Knowledge of language (LF & AK)

Generative grammar & compositionality. Linguistic illusions (McGurk effect).

To read: Krifka on Compositionality. Access this link from campus or via the UMass library. Alternatively, access the PDF file (112 KB) with your UMail password.

Additional links: Videos of the McGurk Effect: Wikipedia. Look at the high resolution Quicktime video. The Stroop test.

A topic for a first essay (about one page, typed) will be handed out on Monday and is due on Friday. Start thinking about your group project: we will give you some guidelines. A short syntax assignment will be handed out on Friday and is due on Monday.

Mental architecture (LF)

Perception of syntactic structure. The autonomy of syntax.

To read: Edwin Williams on syntax (campus access). PDF file (140 KB). The little syntax assignment is due today. It prepares you for the lectures on syntax.

The acquisition of syntax (LF)

Acquisition of syntax. Williams Syndrom.

First quiz on Friday.

To read: Pinker on language acquisition. Access from campus via the CogNet library. Access the PDF file (4.4 MB, printable) with your UMail password.

Recommended: More on language acquisition. More on syntactic structures.

The mechanical mind (AK)

President's Day on Monday. Monday schedule on Tuesday.

Some history: minds as machines. Turing. Computability. Simple recipes for complex patterns.

The Turing Test Site. Talk to some programs. Eliza.

An essay about your attempts to find out via suitable tests whether Eliza has human language is due on Friday. Remember to attach the exact protocol of your interactions with Eliza.

Recommended readings if you want to know more about Turing, Turing Machines and the Turing Test.

To read and watch from Scientific American Frontiers: Friendly Genes. A broadcast about Williams Syndrom.

Mind reading, mind blindness (AK)

Theory of Mind. Autism.

To read: Baron-Cohen on mindblindness (PDF 500 KB); Smith on putting a banana in your ear (PDF 300 KB); Bloom on mind readers (PDF 2.30 MB).

To read and (maybe) watch: My experiences with autism by Temple Grandin. A broadcast from Scientific American Frontiers.

Essay for Friday: Imagine you are a person who is mindblind, but you have no problems with the phonology, syntax, or semantics of your language. Describe a scene you experienced today from this perspective. About one page typed.

Optional: More on mind reading and the acquisition of words.

Layers of meaning (LF)

Literal meaning, implicatures, gestures.

To read: Gestures offer Insight (300 KB). Entry Implicatures in the MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (access from Campus). Alternatively, access the entry as PDF file with your UMail user name and password (120 KB).

Going beyond this class: Entry Pragmatics in the MIT Encyclopedia.

More on layers of meaning (LF)

Composing meanings (AK)

Meaning composition in compounds and phrasal syntax.

To read: Jackendoff on the evolutionary perspective on meaning composition (2.2 MB);

March 14: Group presentation: Layers of Meaning.

Composing meanings (AK)

Meaning composition in animal language (chimps, vervet monkeys, chickens).

Hauser on wild minds (4.4 MB); Smith on Bonobos (PDF 500 KB).

March 28: Group presentation on Theory of Mind in Animals (and comparison to humans).

Second quiz postponed to Monday.

Naming (AK)

Names for individuals and kinds.

Second quiz on Monday.

To read: Paul Bloom on natural kinds and artifacts.

April 4: Group presentation on Theory of Mind and Autism.

The acquisition of word meanings (AK)

The Gavagai problem. Fast mapping. What do children know about the meanings of common nouns?

Third quiz on Friday.

To read: Last week's reading on natural kinds and artifacts is still relevant. New reading: another (very short) article by Paul Bloom that gives a good overview of the Gavagai problem and how children might solve it.

To find out more about word learning, we recommend Bloom's summary of his book on the acquisition of word meanings. And there is, of course, the book itself, which you can access via the CogNet Library.

On Wednesday, the class will meet in Campus Center Room 904 for Gennaro Chierchia's lecture.

Language and vision (LF)

Linguistic versus visual representations. Left versus right hemisphere. Properties of sign languages.

Readings: Can Language Restructure Cognition? Also: Entry on Sign Languages (Newport & Supalla). The link works for access on campus. If you are not on Campus, access the CogNet Library via Databases on the UMass library website. Log in with your UMAccess user name and password. Within the CogNet library, go to References, The MIT Encyclopedia, Linguistics & Languages, and finally to Sign Languages.

April 18: Group presentation on various aspects of Language Acquisition (teaching language to primates, acquisition of sign language, learning to read).

Language and the brain (LF)

Spoken language aphasia. Sign language aphasia.

Holiday on Monday.

Readings on Aphasia (Swinney) and Sign Language and the Brain (Corina). The links work for access on campus. For non-campus access of articles via CogNet see above.

April 25: Group presentation on the Acquisition of Syntax.

Language and the brain (LF) .

Fourth quiz on Friday.

Still: Readings on Aphasia (Swinney) and Sign Language and the Brain (Corina). The links work for access on campus. For non-campus access of articles via CogNet see above.

May 2: Group presentation on Christopher (a language savant).

Language birth. Design features of human languages (Ak)

To read: New Yorker article on the Pirahã (4.5 MB, PDF). Direct link to New Yorker article.

Recommended: Nevins et al on Pirahã exceptionality. Everett: Cultural constraints on grammar in Pirahã?

Last day of classes on Tuesday.

Final paper due in class. No extensions, no e-mail submissions. About 10 pages, typed. The paper should be a report on your individual contribution to your group project.

Course evaluations.