Structure of Spanish – LIGN 143

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:00-10:50

U 413

Instructor:

John Moore

AP&M 4141

email: moorej@ucsd.edu

phone: (858) 534-1155

Office hours: Mondays and Tuesdays 4-5, and by appointment

TA:

Page Piccinini

email: ppiccinini@ucsd.edu

Office hours: Tuesdays 10-11, AP&M 4432

Sections: Mondays and Tuesdays 11-12, AP&M 4432

Welcome to LIGN 143! Have a great Spring quarter!

Goals: The goal of this class is to survey aspects of Spanish phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax from a linguistic point of view. Homework assignments and exams are exercises in linguistic analysis and good writing. All of this works best if everyone comes to class, participates in discussions, puts thought and care into the assignments, and makes use of sections and office hours. It doesn’t work very well if only a few students participate.

Attendance: Regular attendance is crucial. There are no textbooks, podcasts, etc. Rather, everything happens in class discussions and through the handouts, homeworks, and exams. Students sometimes run into trouble by not attending – they then don’t have the background to do the written work.

Homework: Homework is very important for this class. The grading scheme (see syllabus) allows for the learning curve that is involved – hence, even homework assignments that fall somewhat short will not bring your grade down, while those that are better will bring it up. However, it is crucial that you stay on top of the homework and make an honest effort to do the best job you can. Many students who run into trouble usually do so by not handing in several homework assignments. See the syllabus for more details. Homework will be posted to the website on Fridays and due in class on Wednesdays. Office hours and sections are on Mondays and Tuesdays to coincide with the homework schedule.

Midterm and Final: Both the midterm and final are take-home exams; they are similar to the homeworks, but a bit longer. The midterm will be posted a week before it is due – May 2^nd (due May 9^th). The final will be posted on Wednesday, of week 10, and will be due by Wednesday, June 13^th at noon.

Lecture notes: I will post summaries of what we have done in the form of lecture notes before the two exams.

Outside sources: Sometimes students feel the need to consult outside sources (e.g. textbooks) for help on the homework and exams. These sources will be sufficiently different from what we do in class that they will only confuse things. Also, this is not in the spirit of the class and it is usually obvious when this happens – don’t do it! Instead, come too sections and office hours to ask questions.

Collaboration: I allow collaboration on the written work, but it very important that this is limited to discussing ideas and not working out detailed solutions. It is also important that the written work is done independently. You must also list everyone you collaborated with on each assignment. If any work looks too close, I may have to refer the case to the Office of Academic Integrity.

Computers: The nature of the material does not lend itself to taking notes on a computer. Therefore, there is no need to use one in class. If you are surfing the web in class, you won’t be participating and won’t do very well.

Bottom line: This class can be a lot of fun and intellectually rewarding, but it does require effort and thought. If you work in the spirit of the class, you probably will do fine, even if you don’t understand everything. This is not the type of class that lends itself to mere memorization of facts.

Announcements:

Welcome to 143!

Final Exam:

The final will be a take-home exam. It will be posted on Wednesday, June 6^th and will be due by 4:00 PM, June 13^th. You can hand it into me in my office (AP&M 4141) or in the linguistics office (AP&M 3016). If you need to hand in the final in any other way (e.g. via email) get in touch with me before it is due. No late finals will be accepted.

Office hours – week 10 and finals’ week:

During week 10, John Moore’s Tuesday office hour (June 5^th) will be from 3-4.

During finals’ week, there will be regular office hours, but no sections.

Handouts:

Syllabus

Handout on phonetic symbols

Handout on laterals and nasals

Handout on stops and fricatives

Handout on syllabification

Handout on palatals

Handout on Phonemics

Handout on stress