Note: This course is only open to students in the Bachelor's program in Linguistics. The reason is that I have to grade a lot of homework and quizzes, and I do not have any assistants for grading, so I want to keep the class as small as possible.

Course summary

Language has structure. There is structure in sentences, in meaning, in sound, in words and parts of words. This structure has some properties that go far beyond particular languages. Linguists are primarily interested in understanding the relationships between these various structural properties; the larger goal is to understand why language is the way it is. There are practical applications of all this, particularly in natural language processing and so on, but the questions we will study belong to basic science.
This course deals with the internal structure of words. We will cover the state of the art at an introductory level, and examine the relationship between word-level structure and other kinds of structure in language. The knowledge you will acquire in this course will affect most of your other coursework in linguistics; this is a foundational course in that sense.

Course information

Time: Wednesday 9:15 - 10:45AM

Teaching period: 16.10.2006-09.02.2007

No classes university-wide: 31.10.2006 Reformationstag; 27.12.2006-05.01.2007 Akademische Weihnachtsferien

Place: II.10.0.26 (Golm campus, Haus 10, Room 0.26)

Office hours: by appointment

Textbook: none, handouts and a Skript will be provided

Grading

In-class quizzes 10%, Homework 30%, Midterm 20%, Final 40%. Final scores will be based on the following mapping described in the Studienordnung: 95-100%=1,0 (A);90-94=1,3 (A-);85-89=1,7 (B+);80-84=2,0 (B);75-79=2,3 (B-);70-74=2,7 (C+);65-69=3,0 (C);60-64=3,3 (C-);55-59=3,7 (D+);50-54=4,0 (D);45-49=5,0 (F). If a student's score falls between the cracks, it will be treated as falling in the higher bin. Also, if a student is in a higher semester than 1st, I will adjust their scores so that 1st semesters are not at a disadvantage (this holds only if the advanced students outperform the 1st semesters).
Here is an excerpt from the Studienordnung on what these major categories are supposed to mean:

1 = sehr gut (eine hervorragende Leistung)

2 = gut (eine Leistung, die erheblich ueber den durchschnittlichen Anforderungen liegt)

3 = befriedigend (eine Leistung, die durchschnittlichen Anforderungen entspricht)

4 = ausreichend (eine Leistung, die trotz ihrer Maengel noch den Anforderungen genuegt)

5 = nicht ausreichend (eine Leistung, die wegen erheblicher Maengel den Anforderungen nicht genuegt)

Students are expected to attend class regularly. If a student misses a class, the student is responsible for finding out what the homework assignment was, what readings were assigned, and what material was covered.

Homework submission dates are strict (usually beginning of class the following week). Late homework will not receive any credit.

Conduct in the classroom

Student must not engage in conversations during class.

All cell phones must be switched off (except by permission from me).

Cheating during quizzes and exams is prohibited and will result in a loss of marks.

Do not walk into class after it starts (9:15AM is the deadline to be ready for class).

Questions to me during class are actively encouraged.

Evaluation of the instructor

Instructor's name: Shravan Vasishth.

Anonymous feedback (especially complaints about the course) is welcome: Click here for form

Towards the end of the course I will ask you to complete an official evaluation form at the University of Potsdam. Filling in this form is extremely important, both for my future and for ensuring better quality teaching for you. You cannot fill in this form until I tell you it's time (and it makes little sense to fill it in before the course ends, no matter what the website says).

You can also fill in an independent, less official form: Meinprof.de.

Official languages of the course

I will teach in English, but homework, quizzes, and final exam can be submitted in German.

Topics to be covered

Introduction: some basic issues

Words and lexemes

Morphology and phonology

Derivational morphology

Inflectional morphology

Morphosyntax

Productivity

Non-linear approaches to morphology

Morphological typology and universals

Morphology and the mind

Lecture notes and handouts

Download lecture notes from here. IPA chart is here. NOTE: there is no need to memorize the chart ;-). Next week please bring with you the exercises handout I gave to you today.

Homework assignments etc.

18. October 2006, Homework 0: Read lecture notes and review class exercise (the exercise is the following: Is monologue one word, two words, one word plus one thingummy?).
25. October 2006, Homework 1: Exercise (13) on Zoque (handout provided). Please submit your solution in class on 1. November. Those who cannot meet the tutor next week and need help with the homework, please contact me by email (vaishth@acm.org). If you did not write your email for me in class, pleasse send me email so I know how to contact you.
8. November 2006, Homework 2: Exercise (5) on Tarahumara (handout; copy lies outside my door), due 15. Nov at the beginning of class. Also please read updated lecture notes (two new chapters): Download lecture notes from here.
22. November 2006: No official homework, but review Turkish quiz, and do Finnish and Lezgian vowel harmony exercises for class discussion. Next week we will briefly discuss these topics, I will assign another assimilation and dissimilation homework assignment and then we will move on to other issues. .
29. November 2006: Homework on primary and secondary suffixes in English. In order to do the homework you will benefit from reading the morphology-phonology chapter in the lecture notes. You will also benefit from reading ahead the chapter on derivation. Download updated lecture notes from here.
.

Midterm: The midterm planned for the 10th of January 2006 is cancelled. Instead there will be an example-based review of the course.
Final exam date etc: The final examination will be held on Monday 12. February 2007, in Haus 10, room 026 (the same room we have the class in). It is a 2 hour long examination, 10-12 (exam starts EXACTLY at 10AM). Dictionaries are allowed, as are all notes etc. that you may need. This is an "open book" exam. What is not allowed is looking at others' solutions or asking others for help. I will be present for the exam, so you can ask me if you have questions during the exam.

Final grades