Undergraduate Course: The Grammar of Variation (LASC10091)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Language Sciences |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Just like every other area of linguistics you study, speakers¿ knowledge of linguistic variation is complex, and structured. In this course, you¿ll learn about how quantitative probabilities can be combined with linguistic grammars in order to understand language variation, with a focus on language internal factors. Specifically you will learn
- how researchers model linguistic variation using variable rules,
- the basics of how probabilities are calculated and combined,
- how to use the statistical package R to do these analyses.
Each week will consist of 2 hours of lectures or student presentations, and 1 hour of R practicals.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
12/01/2015 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
- A foundational understanding of how language internal factors on linguistic variation can be described by grammars.
- A basic understanding of probability, and how it can be applied to linguistic phenomena.
- The ability to load, organise, summarise and visualise data using R.
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Assessment Information
Completion of practical exercises (10%)
The practical exercises will be associated with learning the R programming language. Feedback will be provided on the students' code, and full credit will be received on submission of each exercise.
1 hour in class exam in week 6 (30%)
Final essay (4,000 words) (60%) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Labov, W. (1969). Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English Copula. Language, 45(4), 715¿762.
Cedergren, H. J., & Sankoff, D. (1974). Variable Rules: Performance as a Statistical Reflection of Competence. Language, 50, 333¿355.
Labov, W. (1989). The child as linguistic historian. Language {V}ariation and {C}hange, 1, 85¿97.
Guy, G. R. (1991). Explanation in variable phonology: An exponential model of morphological constraints. Language Variation and Change, 3(1), 1¿22.
Smith, J., Durham, M., & Fortune, L. (2009). Universal and dialect-specific pathways of acquisition: Caregivers, children, and t/d deletion. Language Variation and Change, 21, 69¿95.
MacKenzie, L. (2013). Variation in English auxiliary realization: A new take on contraction. Language Variation and Change, 25(01), 17¿41. doi:10.1017/S0954394512000257
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Josef Fruehwald
Tel: (0131 6)50 3983
Email: Josef.Frueh@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Francesca Kerr-Dineen
Tel: (0131 6)50 3961
Email: f.kerr-dineen@ed.ac.uk |
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