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BA Linguistics and Japanese

Year of entry: 2021

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Course unit details:
Phonology

Unit code	LELA20012
Credit rating	20
Unit level	Level 2
Teaching period(s)	Semester 2
Offered by	Linguistics & English Language
Available as a free choice unit?	Yes

Overview

The subject matter of phonology is cognitive: the discipline studies the sounds of languages not as events in the physical world, but as representations in the minds of speakers and listeners. Phonologists seek to discover the internal structure of such mental representations, how they are stored and assembled, and how they interact with knowledge of word and sentence structure (morphosyntax), as well as with articulation and audition. This course unit uses examples of various types, from synchronic sound patterns to data from historical change and first-language acquisition, in order to explore current theoretical hypotheses on all these questions.

This course unit is a prerequisite for LELA30442 English Phonology Past and Present.

Pre/co-requisites

Pre-requisite: LALC10221 (Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology) OR LELA10322 (The Sounds of Language).

Aims

This course aims to equip the student with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary to analyse phonological phenomena of various types; these will include not only synchronic sound patterns, but also data from historical change and first-language acquisition. Students will see how phonologists use a wide range of empirical evidence critically to appraise and refine their models of the human phonological faculty. Students will become acquainted with current theoretical problems, including the advantages and drawbacks of constraint-based models of phonology.

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of this course, students will have gained an understanding of some of the major theoretical proposals concerning how linguistic sounds are represented in the minds of speakers (the theory of representations), how phonological representations are assembled in the mind from elements stored in memory (the theory of derivations), and how phonology interacts with other kinds of linguistic knowledge (the place of phonology in the architecture of grammar).

Intellectual skills

By the end of this course, students will have enhanced their problem-solving skills as well as their creative and critical thinking, as reflected, for example, in the ability to assess alternative analyses and hypotheses for a given data-set.

Practical skills

By the end of this course students will be able to analyse phonological data and present their analyses in standard, theoretically-informed formats.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

By the end of this course, students will have enhanced their ability to recognize how theories and claims can and must be supported empirically, as well as the ability to produce well-argued analyses.

Employability skills

Other: The course enhances skills in the analysis of complex patterns, in the evaluation of explanatory models, and in formal argumentation. It also boosts the student's independence, perseverance, and confidence to trust his or her own intelligence.

Assessment methods

In-term coursework: in-depth analysis of one phonological data set

30%

End-of-semester multiple-choice examination consisting of 20 short phonological problems

70%

Feedback methods

Feedback method	Formative or summative
Verbal feedback on problems discussed in plenary lectures	Formative
Verbal feedback on contributions to tutorials	Formative
Comments on in-term coursework	Formative and summative
Global written feedback in the form of a key to a model exam paper available on Blackboard	Formative
Face-to-face discussion of exam results if desired (on the understanding that this deanonymizes the marking)	Summative

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Assessment written exam	2.5
Lectures	22
Seminars	11

Independent study hours
Independent study	164.5

Teaching staff

Staff member	Role
Ricardo Bermudez-Otero	Unit coordinator

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