lin306-eng-ling

LIN 306

"Applied English: Readings in African linguistics"

6 Credits, Semester A, mandatory for linguistics students (AMU)

Objectives

This course aims at familiarizing students with linguistics terminology in English so that they can read and understand a text in English dealing with general and African linguistics.

Target students

L3 students in linguistics; students from the Department of English (optional course).

Contents

The course focuses mainly on morphology and syntax. First, it revisits (1) the importance of morphology, its definition and key notions (such as root, stem/base, formative, and the morpheme), (2) the various morphological processes used to construct words in languages and the three classical models designed to account for them, (3) the issue of inflection and derivation. On syntax, the course essentially deals with the argumentation in the analysis of syntactic constituents through the study of dative shift and causative constructions and derived subordinate clauses. These topics are illustrated using published descriptions in English of Niger languages, such as Hausa and Zarma.

Prerequisites

An introductory course in linguistics (such as LSH 104A), a .PDF-capable smartphone or tablet.

Tasks and evaluation

Class attendance is obligatory. Students are evaluated with a mid-term exam, group homework on morphology and syntax, reading controls, and a final exam using multiple choice questions.

Readings

Abdoulaye, M.L. 2009. Two types of temporal when clauses in Hausa. The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics 2.

Abdoulaye, M.L. 2015. Course summary on morphology. (ms.)

Abdoulaye, M.L. & M. Buba. 2015. Comitative-based causative constructions in Zarma. SKY Journal of Linguistics 28.

Anderson, S.R. 1985. Inflectional morphology. In: T. Shopen, ed., Language typology and syntactic description (Vol. 3.). Cambridge: CUP.

Benitez-Torres, C.M. 2009. Inflectional and derivational morphology in Tagdal: A mixed language. Matondo et al. (eds.), ACAL 38. Sommeville M.A.: Cascadilla.

Cowan, W. & Rakušan, J. 1998. Source book for linguistics. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.

Haspelmath, M. & A.D. Sims. 2010. Understanding morphology. 2nd Edition. London: Hodder Education.

Tuller, L.A. 1984. Datives in Hausa. North-Eastern Linguistics Society 14.