Instructor: Matt Wagers
Tutor: Sylvia Soule
Course meets: Tu/Th, 4pm - 5:45pm, Cowell 113
Instructor office hours: Wed, 1-3pm, Stevenson 231
Tutorial hours: Mon, 4-6pm; Tues, 12n-3pm, Stevenson 232*
*Or elsewhere in
Linguistics, as posted on the 232 message board
The goal of psycholinguistics is to develop models of language cognition: how is language acquired? how is language comprehended? how is language produced?
KNOWLEDGE. LING157/257 (LING*57) will introduce some of these foundational questions. We will examine basic properties of mental processes and representations involved in language processing (primarily perception); consider how those properties constrain or interact with theories of linguistic knowledge; how linguistic processes can be deployed both over very small time-scales -- say, hundreds of milliseconds -- and how they can change over longer ones -- months to years.
SKILLS. An important goal of the course is that participants will gain understanding about how knowledge is created in cognitive science.
Firstly. We will be reading many primary articles in the field (see Course materials below) and throughout the course you will achieve facility in reading those articles. But this is a learned skill and it has to be practiced!
Secondly. Course participants will learn the basics of experimental design and core experimental techniques in psychology and linguistics. To do that, we will conduct several psycholinguistic experiments on ourselves and our friends.
NOTE. This course is not an exhaustive introduction to the psychology of language. It is focused on the relationship between language structure and language perception. There are three core domains we will examine: phonology and sound perception, word structure and word recognition, and syntactic principles and sentence comprehension.
The schedule contains the day-by-day listing of topics, readings and assignments. It is maintained HERE. Please check it carefully and often.
Scale
Scores are not curved, so there is no competition. I do expect you
to work hard. But I also recognize the material is difficult. You will
receive a grade that fairly reflects that fact. The grades and their
numerical range are as follows:
Late Work Policy Assignments should be turned in at the beginning of class on the day they are due (within the first 15 minutes). If you are unsure whether you will be able to make it to class on time, email me the completed assignment in advance of class. Otherwise, the work is late. Late work is penalized as follows:
As a complement to the late work policy, it is the instructor's responsibility to return your work in a timely manner.
LING257 Enrollees
Graduate students must assume responsibility for their own academic
careers. Within the context of this course, I advise you to read widely,
as suggested by the supplemental bibliography. Naturally your written
work will be held to high standards for clarity, incorporation of
relevant background, analytic rigor and synthesis of new ideas. You have
two specific additional responsibilities:
You are expected to take responsibility for your own learning. So here are the usual reminders for optimizing your performance in the class.
Attend class. You are responsible for material in your readings as well as those presented in lecture. Keep in mind that readings will often be primary sources or professional reviews, and it is during class that unfamiliar concepts will be explained and discussed.
Participate. Ask questions and offer ideas in class. Take responsibility in group work.
Complete your written work in a timely manner. Pay attention to instructions and due dates so you can plan the required research. Even in short responses or technical lab reports, the quality of your prose writing matters. It is an important goal of this class to hone your skills in communicating scientifically. You will be in a better position to do so, the less you have to rush. The late work policy is spelled out above.
Adhere to standards of academic honesty. From the Registrar [The Navigator, p. 3]: "Academic integrity is the cornerstone of a university education. Academic dishonesty diminishes the university as an institution and all members of the university community. It tarnishes the value of a UCSC degree."
This class involves a fair amount of collaboration in the form of lab work. For each assignment, I will make it clear what is expected of each individual. I will also ask you to list who you worked with. But here are the general guidelines: I encourage you to work together to understand material, to work out design of experiments, to share the responsibility for collecting data, and to help one another understand how to execute the data analysis afterwards. However, all analysis and written work must be completed by the individual.
The Academic Integrity web site contains the policies and procedures that bind us both for suspected academic dishonesty: here.
Request accomodation if necessary. If you qualify for classroom accommodations because of a disability, please obtain an Accommodation Authorization from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) and submit it to me in person outside of class (e.g., office hours) within the first two weeks of the quarter. Contact DRC at 459-2089 (voice), 459-4806 (TTY), or http://drc.ucsc.edu for more information on the requirements and process.
Communicate. Lastly, but most importantly, never hesitate to get in touch. If you get into difficulty, it is entirely appropriate to seek help. Come by office hours, or drop me an email. Likewise, if you are having a problem that adversely affects your classroom participation, contact me.