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Course Structure for MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics at Cambridge

English Language
English Phonology and Orthography, with practical phonetics

Dr Brechtje Post
Phonology is concerned with the principles that govern sound structure in language. Phonologists attempt to
answer questions such as 'Why can words start in a consonant in all languages of the world, while not all
languages accept words that end in a consonant?' Such questions relate to the abstract representation of
sound, rather than the physical properties of speech (cf. phonetics).

This course provides a basic introduction to a number of key issues in English phonology. We will consider
the role of these issues in the development of phonological theory, and discuss the contributions of some
major theoretical frameworks. Particular attention will be paid to prosodic representations, the relationship
between phonetic, phonological and morpho-phonological levels of representation, the relationship of citation
forms to connected speech, and the relationship between different dialects. The discussion will be firmly
placed in the context of practical issues in listening comprehension and teaching pronunciation, and of
themes arising in other courses, in particular in language processing, language acquisition, discourse analysis
and syntax.

Reading for this course will include:

 Brown, G.1990. Listening to Spoken English. London, New York: Longman.


 Carney, E. 1995. A Survey of English Spelling. London: Routledge.
 Davenport, M., and Hannahs, S. J. 1998. Introducing phonetics and phonology. London: Arnold.
 Giegerich, H.J. 1992. English Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Gussenhoven, C. and Jacobs, H. 1998. Understanding Phonology. London: Arnold.
 Gussenhoven, C. 2004. The phonology of tone and intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
 Ladd, D. 1996. Intonational phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Peters, M.L. 1985. Spellings Caught and Taught. London: Routledge.
 Roach, P. 2000. English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Yavas, M.S. 2005. Applied English Phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.

English Morphology and Syntax

Dr James Blevins
This course provides a basic introduction to English grammar. The course includes a study of English word
structure and an examination of the grammar of English phrases, clauses and constructions. It concentrates
on the relationship between linguistic forms and their use and interpretation, and is especially interested in
the insights that contemporary theoretical work on English syntax brings to descriptive grammar. In the first
term particular attention will be devoted to issues of verb morphology and argument structure. In the second
term the tense, mood, and aspect systems of English will be discussed before turning to the other major
parts of speech and their phrasal counterparts. The principal emphasis is on using theory to elucidate points
of English syntax rather than on a theoretical discussion per se.

Reading for this course will include:

 Huddleston, R. 1984. An Introduction to the Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University


Press.
Semantics and Pragmatics

Dr Napoleon Katsos
This course provides an introduction to the study of linguistic and utterance meaning, with particular
reference to topics covered in other courses, language processing, discourse analysis, morphology and
syntax.

The course begins with the constituents of word meaning, concepts, and gradually moves to larger
constructions, sentence meaning, and then to meaning in actual communication, utterance meaning.

In the introductory lecture we define the goals of a theory of meaning and in lecture 2 theories of word
meaning are discussed from a linguistic, philosophical and cognitive science perspective. Lectures 3 and 4
discuss the lexicon and phenomena that arise when considering the combination of words, (argument
structure, theta-roles, semantic templates) and lecture 5 introduces truth-conditional semantics and
discusses predication, quantification and scope from a formal semantic perspective. Lectures 5 to 9 cover the
area of pragmatics, the meaning of actual utterances used in communication. They introduce Grice's seminal
theory on the difference between information that is grammatically encoded and information that is
pragmatically inferred, and they consider conversational implicature and presupposition, post-Gricean
developments and finally Speech Act theory. In every lecture, we will be especially interested in experimental
evidence that is relevant to the theoretical issues at hand.

Reading for this course will include:

 Grice, H.P. 1989. "Logic and Conversation", in H.P. Grice Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, pp 22- 41.
 Laurence, S. and Margolis, E. 1999. Concepts and cognitive science. in E. Margolis and S. Laurence
(eds) op cit.
 Levinson, S. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Margolis, E and Laurence, S. 1999. Concepts: Core Readings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
 Noveck, I and Sperber, D. 2004. Experimental Pragmatics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
 Saeed, J. 1997. Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.
 de Swart, H. 1998. Introduction to Natural Language Semantics. Stanford, Ca: CSLI Publications.

Discourse Analysis

Convenor: Dr Henriëtte Hendriks


This course offers theoretical discussion of the issues raised by the practical application of a range of topics,
some of which have been introduced in other courses, notably Semantics, Syntax and Psychological
Processes. The course begins with a brief overview of approaches to Discourse Analysis and proposes a broad
approach, drawing on many perspectives of how we understand the cognitive content of spoken or written
discourse. We move on to discuss the nature of text and the nature of context. The next four lectures are all
concerned with information packaging. The general topic of reference and anaphora is discussed with respect
to issues which include definiteness, presupposition, and given-new information structure. And then we move
on to look at shared beliefs, sentential and text organisation and the issue of coherence in discourse. The
final four lectures explore further issues of deixis, and the ways in which children learn to construct
narratives, looking at the overarching structure of conversation and the ways in which participants signal to
each other how what they say should be related to what was said earlier.

Each session is organised into a lecture together with a practical session where the theoretical implications of
the lecture are examined with respect to a range of discourse types.

Reading for this course will include:

 Brown, G. and Yule, G. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Brown, G. 1995. Speakers, Listeners and Communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Brown, P. and Levinson, S.C. 1987. Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Davison, A. and Green, G. eds. 1988. Linguistic Complexity and Text Comprehension. Lawrence
Erlbaum.
 Gernsbacher, M.A. and Givon, T. eds. 1995. Coherence in Spontaneous Text. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
 Hawkins, J.A. (1991) 'On (in)definite articles: implicatures and (un)grammaticality prediction', Journal
of Linguistics 27:405-442.
 Hawkins, J.A. (2004) The grammaticalization of definiteness marking. In: J.A. Hawkins.Efficiency and
Complexity in Grammars. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 82-93.
 Hickmann, M. 1995. Discourse organization and the development of reference to person, space and
time. In: P. Fletcher and B. MacWhinney, eds. The Handbook of Child Language. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers. 194-218.
 Lambrecht, K. 1994. Information Structure and Sentence Form. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
 Levinson, S. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Language Acquisition and Development

Social and Functional Approaches to Language Acquisition

Dr Henriëtte Hendriks
This course offers an introduction to the various theoretical approaches to second (and first) language
acquisition other than the Principles and Parameters approach. Part of the sessions will look at the
sociolinguistic approach to language acquisition, with topics to be discussed including multilingualism, social
factors influencing learners' attitudes (age, gender, power), bilingual education, etc. Other approaches to be
introduced include the pidginization theory, error analysis, morpheme-order studies, grammaticalization
approaches, functional approaches and studies basing their ideas on the phenomenon of the learner variety.

Reading for this course will include:

 Bremer, K., Roberts, C., Vasseur, M.T., Simonot, M. and Broeder, P. 1996. Achieving understanding:
discourse in intercultural encounters. London, New York: Longman.
 Eckert, P. 1997. Age as a sociolinguistic variable. In: F. Coulmas, ed. The Handbook of Sociolinguistics.
Oxford: Blackwell. 151-67.
 Ellis, R. 1994. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Garcia, O. 1997. Bilingual Education. In: F. Coulmas, ed. The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford:
Blackwell. 405-20.
 Gumperz, J. J. 1990. Language and Social Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Labov, W. 1990. 'The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change', Language
Variation and Linguistic Change 2:205-54.
 Larsen-Freeman, D. and Long, M. 1991. An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research.
London: Longman.
 Perdue, C. 1993. Adult Language Acquisition (Vol. I and II). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Tarone, E. 1988. Variation in Interlanguage. London: Edward Arnold.
 Wodak, R. and Benke, G. 1997. Gender as a sociolinguistic variable: new perspectives on variation
studies. In: F. Coulmas, ed. The Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. 127-50.
Principles and Parameters Approach to Second Language Acquisition

Dr Teresa Parodi
This part of the course will begin with an introduction to issues in the Principles and Parameters framework
which are directly related to language acquisition and learning. The aim is to present students with the major
background notions in linguistic theory, viewed as a branch of cognitive psychology. The notions to be
discussed include Language and Modularity, Innateness, Critical Period, and the notion of triggers for
linguistic development. Students will then be introduced to models of first language acquisition within the
Principles and Parameters approach. Evidence from lexical/morphological and syntactic development put
forward for each of the models presented will be discussed. In addition, issues in bilingual first language
acquisition will be addressed, followed by a comparison between empirical studies of child and adult language
development. Theoretical approaches to L2 development and a number of studies focusing on syntactic
aspects of second language learning will be introduced and discussed in the light of linguistic theory and
cognitive psychology.

Reading for this course will include:

 Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of Language; Its Nature, Origin and Use. Praeger.
 Ellis, R. 1994. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Eubank, L., ed. 1991. Point Counterpoint: Universal Grammar in the Second Language. Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
 Gass, S. and Schachter, J., eds. 1989. Linguistic Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Hawkins, R. 2001. Second Language Syntax: a Generative Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
 Hoekstra, T. and Schwartz, B., eds. 1994. 'Language acquisition studies in generative
grammar', LALD 8:
 Larsen-Freeman, D. and Long, M. 1991. An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research.
London: Longman.
 Meisel, J. 1994. 'Bilingual first language acquisition: French and German grammatical
development', LALD 7:
 Parodi, T. 2002. Language acquisition. In: Malmkjaer, K., ed. The Linguistics Encyclopedia. London:
Routledge. 286-97.
 Ritchie, W. and Bhafia, T. eds. Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. San Diego: Academic Press.
 Roeper, T. and Williams, E. eds. 1989. Parameter-Setting. D.Reidel
 Towell, R. and Hawkins, R. 1994. Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Bristol: Longdunn
Press.
 White, L. 2003. Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Psychology of Language Processing and Language
Learning
Language Learning and Processing

Dr John Williams
This course provides students with an introduction to fundamental issues in the psychology of language
processing and learning. Throughout both parts of the course there is an emphasis on practical
demonstrations of critical experiments, illustrating different experimental methods, as well as providing a
basis for critical evaluation.

(a) Monolingual and bilingual language processing


This part of the course gives an overview of the nature of language processing in adult monolinguals, and
deals with the recognition of spoken and written words, word meaning, syntactic processing, and discourse
comprehension. At various points in this traditional progression from lexical to discourse levels we shall
digress to consider topics such as connectionism, language processing in bilinguals, and the determinants of
language comprehension ability.

Reading for this course will include:

 Garrod, S. and Pickering, M. (1999). Language Processing. Psychology Press.


 Altmann, G. (1997). The Ascent of Babel. Oxford University Press.
 Harley, T. A. (2001). The Psychology of Language. Lawrence Erlbaum. 2nd edition.
 de Groot, A. M. B. and Kroll, J. F. (1997). Tutorials in Bilingualism. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

(b) Psychological mechanisms of language learning


This part of the course deals with the cognitive underpinnings of language learning. We consider the
neurobiology of learning, with particular emphasis on amnesia. We then look at research on implicit learning,
short- and long-term memory systems and their potential role in language learning, the role of attention in
learning and memory, research and theory on automaticity, and the interface between explicit and implicit
knowledge.

Reading for this course will include:

 Baddeley, A. (1997). Human Memory: Theory and Practice. Hove: Psychology Press.
 Ellis, N. C. (1994). Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. New York: Academic Press.

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