Language and the Mind, Ling/Psych 371, Spring 2000

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:30-12:48

Botany & Zoology 209

Instructor: Steve Winters

Office: Oxley 24b (corner of 12th and Neil Avenue)

Office Phone: 292-8878

Office Hours: M, W: 1-2 p.m.; Th: 3-4 p.m.; and by appointment.

E-Mail: swinters@ling.ohio-state.edu

Mailbox: Oxley 222

Course Aim: Help you become acquainted with the general structure of human language, as well as the primary theoretical and experimental issues involved in the study of language processing. You should develop the ability to evaluate and discuss experimental designs and data in a critical and coherent manner, to identify relevant linguistic and psychological phenomena, and to use the scientific method to determine the nature of these phenomena.

Course Requirements:

7 Text: Psychology of Language, Third Edition, by David W. Carroll.

(Additional readings will be distributed in class or made available on reserve at the main library.)

7 There will be regular quizzes and homework assignments based on the readings and the material we cover in class. You will not earn credit for late homeworks, but I will be glad to look over anything you turn in and provide you with comments on any points of confusion.

7 You must also satisfy a research participation requirement by either participating as a subject in a psycholinguistics experiment or attending a talk on psycholinguistics research (see handout). Your participation will be included in your homework grade. Opportunities for satisfying this requirement will arise throughout the quarter, but you must turn in a report on your participation experience by the last day of classes--June 2, 2000.

7 A research paper reviewing research in the psycholinguistics literature, or a proposal for a psycholinguistics experiment you would like to carry out (and may even do so, if you have access to the necessary materials and resources). I will let you know more about this requirement in a few weeks.

7 One mid-term and one final exam. The final will mainly test material we cover in the second half of the class.

7 Class participation. Although this is not so much required as it is highly recommended. If you must miss class, don't worry about documenting your absence for me; just find out from a classmate what was covered and come to me with any questions.

Grade Breakdown:

20% Mid-term Exam 25% Homeworks and Quizzes

20% Final Exam 10% Class Participation

25% Research Paper

Course Schedule:

(Please note that this schedule is tentative and not likely to be followed exactly.)

Week 1: Introduction to linguistic structures and approaches to psycholinguistics;

3/27-3/31 Read Chapters 1-2 in Carroll.

Week 2: Linguistic processing and speech perception.

4/3-4/7 Chapters 3-4.

Week 3: More on perception, the internal structure of the lexicon.

4/10-4/14 Chapters 4-5.

Week 4: The lexicon continued; sentence processing.

4/17-4/21 Chapters 5-6.

Week 5: Processing continued; introduction to production and processing errors.

4/24-4/28 Chapters 6, 8

Mid-term Exam: Friday, April 28th

Week 6: Production continued; introduction to language acquisition.

5/1-5/5 Chapters 8, 10

Week 7: Language acquisition continued.

5/8-5/12 Chapters 10-11

Week 8: Acquisition concluded; linguistic structures in the brain.

5/15-5/19 Chapters 12-13

Week 9: Language and the brain continued.

5/22-5/26 Chapter 13

Week 10: Language and Thought; time for review and catch-up.

5/31-6/2 Chapter 14

NO CLASS: May 29th (Memorial Day Observed)

Final Exam: Wednesday, June 7th, 11:30 a.m.