Textbook: Steven Pinker (1995). The Language Instinct.

This course is focused on the psychology of human language -- how language is structured and used, where languages come from, and, in particular, how humans acquire languages. For the first half of the semester, we will read chapters from Pinker's book, The Language Instinct. These readings will cover a wide assortment of topics pertaining to the psychology of language, with an emphasis on why this topic is of general interest to anyone who has ever acquired or used a language (namely, one and all). During the second half of the semester, we will explore a subset of these topics in greater depth, with readings drawn from the primary research literature, focusing primarily on how children learn languages.

The class will be run in seminar fashion, with discussion highly encouraged. At least two days prior to each class, you will receive over e-mail three to five questions that we will focus our discussion on in the next class. These questions are intended to help you to organize your reading so that you focus on the most important issues in each reading assignment. Questions may reappear on the midterm.

Grading will be based on the following three components of the course, with weights as noted: Take-home midterm (30%), term paper (50%), and class participation (20%).

Take-home midterm: You will have two weeks to write your answers to the midterm questions; all answers must be typed. While you are free to consult any books or notes, you may not discuss your answers with anyone else. Grades will be based on your demonstrated understanding of the material in the readings and class discussions, the clarity of your writing, the organizational structure of your answers, and the logic of your argumentation.

Term paper: This paper is a research paper, focused on the psychology of language topic of your choice. The paper will be 10 double-spaced pages in length, with a bibliography of primary (journals) and secondary (books) sources conforming to APA formatting guidelines. You will be asked to hand in an outline of your paper three weeks before the paper is due (including at least three references). I will meet with each of you individually thereafter to fine-tune your topic and to discuss the organization of your paper. While papers will be due on May 8, all students may automatically have an extension until May 11 (no further extensions permitted).

Class participation: You are encouraged to participate fully in class discussions and debates, and to bring any questions that were raised by the readings to class. Obviously, participation grades will be affected by your class attendance. You will be asked to grade your own classroom participation. 

Reading assignments should be read before the date listed.

Date	Subject and/or Reading Assignments
January 20	Overview, organizational information
January 22	Pinker, Ch. 1; An instinct to acquire an art
January 27	Pinker, Ch. 2; Chatterboxes Rickford; "Suite for ebony and phonics". Discover, December, 1997.
January 29	Pinker, Ch. 9 (to p. 283); Baby born talking -- describes heaven
February 3	In-class debate: Are some languages 'better' than others? Pinker, Ch. 12; The language mavens Barzun; selections from A word or two before you go
February 5	Pinker, Ch. 4; How language works
February 10	Pinker, Ch. 9 (p. 283 to 296)
February 12	Pinker, Ch. 5; Words, words, words
February 17	Pinker, Ch. 6; The sounds of silence
February 19	Pinker, Ch. 10; Language organs and grammar genes
February 24	Pinker, Ch. 11; The big bang
February 26	Pinker, Ch. 7; Talking heads
March 3	In-class debate: Do you believe the evidence that suggests that humans possess innate linguistic knowledge (a.k.a. the language instinct)? Pinker, Ch. 13; Mind design
March 5	No assigned reading. Take-home midterm distributed.
March 10 - 12	Spring Break
March 17 - 19	Midterm due March 20 at 5:00.  Infant speech perception Eimas, P., Siqueland, S., Jusczyk, P., & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171, 303-306. Kuhl, P. (1993). Infant speech perception: A window on psycholinguistic development. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, 9, 33-56.
March 24	Infant word segmentation Jusczyk, P., & Aslin, R. (1995). Infants' detection of the sound patterns of words in fluent speech. Cognitive Psychology, 29, 1-23. Saffran, J., Aslin, R., & Newport, E. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928.
March 26	Early production -- infant babbling Pettito, L., & Marentette, P. (1991). Babbling in the manual mode: Evidence for the ontogeny of language. Science, 251, 1493-1496.
March 31	Word learning Markman, E. (1990). Constraints children place on word meanings. Cognitive Science, 14.
April 2	No class
April 7 - 9	Rules of language? Gleason, J. (1958). The child's learning of English morphology. Word, 14. Pinker, S. (1991). Rules of language. Science, 253, 530-535. Seidenberg, M. (1997). Language acquisition and use: Learning and applying probabilistic constraints. Science, 275, 1599-1603.
April 14 - 16	Term paper outline due April 16 The critical period for language acquisition Lenneberg, E. (1967). Selections from Biological foundations of language. New York, Wiley. Pages 142-154, 178-182.  Newport, E. (1990). Maturational constraints on language learning. Cognitive Science, 14.
April 21	Individual meetings to discuss term paper outline (outside of class) Case study -- Genie Rymer, R. (1992). A silent childhood. The New Yorker, April 13 & 20, 1992.
April 23	Case study -- Williams Syndrome Lenhoff, H., Want, P., Greenberg, F., & Bellugi, U. (1997). Williams Syndrome and the brain. Scientific American, December, p. 68-73.
April 28 - 30	The creation of language by children. Homesign: Goldin-Meadow, S., & Mylander, C. (1990). Beyond the input given: The child's role in the acquisition of language. Language, 66. Creolization: Singleton, J., & Newport, E. (1987). When learners surpass their models: The acquisition of American Sign Language from impoverished input.
May 5	3-minute student presentations on term paper topics
May 7	Final discussion
May 8	Term paper due (automatic extension until 6 p.m. on May 11)