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Prerequisites:
Linguistics 20 Introduction to Linguistics: IF YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN LINGUISTICS 20, YOU SHOULD NOT ENROLL IN LINGUISTICS 120A. YOU WILL BE AT A SERIOUS DISADVANTAGE AND WILL ALMOST SURELY DO BADLY! NEITHER I NOR JENN WILL DO REMEDIAL WORK TO HELP YOU.
Linguistics 103 Introduction to General Phonetics: Linguistics 103 will have taught you how to describe and classify language sounds using articulatory and acoustic terminology, and it will have taught you the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This will be assumed knowledge in 120A. If you have not had 103, you can probably learn the necessary terminology, concepts, and symbols by outside studying, but in the beginning at least, you will be at a disadvantage compared to students who have taken 103.
Texts:
Bruce Hayes, Introductory Phonology, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
This is a textbook written specifically for UCLA’s 120A course by Professor Bruce Hayes. It has now been published and is available in the UCLA textbook store.
Other worthwhile introductory and not so introductory books on phonology
Victoria A. Fromkin (ed.), with members of the UCLA linguistics faculty, Linguistics, An Introduction to Linguistic Theory, Blackwell, 2000, Chapters 12-13.
This is the book used for Linguistics 20. Chapters 12-13 include portions of the Hayes required text for this course (all of Hayes's Chapter 2 and parts of Chapters 3, 6, 7).
Larry Hyman, Phonology: Theory and Analysis, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1975.
This book is somewhat dated, having been written in 1975, but in my opinion, it is still an excellent textbook aimed at the 120A level. It is also the first introductory phonology textbook to give serious attention to “suprasegmental” aspects of phonology, such as stress and tone.
Michael Kenstowicz and Charles Kisseberth, Generative Phonology: Description and Theory, Academic Press, 1979.
This is the best comprehensive introductory textbook on phonology yet published. It is now slightly dated, and it is probably too dense and technical as a text for a course at the 120A level, but it remains unsurpassed in its wealth of carefully laid out and explained analyses of phonological data from the world's languages.
David Odden, Introducing Phonology, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
This book is right at the 120A level and could probably be used as a text for this course. Like any textbooks, it is missing some things I like to cover, and it covers (or goes into more depth on) topics that I don't find so central. It has EXCELLENT problem sets, many from the author's own field work.
Other first level phonology texts are by Philip Carr (1993), Carlos Gussenhoven and Haike Jacobs (1998), and Iggy Roca (1999). For some more advanced and specialized textbooks on phonology, see footnote 2 on page ix of the preface of the Hayes textbook.
Content:
In Linguistics 103, you learned about the range of sounds that humans use in the standard mode of human communication called "language". You learned how to describe and classify those sounds in terms of the articulatory organs that produce them and the structure of the sound waves themselves. In Linguistics 120A, we will be studying how languages organize sounds into patterns. "Phonology" is, in effect, the study of the "Grammar of Sounds". We will learn how languages each use just a small set of "distinctive" sounds, how languages combine those sounds in well-defined, rather restrictive ways, and how "underlying" phonological structures may be altered in actual pronunciation. The best way to learn such concepts is to see how they play out in real languages, so lectures, assignments, and exams in this course will focus heavily on analyses of data from a variety of languages. You will have the opportunity to apply the concepts by writing a course paper using data that you assemble on your own from a language of your choosing.
Course work and grading:
| Assignments | 56 points | 28% |
| Weekly quizzes | 32 points | 16% |
| Paper prospectus | 4 points | 2% |
| Paper | 48 points | 24% |
| Final exam | 60 points | 30% |
Grade calculation and grade posting: We grade on a curve. We base your letter grade on where you fall on a curve of a possible 200 cumulative points. You will receive point scores rather than letter grades on individual items, but you will be able to keep track of your standing with respect to the rest of the class by checking 120A in the electronic gradebook on you're my.ucla web site. We will not calculate attendance or participation into the point total, but David and I will be keeping mental track, and these factors may play a role in borderline cases.
Assignments: You will have one written assignment per week in weeks 1-8. Each assignment will be worth 7 points (X 8 = 56 points, 28% of the grade). Assignments will consist primarily of data analysis problems. The routine will be (1) receive new assignment in section, (2) submit completed assignment in section the following week, (3) receive graded assignment in the week following that. IF YOU MISS A SECTION, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GET THE NEW ASSIGNMENT AND TURN IN THE COMPLETED ASSIGNMENT FOR THAT WEEK ON TIME. WE WILL POST THE BLANK ASSIGNMENT ON THE WEB FOR DOWNLOAD. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO ADJUST ASSIGNMENT SCORES FOR LATE ASSIGNMENTS, INCLUDING GIVING NO POINTS. Once assignments have been graded and returned, we will post a key for download.
Weekly quizzes: There will be NO mid-term exam, but there will be a quiz each week, weeks 2-10. Each quiz will be worth four points (2% of the grade), and we will drop the lowest of the nine quiz scores for a total of 32 points (16% of the grade total). In general the quizzes will be on Tuesdays, though we may sometimes put the quiz off until Thursday depending on what we have covered in lectures. We will pass quizzes out at 4:00 PM and collect them at 4:20. BE ON TIME! We will collect quizzes at 4:20 whether you have finished or not! We will announce by the weekend at the latest what will be covered in the quiz for the following week.
Paper and paper prospectus: You will write a paper utilizing the concepts covered in 120A. See an outline of what your paper prospectus and the paper itself should cover on "paper page". Sometime during weeks 7-8, you will be required to e-mail me a one paragraph prospectus of your paper. YOU SHOULD FEEL FREE TO ASK ME ABOUT THE FEASIBILITY OF YOUR PAPER TOPIC BEFORE SENDING YOUR PROSPECTUS. The deadline for receiving your prospectus is Thursday, March 1(Thursday of the 8th week). I will respond with comments on your prospectus by the beginning of week 9. The completed paper is due Thursday, March 22 (Thursday of Finals Week) by 5:00 PM.
Final exam: The final exam will consist primarily of data analysis problems of the types we will have covered throughout the course. It will be "cumulative" in the sense that you will have to apply the full range of concepts that you learned throughout the course. The final is Monday, March 19, 3:00-6:00.
Other resources:
This course will closely follow the structure of 120A as taught by Professor Bruce Hayes. You can find useful information at his 120A website
At that site, you will find, among other things, downloadable charts of sounds classified by features, links to downloadable fonts, and other useful information about phonology. You can also download free software for phonological analysis, in particular
In my past offerings of 120, I have not incorporated these programs, but students in Professor Hayes’s 120A sections have used them with profit, so if you want to explore them on your own, I encourage you to do so.
Course Outline:
The course outline below gives an "order of events", but we may end up spending more or less time than is indicated for each topic. I will let you know if anything important changes, e.g. the date for the mid-term. The due date for the paper and the time of the final exam are firm dates, however.
