Words in English
Linguistics/English 215
Rice University
Prof. S. Kemmer

In addition to assigned readings specified below, students are responsible for reading the Course Content Links (from the black-bordered grid of links on the Course Information page as these links become activated on the web. Exams will cover readings, class discussions, the web materials in the Course Content Links, and any other materials distributed in class.

Week 1 8/23-8/25	Introduction; the breadth and diversity of English. (read Ch. 1)
Week 2 8/30-9/1	Kinds of words. Spoken vs. written English. Kinds of English. The beginnings of English (read Ch. 2) (Thursday, start video)
Week 3 9/6-9/8	The beginnings of English cont. (Finish reading Ch. 2) (Continuation of video) Layers of borrowings. Overview: The English Vocabulary. (Tuesday 9/7, Morpheme Quiz Set 1)
Week 4 9/13-/9/15	Word structure and word analysis. English word formation processes. (Quiz Set 2 on WebCT) (read Ch. 3)
Week 5 9/20-9/22	Word analysis and word formation processes cont. Parsing. (Thursday, Quiz Set 3 on WebCT)
Week 6 9/27-9/29	By Tuesday, Assignment: email us 5 new words with definitions (send to both kemmer@rice.edu, andrewh@rice.edu) Word analysis and parsing cont. (read Ch. 4) Review in class Thursday. Midterm activated on WebCT Thursday night through midnight Sunday (transition to Monday a.m.). Closed book/notes/other sources (no surfing the internet!). Covers class material, text through Chapter 4, web stuff.
Week 7 10/4-10/6	Allomorphs: the variant forms of morphemes Some basic phonetics; assimilation. (Thursday, Quiz Set 4) ( read Ch. 5 & Ch. 6 to p. 75)
Week 8 10/11-10/13	(Fall break 10/10-11, no class 10/12.) More allomorphy. Numerals and number words. (read Ch. 6 p. 75-90) (Thursday Quiz Set 5)
Week 9 10/18-10/20	Polysemy and semantic change (read Ch. 7) (Thursday Quiz Set 5: option to take it this week instead of last)
Week 10 10/25-10/27	Latin and Greek inflectional and derivational morphology in English. (read Ch. 9; Thursday Quiz Set 6)
Week 11 11/1-11/3	Classical morphology cont.; Latin and Greek phrases and abbreviations (read Ch. 11) Midterm Review Thursday. Midterm #2 activated Thursday. Covers chapters 5, 6, 7, 9, 11.
Week 12 11/8-11/10	The linguistic relatives of English. The Indo-European language family. (Ch. 10; Thursday Quiz Set 7) By Thursday, Assignment: email us 5 more new words, this time all of them neologisms, with citations (source and context) and draft writeups for Word Journal.
Week 13 11/15-17	Usage and variation. Slang. (Ch. 8; Thursday Quiz Set 8. Extension of Quiz Set 8 to following week.)
Week 14 11/22-11/24	(Thanksgiving recess 11/24-27, no class Thursday 11/24) Slang cont. Sources of new words. (Review Ch. 3, p.35-44; Quiz Set 8)
Week 15 11/29-12/1	New words cont.: Creativity and conventionalization. Conclusion. (Thursday Quiz Set 9. New Word Journal due Tuesday, November 29
Finals 12/5-12/15	On-line final examination.