Assignment

(1) Describe the concept of a "socio-linguistic variable" and "hypercorrection" using the distribution of [r] vs. [a] in Labov's New York City department store study, and Labov's study of the distribution of [r] vs. [a] in style-sifting. In doing so, be sure to clearly define the concepts and cite actual data provided.

(2) Use the data on the verb "keep" to explain the concept of a "semantic schema/template" and "polysemy." Then, explain how "conceptual metaphor" also plays a role in creating polysemy. Be sure to refer to this specific data set and examples.

(3) What do linguists mean by the term "speech act"'? Using the pragmatics data set, identity two clear examples of a direct speech act and two clear examples of an indirect speech act, and explain in clear precise terms, the distinction between the two types of speech acts.

(4) Explain, using two clear examples, the problems with drawing a clear distinction between saying that two communities speak a different 'dialect' as opposed to saying that the two communities speak a different 'language.'

(5) Explain, using clear examples, the most important historical and social factors associated with the Anglo- Saxon (Old English), Middle English, and Early Modem periods in the history of the English Language.

(6) Explain, using two clear examples from the pragmatics data set, the concept of "face" and the contrast between "negative politeness" and "positive politeness,"

(7) Using examples from the book and the Human Language Series DVD (part 2) explain in clear terms the basic idea behind Noam Chomsky's idea of "Universal Grammar." Give two examples of the reasoning used to support his idea. (The DVDs are available from the Moodle site, Week 1, and are on reserve at Hamersley Library). Youtube video: "Acquiring Language"

(8) Using clear examples, explain the concepts of "parsing" and "garden path sentence," and how they give us insight into the process of reading comprehension. In doing so, be sure to include an explanation of how the "surface" of the sentence is different from the "underlying/hidden" syntactic relations.

(9) Explain why the simplistic notion of noun as "person, place, thing or abstract idea," or verb as "action word is inaccurate and misleading, What is a more accurate way to characterize and identify the class of nouns and verbs?

(10) Using your own career or intellectual interests as a foundation, describe three important ideas/facts, learned in this class, about language/linguistics that (1) you weren't really aware of, or understood' clearly, before this class, and (2) you think are important for someone with your career or intellectual interests to understand. Explain the concepts clearly and then explain why they are important for someone in your situation.

Text Book: Linguistics for Everyone: an introduction by Denham and Lobeck.