Ling 275: Language & Mind
a USC GE Science and Technology Course

Syllabus Fall 2007

Instructors:  Elsi Kaiser and Sandra Disner
TAs: Aaron Jacobs and Nancy Louie

• Many readings for this course will be from a prepublication version of Discovering Speech, Words, and Mind (DSWM below) by Dani Byrd and Toby Mintz.  It will be made available on Blackboard, along with selected other readings.

  Note:Please print out only the relevant pages/chapter from DSWM each week. Please do not print out the whole book at once; the page numbering and the material will change slightly over the course of the semester. As we go through the semester, we will let you know ahead of time which parts to read for each lecture.
  

• Course requirements and grades:

  Exam 1: 25%
  Exam 2: 25%
  Exam 3: 25%  (scheduled in final exam slot but not cumulative)
  Homeworks: 25% (lowest score dropped)
  --The course will be graded on a curve:  roughly top 20% A's, next 40% B's, next 30% C's, bottom 10% D's/F's; but the curve will only move grades up, not down.
  --Attendance is expected in section meetings and in lectures and will be recorded.

• Homework assignments: There will be 7 homework assignments during the term. Some will be assignments involving the use of a computer. Homework assignments will be distributed and collected in lab sections. Assignments will be handed out at least one week prior to due date. Assignments are to be turned in at (or before) the beginning of lab section on the day that they are due.
  • Late assignments are not accepted without a very good excuse (e.g. demonstrable illness or a life-changing event).
  • If you know you need to turn something in late or if you know you will miss an exam, you must talk to a professor (not a TA) ahead of time. Note,  however, that the lowest homework score will be dropped.
  • All assignments are to be done independently, not in teams or in collaboration.  Copying or collaborating on  homework assignments (or exams) will be considered a violation of Academic Integrity and will be reported to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards and cause sanctions to be imposed.

• Academic Integrity: We expect that all students will uphold the USC Student Conduct Code. Because violations of the code harm every other student in the class, the instructors will aggressively prosecute any student who cheats on an exam or homework or who allows others to cheat on an exam or homework.

  • Please also note: SCampus under Academic Policies: "Notes or recordings made by students based on a university class or lecture may only be made for purposes of individual or group study, or for other non-commercial purposes...This restriction also applies to any information distributed, disseminated or in any way displayed for use in relationship to the class, whether obtained in class, via email or otherwise on the Internet, or via any other medium. Actions in violation of this policy constitute a violation of the Student Conduct Code, and may subject an individual or entity to university discipline and/or legal proceedings." (http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/class_notes_policy.html)

• Students with Disabilities (a notice from the Provost):  Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester.  A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP.  Please be sure the letter is delivered to us as early in the semester as possible.  DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30am-5:00pm, Monday through Friday.  The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

• Final Exam Notice:  Note that USC requires that:
   "ALL INSTRUCTORS MUST ADHERE TO THE FINAL EXAMINATION SCHEDULE. No deviations from this schedule are permitted for those classes having a final examination unless authorized in advance by the Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (CAPP)...CAPP will not consider any request for rescheduling final examinations without unanimous written consent of all students in the class. No student in a course with a final examination is permitted to omit or anticipate a final examination, and no instructor is authorized to permit a student to do so."
  http://www.usc.edu/academics/classes/term_20073/finals.html
  

Course Outline & Schedule

Lect	Date	Instructor	Topics, Reading, Materials, and Assignment Info
1	8/28	Disner Kaiser	Introduction & Course Description Intro to Cognitive Science Reading: DSWM [Ch. 1, pages 12-23]
2	8/30	Disner	Language as a Scientific Phenomenon Readings: S. Pinker, "The Language Mavens" from The Language Instinct; E. Finegan, "What is 'Correct' Language?" from the LSA website, DSWM [Ch.1, pages 1-11]
	section 8/31,  9/3, 9/4	TA	Organizational meeting; no homework September 3 holiday--no section
3	9/4	Disner	Phonetics--Vocal Tract Anatomy and English Sounds Reading: DSWM [pages 24-36]
4	9/6	Disner	Phonetics--The IPA and the Transcription of English Sounds  Reading: DSWM [pages 36-53]
	section 9/7, 9/10, 9/11	TA	Topic: English vowels and consonants; transcription Homework: Transcription Homework assigned Homework due in section next week
5	9/11	Disner	Acoustics & Source-Filter Theory Reading: DSWM [pages 53-64] [Fun Website]
6	9/13	Disner	Hearing and Acoustic Properties of English Sounds Reading: DSWM [pages 65-70] [Fun Website]
	sections 9/14, 9/18, 9/21		Topic: acoustic phonetics (TAs: reserve laptop + projector for demo; Students: feel free to bring in your own laptop) Homework: Transcription Homework due Acoustic Waveform Homework assigned
7	9/18	Disner	Sounds of the World's Languages Reading: DSWM [pages 71-87] Sounds of the World's Languages website: http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/index/language.html
8	9/20	Disner	Dialects of English Reading: DSWM [pages 87-95] [Fun Website]
	section 9/21, 9/24, 9/25	TA	Topic: sounds and dialects; movie American Tongues (attendance required) Homework: Acoustic Waveform Homework due
9	9/25	Kaiser	Experiment Design Reading: No reading for today [Fun Website] and [Fun Website]
10	9/27		Exam One (Lectures 1-8)
	section 9/28, 10/1, 10/2	TA	Topic: experimental design Homework: Experimental Design and Analysis Homework assigned
11	10/2	Kaiser	Speech Perception: Lack of Invariance Reading: Whitney, Ch. 5 "The Recognition of Spoken Words" (p. 141 - p. 151)
12	10/4	Kaiser	Speech Perception: Word Segmentation Reading:Saffran, Aslin & Newport (1996): Statistical Learning by 8-month-old infants
	section 10/5, 10/8, 10/9	TA	Topic:  speech perception Homework: Experimental Design and Analysis Homework due
13	10/9	Kaiser	Speech Perception and Development: Categorical Perception and the Ganong Effect Reading: P. Eimas, "The Perception of Speech in Early Infancy" Scientific American [Fun Website]
14	10/11	Kaiser	Speech Perception continued: Categorical Perception, Duplex Perception, and the McGurk Effect Reading: J. Werker, "Exploring developmental changes in cross-language speech perception." In Gleitman & Liberman (eds.) An Invitation to Cognitive Science, Vol. 1: Language 2nd Ed.
	section 10/12, 10/15, 10/16	TA	Topic:  speech perception; further work on categorical perception (TAs to reserve laptop + projector; Students: feel free to bring your laptop) Homework:  Categorical Perception Lab Homework assigned      --you have two weeks to do this assignment ALL SECTION NOTE:  This means that 2 homeworks are due on October 26/29/30.
15	10/16	Disner	Phonology: Units Active in Linguistic Processes Reading: DSWM [pages 98-120] [Fun Website]
16	10/18	Disner	Morphology: Word Formation Reading: DSWM [pages 121-137]
	section 10/19, 10/22, 10/23	TA	Topic:   phonology and morphology (TAs: reserve laptop + projector) Homework: Phonology/Morphology Homework assigned
17	10/23	Kaiser	Word Recognition Reading: Altmann Ch.6, "Words and how we eventually find then" (p.65-83)
18	10/25	Kaiser	Word Recognition II Reading: Altmann Ch.6, same as Tuesday
	section 10/26, 10/29, 10/30	TA	Topic:  word recognition Homework:  Phonology/Morphology Homework due AND      Categorical Perception Homework due
19	10/30		Exam 2 (Lectures 9-18)
20	11/1	Kaiser	Language and Brain Reading: Carroll ch 13, "Biological Foundations of language" (p.338-350)
	section 11/2, 11/5, 11/6	TA	Topic:  Language and Brain; Aphasia Homework:  Stroop Homework assigned (due in 2 weeks)
21	11/6	Kaiser	Lateralization of language in the brain Reading: Carroll, Ch 13 "Biological Foundations of Language" (p.350-361) Reading on-line: ASHA Consumer Brochures on Aphasia (http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/)
22	11/8	Kaiser	Signed Languages Readings:  Hickock, Bellugi, & Klima "Sign language in the brain" Scientific American; Helmuth "From the mouths (and hands) of babes" Science Magazine [Fun Website]
	section 11/9, 11/12, 11/13	TA	Section Lasts One and One Half Hour Movie:  "Sound & Fury" [Attendance Required & Recorded] Optional reading: Cochlear Implants (www.asha.org/public/hearing/treatment/mind_hears.htm)
23	11/13	Kaiser	Reading Reading: Rayner et al. "How should reading be taught?" Scientific American
24	11/15	Kaiser	Dyslexia Reading: S. Shaywitz, "Dyslexia", Scientific American and Altmann et al, "When it all goes wrong." The Ascent of Babel
	section 11/16, 11/19, 11/20	TA	Topic: Reading &  Dyslexia Homework:  Stroop Homework due
25	11/20	Disner	Speech and Hearing Disorders On-line readings (Optional): Types of hearing loss Noise Induced Hearing Loss safe listening levels for ipods Speech Technology homework handed out today in lecture. (Due Tues Dec 4 in lecture)
	11/22		Thanksgiving
	section 11/23 11/26 11/27	TA	No Section
26	11/27	Disner	Speech Technology Reading: Markowitz, J.A. (2000), "Voice Biometrics" (downloadable from "Other Readings" folder on Blackboard) Optional: [Speech Synthesis Examples]
27	11/29	Disner	Forensics Reading: Fulop & Fitz, "A spectrogram for the twenty-first century," Acoustics Today [Read first four pages only] and Ladefoged, "The Law is not science," Acoustical Society of America (Both readings downloadable from "Other Readings" folder on Blackboard)
	section 11/30, 12/3, 12/4		Speech and Hearing Disorders
28	12/4	Kaiser	Child Language: Production [No required readings] Speech Techonology homework due today in lecture.
29	12/6	Disner Kaiser	Speech Errors [Fun Website] Reading:  Language Files 9 pp. 320-325 (Downloadable from "Other readings" folder on Blackboard) Course Summary and Evaluations
	Special times: 12/10, 12/11	TA	Review section(s): Monday Dec 10, 10-11:50am GFS 106 Tues Dec 11, 12:30-2:20pm THH 102
	Tuesday, Dec 18, 11-1pm		Exam Three (Lectures 20-29)