course (i.e., number of points on midterm + number of points on final exam + number of extra credit points). The second method is based solely on your performance on the final exam plus any extra credit points earned. For example, if you get a 92% on the questions on the final correct, you will get an A for the course, even if you failed the midterm.
For example, Robin Doe got 11 out of 35 points on the midterm and 60 points on the final exam. Robin also earned 1 extra credit points. The grade based on cumulative performance is a 72 (11 + 60 + 1) or a C. The grade based solely on the final exam is a 93 (60/65 points on the final = 92 + 1 = 93) or an A. Robin earns an A in the course!
Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A (90-100 points); B+ (85-89 points); B (80-84 points); C+ (75-79 points); C
(70-74 points); D (60-69 points); F (<60)
EXAMS
Midterm exam: The midterm exam is worth 35
points. Students will have
the option of taking either an essay or a multiple-choice version of the
midterm exam.
Final exam: The final exam is a cumulative,
multiple-choice exam (no essay option) worth 65 points. Approximately 35% of
the questions on the final will cover material from the first 1/2 of the course
and approximately 65% of the questions will cover material from the second 1/2
of the course.
Makeup exams will not be given without a note from your doctor or dean
EXTRA CREDIT
Throughout the semester, students may earn extra credit points toward their final grade. The purpose of the extra credit assignments is to give students the experience of learning about language acquisition in the ways that a researcher/scientist learns about language acquisition. You will receive one point toward your final grade for each acceptable paper you write (see below). You may earn a maximum of 5 extra credit points toward your final grade. I will accept extra credit papers up to the morning of the final exam (Wednesday May 9th). No extra credit papers will be accepted after 12 pm, Wednesday May 9th.
Ways of earning extra credit:
1) Attend a colloquium that concerns language and write a 2-page double-spaced paper that summarizes the talk and what you have learned by attending the talk. Throughout the course, I will announce various colloquia/talks that definitely count towards extra credit. In addition, students may attend other language colloquia. If you plan to attend a colloquium that I do not announce in class must talk to me before the talk so I can determine whether the colloquium will count for extra credit. When you speak to me, you must bring a print out of the announcement that gives the name of the speaker, the title of the talk, what series the talk is part of, and an abstract of the talk. When you hand in your paper, please attach this announcement. </