Admission requirements
Introductory (BA-level) courses in (English) phonology.
Description
Our focus in this course is on the internal structure of segments and syllables. In the domain of segmental structure we consider the framework of Element Theory (Backley 2011), which offers a restrictive approach to phonological contrasts in terms of elements, rather than the traditional features. In the domain of syllable structure we consider the framework of Government Phonology (e.g. Harris 1994), in which syllables and higher-level units such as the foot are composed of an internal constituent structure. As we will see, this approach attempts to provide a principled answer to the observation that “positions in phonological strings vary in the extent to which they can support the distribution of a range of sounds” (Harris 1994: 4). In the course we will be mainly concerned with data from English, but we will also examine a range of phonological phenomena from other languages.
Course objectives
Insight into a number of recent developments in (generative) phonology
Insight into the importance of data in phonological theorising
Insight into structural aspects of segments and syllables
Timetable
The timetable is available on the MA Linguistics website.
Mode of instruction
Weekly two-hour seminar
Course Load
Total course load: 280 hours
hours spent on attending seminars: 13 × 2 = 26 hours
time for studying the compulsory literature: 214 hours
time for preparing the presentation and writing the final research paper: 40 hours
Assessment method
Oral presentation and classroom participation (20%)
Final written essay (80%)
Blackboard
This course is supported by Blackboard.
Reading list
Harris, John (1994). English Sound Structure. Oxford: Blackwell.
Backley, Phillip (2011). An Introduction to Element Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
A selection of recent articles (to be made available)
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
When registering, students that are registered for the specialisation that this course belongs to, or the Research Master, take priority. The deadline for registration is August 15. All other students should contact the “coordinator of studies”:http://hum.leiden.edu/linguistics/advice-linguistics/.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch