General Linguistics

2010

University of Languages and International studies

Vietnam National University of Hanoi.
Graduate studies

Credit point value: 3

Course level: Post Graduate
Campus/Location: Xuan Thuy Rd / On Campus
Class contacts: 3 class hours/week for 15 weeks
Instructor: Dr. Ha Cam Tam
Telephone: 0904069129
E-mail: hacamtam@gmail.com

General course description

The course Introduction to General Linguistics aims to provide basic

knowledge of the kinds of questions linguists have asked and are asking
about language. Providing a broad understanding of human language is of
concern, i.e. what language is, what it is used for, and how it works.

The more immediate objectives of the course are to:

• lead you to examine your own linguistic beliefs and attitudes
• make you aware of both the diversity of language systems and their
fundamental similarities
• give you a reasonable ‘taste’ of most of the subfields of linguistics:
phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and
sociolinguistics.
• acquaint you with the basic concepts necessary to pursue further
linguistic study.

Required text:

Finegan, E. (2004). Language: Its structure and Use. USA: Thomson

Wadsworth.
Fromkin, V. A, Curtis, S., Hayes, B.T. et al. (2000). Linguistics: An
Introduction to Linguistic Theory. USA: Blackwell Publisher Inc.

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Recommended readings:

Crystal, D. (1997). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 4th ed.

Oxford: Blackwell.
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. & Hyams, N. (2006). An Introduction to
Language, USA: Heinle.
Halliday, M.A.K (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. USA:
OUP
Ladefoged, P. (2000). A Course in Phonetics. 4th ed. Boston: Wadsworth.
LoCastro, V. (2006). An Introduction to Pragmatics – Social Action for
Language Teachers. USA: University of Michigan Press.
Lyon, J. (1996). Linguistics Semantics: An Introduction. CUP
Potts, C. (2005). The Logic of Conventional Implicatures. Oxford: OUP
Saeed, J. (2005). Semantics. UK: Blackwell.
Yule, G. (2006). The Study of Language. CUP

Course schedule

Week Topics References

1 Introductory Notions. The Fromkin et al. (2000) pp.1-23
scientific study of language. Finegan (2004) pp. 1-25
 What is language?
 Approaches to language study:
prescriptive, descriptive
grammar
 Linguistic fields
Grammar. Descriptive vs.
prescriptive

2 Words and their parts: lexicon and Fromkin et al. (2000) pp.25-89
morphology Finegan (2004) pp. 39-78
Lexical categories
Morphemes
How are morphemes organized
within words
How does language increase its
vocabulary?
What type of morphological
systems do Languages have?
Word coinage
3+4 Phonetics Fromkin et al. (2000) pp.477-517
Phonetics: the study of sounds Finegan (2004) pp.79-102
Describing sounds

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 Consonant sounds
Vowel sounds
Computers and Phonetics
5+6 Phonology Fromkin et al. (2000) pp. 518-578
Sounds in the mind Finegan (2004) pp.109-134
Phonological rules and their
structure
Syllables and syllable structure
Syllables and stress in
phonological processes
Computers and phonology
7+8 Syntax Fromkin et al. (2000) pp.89-194
Constituency and tree diagrams Finegan (2004) pp. 145-168
Major constituents of sentences
Phrase structure rules
Grammatical relations
Surface structures and underlying
structures
Types and functions of syntactic
operations
9 + 10 Semantics Fromkin et al.(2000) pp.369-420
Linguistics, social and affective Finegan (2004) pp.179-210
meaning
Word, sentence and utterance
meaning
Lexical semantics
Function words and Categories of
meaning
Semantics roles and sentence
meaning
Semantic roles and grammatical
relatioins
11 Language Universals and Language
Typology: Finegan (2004) pp.223-244
Similarity and diversity across
languages
Semantic universals
Phonological universals
Syntactic and morphological
universals
Types of language universals
Explanation for language
universals

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12 Information Structure and Pragmatics Fenegan: Ch. 8
Categories of information structure
Information structure: intonation,
morphology, syntax
The relationship of sentences to
discourse: pragmatics
13 + 14 Speech acts and conversatioin Fenegan: Ch. 9
Sentence structure and the function Lo Castro: Ch. 11, 12, 13
of utterance
Speech Acts
The Cooperative Principle
Politeness
Speech Events
The organization of conversation
Cross-Cultural communication
15 Q&A No lecture

Class Policies

Assignments and Grading

All assignments should be handed in on the day they are due. If you must
turn in an assignment late for a legitimate reason, contact the instructor
prior to the class period in which it is due. Work handed in late without a
legitimate reason will be lowered by one letter grade for each class period
that it is late. Any assignment not turned in or one that is incomplete will
receive a grade of F, worth 0 points, and will be factored into the final
course average. If all the assignments are not submitted by the start of the
last scheduled class, the student may receive an incomplete.

Assessment: Two mid-term assignments: 25% each.

Final term paper: 40%
Participation: 10%

Attendance

Attendance at all classes is required. In case of an emergency, contact the

professor prior to class, if possible. The class starts at 2:00 pm.

Academic Misconduct

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Plagiarism: Offering the work of another as one’s own, without proper
acknowledgement, is plagiarism; therefore any student who fails to give
credit for quotations or an essentially identical expression of material taken
from books, encyclopedias, magazines, and other reference works, or from
the themes, reports, or other writings of a fellow student, is guilty of
plagiarism. If found guilty of plagiarism the student shall be failed.

Participation

You are expected to contribute in an active and positive way to class

discussion. Examples of factors that are considered when evaluating
participation include:
- Contributing interesting, insightful comments
- Presenting good examples of concepts being discussed
- Building on the comments of others
- Raising good questions
- Being sensitive to your level of participation and making attempts
to increase or decrease it if necessary
- Being sensitive to the emotional impact of your statements
- Listening and responding appropriately to others’ comments
- Attending all class meetings
- Being on time

Assignments

Two Article Written Critiques

(Midterm assignments)

Purpose. To practice critical reading of professional literature and relate it

to the course learning outcomes. College teachers and administrators must
be able to locate, evaluate, and judiciously apply the professional literature
and relevant research to their own specific situations.

Assignments. Read two articles that are relevant to this course and write a
2 page, double spaced critique on each of them. Please use a standard
bibliographic form including the following points: (a) full identification of
the reference at the top of the paper, (b) a brief summary (1 paragraph) of
the article, (c) your views concerning research question(s)/hypothesis
outlined in the article, the data collection instruments, data analysis and
results (d) what you think are the significant findings and comments. Your
views and reasons should be the main focus of the critique.

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Some questions you might ask of the article include (a) what are problem
statements, (b) are the author’s findings/results of data analysis reasonable
and well supported, (c) what assumptions has the author made, (d) is there
any evidence of bias, (e) how could the author’s ideas be tested, and (f)
what reasons do you have for agreeing or disagreeing with these ideas. If
the article discusses a research study, comment on the research design,
methods, and other elements associate with judging the quality of the
research. Please do not repeat the title of the article in the text of your
critique as this wastes space and is unnecessary.

Evaluation Criteria. The criteria for this assignment will be (a) the quality
of the selected article, (b) the quality of the written critique, and (c) the
relevance of both to the course learning outcomes.

Due. The first critique will be due on the 6th week and the second on 11th
week.

Final assignment

Purpose. To develop an in depth understanding of a specific topic of

interest that is related to the course learning outcomes: phonetics,
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics.

Evaluation Criteria. The criteria will include (a) evidence that you produce
the work yourself, (b) demonstration of reflective analysis of the literature
and your topic, (c) well developed arguments (rationale) for your
conclusions, (d) quality of your overall writing ability and adherence to
APA formatting requirements, (e) the essay must contain at least 10
references from the recommended readings and/or required texts to be
qualified for marking.

Due. The paper must be turned in in 5 weeks as of the day of the course
completed.

Names of journals: ELSIVER, TESOL, APPLIED LINGUISTICS,

LANGUAGE TEACHING, LINGUISTICS, PRAGMATICS, ASIAN
JOURNAL