BCS 264: Syllabus

Spring 2012

Time & Location

Mondays & Wednesdays, 2:00 - 3:15 PM, Meliora 208

Personnel

Instructor: Ted Supalla
Office: Lattimore 116
Office Hours: By appointment only (Availability limited to Monday afternoons, all day on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings)
Email:

Teaching Assistant: TBA
Office: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Email: TBA

Course Description

This course examines signed languages and the cognitive and grammatical constraints that shape them, through a detailed consideration of the structure of American Sign Language and other natural signed languages of the world.

The first part of the course includes training in sign language notation and analysis. It introduces students to the various levels of linguistic structure (phonology, morphology and syntax) in signed languages.It will cover the current research literature on the linguistic structure of signed languages in comparison with spoken languages, including what insights into language structure, formation, and processing can be gained by looking at how languages evolve when the eye and the hand are used, instead of the ear and the mouth, as transmission devices.

The second part of the course will cover questions of language as a social phenomenon (dialects, registers, language use and change, etc). We will examine crosslinguistic comparisions between signed languages (in particular, American, French, and Japanese Sign Languages); the possible linguistic universals for signed languages; the degree and types of variation among different signed languages; the ways in which universals and language specific variation for signed languages may compare and contrast with those for spoken languages; and the visual, motoric, and cognitive constraints which may give rise to these phenomena.

Coursework and Grading

Coursework will include assigned readings, homework assignments and Part1/Part 2 examinations.

Grading will be based on these factors:

25% Part 1 examination
25% Part 2 examination
30% Completion of homework assignment on time
20% Attendance

Required textbooks and supplementary articles:

"Talking Hands" by Margalit Fox (available for purchase at the bookstore)

"Sign Language Archeology" by Ted Supalla & Patricia Clark (selected chapters on Blackboard)

Sampler of technical articles on Blackboard

Access to Blackboard is required for PDF files and homework assignments. For homework assignments, hands-on exercises with problem sets will be given on Blackboard.

Assigned readings include chapters and excerpts from a required textbook and some articles from books and journals. Electronic copies of lecture notes will be posted on the Blackboard along with links for reading assignments and supplementary materials.

For homework assignments, hands-on exercises with problem sets will be given on the Web. Homework assignments will be put on the Blackboard on Wednesdays. Due date for written responses are on the following Saturday at midnight. Answers to exercises in the Web should be submitted to the TA via email. If you have trouble with access to homework material on the Web, please send email to the TA.

Preparation for Midterm and Final Examinations

Lists of study questions will be distributed to students one week before midterm and final exam. For each examination, ten study questions will be given. Five of these questions will be chosen at the examination time. A sample question is available along with an ideal answer example in Blackboard.

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