Instructor: Professor Jenny Saffran

528 Psychology, 262-9942

jsaffran@facstaff.wisc.edu

Office hours: Tuesday, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

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

New York, Harper-Collins.

Additional reading packet to be assigned

Course structure and evaluation:

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 will form the focus of our discussion 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 December 15, all students may automatically have an extension until December 18 (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. Many of the class sessions will consist of small group discussion and debate. You will be asked to grade your own classroom participation; I will provide you with guidelines for self-evaluation. Please come speak with me as soon as possible if you need any additional help or encouragement in feeling comfortable speaking in class, as I want all of you to be as vocal as you are able.

Additional pertinent information:

Attendance: While I will not be taking attendance, I will notice if you are not in class. If you will be missing more than two class sessions during the course of the semester, please see me. There are four class sessions that are absolutely required for all students -- the two debates, student presentation day, and the final discussion. Please see me if you know in advance that you will be missing these classes.

Readings: The readings are not overly extensive, but they are required -- if you don't read, you will have difficulty following the in-class lecture and discussions. If you have particular questions about a chapter or an article, please feel free to email your questions or comments to me prior to class so that I can be sure to address them during the class session itself. Office hours are also a good place to clarify readings or to go beyond them one-on-one.

Academic dishonesty: Cheating (discussing your answers on the take-home midterm with others) and plagiarism (on the term paper) will not be tolerated. Any such occurrences will be brought immediately to the attention of the relevant university judiciary committee.

Students with disabilities: All reasonable measures will be taken to accommodate students with disabilities; please come talk to me during the first two weeks of classes if I can do anything to facilitate your success in this course.

The College and Psychology Department require that the following statement be included on all syllabi: Occasionally a student may have a complaint about a TA or course instructor. If that happens you should feel free to discuss the matter directly with the TA or instructor. If the complaint is about the TA and you do not feel comfortable discussing it with him/her, you should discuss it with the course instructor. If you do not feel the instructor has resolved the matter to your satisfaction, then you should speak to the Psychology Undergraduate Advisor, Ms. Arlene Davenport (room 225 Psychology) or the Psychology Department Chair, Professor Janet Shibley Hyde (room 238 Psychology). You should speak to either of these individuals if the complaint is about the instructor and you do not feel comfortable discussing it directly with her/him. If you believe the TA or course instructor has discriminated against you because of your religion, race,

gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background, you may also take your complaint to the Affirmative Action Office (room 175 Bascom Hall). If your complaint has to do with sexual harassment, you may take your complaint to Ms. Davenport, the Psychology Department sexual harassment contact person.

September 2: Overview, organizational information

September 7: Pinker, Ch. 1; An instinct to acquire an art

September 9: Pinker, Ch. 2; Chatterboxes

Rickford; Suite for ebony and phonics. Discover, December, 1997.

September 14: Pinker, Ch. 9 (to p. 283); Baby born talking -- describes heaven

September 16: Debate: Are some languages "better" than others?

Pinker, Ch. 12; The language mavens

Barzun; selections from A word or two before you go

September 21: Pinker, Ch. 4; How language works

September 23: Pinker, Ch. 9 (p. 283 to 296)

September 28: Pinker, Ch. 5; Words, words, words

September 30: Guest lecture, Mina Johnson-Glenberg, Ph.D.

Reading and reading disorders

Reading assignment TBA

October 5: Pinker, Ch. 6; The sounds of silence

October 7: Pinker, Ch. 10; Language organs and grammar genes

Kim, Relkin, Lee, & Hirsch (1997); Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages. Nature, July, 1997.

October 12: Pinker, Ch. 11; The big bang

October 14: Pinker, Ch. 7; Talking heads

October 19: 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

Tomasello; Language is not an instinct (review of The Language Instinct)

October 21: Take-home midterm distributed. Due Monday Nov. 1 at 5 p.m.

Infant speech perception

Eimas, P., Siqueland, S., Jusczyk, P., & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171, 303-306.

October 26: Infant speech perception continued

Kuhl, P. (1993). Infant speech perception: A window on psycholinguistic development. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, 9, 33-56.

October 28: 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.

November 2: Early production -- infant babbling

Pettito, L., & Marentette, P. (1991). Babbling in the manual mode: Evidence for the ontogeny of language. Science, 251, 1493-1496.

November 4: Guest Lecture, David Robertson

Imaging the brain: what can fMRI tell us about language?

Reading TBA

November 9: Names for things.

Markman, E. (1990). Constraints children place on word meanings. Cognitive Science, 14.

November 11: 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.

November 16, 18: Term paper outline due April 18 in class

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.

November 23: 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.

November 30: Case study -- Williams Syndrome

Lenhoff, H., Want, P., Greenberg, F., & Bellugi, U. (1997). Williams Syndrome and the brain. Scientific American, December, p. 68-73.

December 2, 7: 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.

December 9: 3-minute student presentations on term paper topics

December 14: Final discussion

December 15: Term paper due (automatic extension until 5 p.m. on December 18)