LINGUISTICS 451: STRUCTURE OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (Last Updated: 9/21/14)

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1 LINGUISTICS 451: STRUCTURE OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (Last Updated: 9/21/14) INSTRUCTOR: Natasha Abner COURSE MEETING TIME & PLACE days & days Schmitt Hall OFFICE HOURS: 1:-00-2:15pm 204 Wednesdays 3:30-5pm & days 9:30-11am COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course approaches American Sign (ASL) from a linguistic perspective. Students will explore how their previous knowledge of linguistics (e.g., phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics) applies to a signed language as well as aspects of language structure that are specific to signed languages, such as the use of space for grammatical purposes. The course will also discuss acquisition, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic aspects of signed languages such as American Sign. Students will also be introduced to variation across signed languages by comparing American Sign to other established and developing signed languages. Knowledge of American Sign is not required. LNGN 210 (or equivalent) is a prerequisite. REQUIRED TEXT: Valli, Lucas, Mulrooney, Villanueva. Linguistics of American Sign. 5 th Edition. (Used w/o DVD is acceptable but discouraged for students of ASL.) Please note that this textbook also includes supplementary readings in general linguistics, should you feel that you need that at anytime during the course. COURSE WEBSITE: The course website will be located through the Montclair State University Canvas system. This website will host any and all additional materials for the course, including readings and assignments you are encouraged to visit it frequently. OFFICE HOURS: If you cannot come to my regularly scheduled office hours, please me to set up another time. If you plan to come during regular office hours, you do not need to make an appointment or send me an the idea behind office hours is that they are a walk-in sort of thing. Office hours are intended for you to have an opportunity to talk to me about anything related to the class or linguistics in general. Don t feel that you need to have a particular issue in mind when stopping by; just developing a habit of talking with your instructors will benefit you! COURSE QUESTIONS & COMMUNICATION: If you have any questions about the content of this course, they will only be answered in person (class, office hours, meetings) or on the course website discussion forum. Questions about course content will not be answered over . Your classmates may have the same or similar questions and this allows everyone to benefit from the discussion of these questions. GRADING RUBRICS, FEEDBACK & ANSWER KEYS: Rubrics and point values will be clearly stated on individual assignments. Written feedback on assignments may be minimal and answer keys will be made available in person for each assignment. For more extensive feedback on an assignment, please see me.

2 COURSE GRADES: Course grades will be determined as outlined below. Deviations from this grading scheme are at the discretion of the instructor. Participation: 10% Homeworks: 40% (Proposal, Annotated Bibliography): 15% (Class Presentation): 10% : 25% PARTICIPATION EXPECTATIONS: Attendance and participation in lecture is a mandatory part of this course. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of the lecture; it is highly suggested that you come on time lest you be marked absent. Unless other arrangements have been made, early departures will count as an absence. You are expected to have completed the assigned reading by the date listed and will likely need to re-visit the reading after lecture and while completing course assignments. HOMEWORKS: Homework assignments will be posted by day and due the following day in class. Homework assignments may be graded partially on completion. Students are encouraged to work together on homework assignments but must turn in written work individually. When homeworks are assigned, a portion of day s class will be devoted to working on the homework assignment. Homework assignments may be cumulative. Homework assignments may require internet access for multimedia files. FINAL PAPER: To engage in independent research and think critically about the material, you will be expected to prepare a final paper comparing the linguistic structure of ASL with that of another signed language. More information about final papers will be given in Week 11. You will be required to submit final paper proposals and annotated bibliographies of research references in Week 13. You will be expected to give a class presentation on your final paper in Week 15, soliciting feedback and questions from your peers. Feedback on final paper drafts and outlines will be given through December 16 th. Feedback on drafts and outlines is optional, but encouraged. Final papers are due by 5:00pm, December 18 th. POLICY ON LATE ASSIGNMENTS & MISSED ACTIVITIES: As a general rule, late assignments will not be accepted and make-ups for missed activities will not be granted. Deviations from this are at the discretion of the instructor and may require official documentation. ACCOMMODATIONS: If you feel you may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, please contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please also be sure to be in contact with the Disability Resource Center (Webster Hall, Room 100). A NOTE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS: If you are a graduate student seeking credit for this course, you will be assigned additional readings and activities throughout the course. You will also be given a modified rubric for the final paper.

3 Course Schedule (Subject to change. Please see Canvas for up-to-date syllabus.) Week 1 Week 2 9/4 9/9 9/11 Topics Readings Activities Background Daniels, Nine Ideas About on Linguistics and Signed LASL U1, U2 s Stokoe, Casterline, & Croneberg, Introduction to A Dictionary of ASL (LASL p254) Phonetics LASL U3, U4, U5, U6 Homework #1 Battison, Signs Have Parts: A Simple Idea (LASL p242) Phonetics, Phonology *Stokoe, Sign Structure LASL U7, U8 Homework #1 Due Week 3 Week 4 9/16 9/18 9/23 9/25 Phonology, Phonology (Sonority & Syllable Structure) Morphology Liddell & Johnson, American Sign : The Phonological Base (LASL p292) *Frishberg, Arbitrariness and iconicity: Historical Change in American Sign Perlmutter, Sonority and Syllable Structure in American Sign *Sandler, A Sonority Cycle in American Sign LASL U9, U10, U11, U12, U13 Klima & Bellugi, The structured use of space and movement: Morphological processes Week 5 9/30 Morphology, *Fischer, Two Processes of Reduplication in American Sign Homework #2 (Phonology & Morphology)

4 10/2 Morphology (Nominalization) Abner, Two-for-One Special: Resolving Ambiguity of Nominalizing Reduplication in American Sign *Supalla & Newport, How Many Seats In A Chair? Syntax LASL U14, U15, U16, U17, U18, U19, U20 Homework #2 Due Week 9 Week 8 Week 7 Week 6 10/7 10/9 10/14 10/16 10/21 10/23 10/28 10/30 Syntax, Syntax (Verb Agreement) Semantics/ Pragmatics Semantics/ Pragmatics, Semantics/ Pragmatics (Role Shift) Acquisition Acquisition, Emmorey, The Confluence of Space and in Signed s (LASL p348) *Benedicto & Brentari, Where Did All the Arguments Go? Argument-Changing Properties of Classifiers in ASL Lillo-Martin & Meier, On the linguistic status of agreement in sign languages *Padden, Verb Agreement LASL U21, U22 Zucchi, Formal Semantics of Sign s *Davidson, And or or : General use coordination in ASL Lillo-Martin, Utterance reports and constructed action *Dudis, Body Partitioning and Real-Space Blends (LASL p390) Emmorey, Sign Acquisition Emmorey, The Critical Period Hypothesis and the Effects of Late Acquisition *Chen Pichler, Using early ASL word order to shed light on word order variability in sign language Homework #3 (Syntax) Homework #3 Due Mid-Course Evaluations Homework #4 (Semantics/Pragm atics) Homework #4 Due

5 Week 10 Week 11 11/4 11/6 11/11 11/13 Acquisition (Non-Manual Markers) Emergence & Evolution Emergence & Evolution Variation Anderson & Reilly, The Puzzle of Negation: How Children Move from Communication to Grammatical Negation in ASL *Reilly & Bellugi, Competition on the face: affect and language in ASL motherese LASL U23, U24 Goldin-Meadow, Homesign: gesture to language *Senghas, Kita, & Ozyurek, Children Creating Core Properties of : Evidence from an Emerging Sign in Nicaragua LASL U23, U24, U25 Hoopes et al., Analyzing Variation in Sign s: Theoretical and Methodological Issues (LASL P470) Homework #5 (Acquisition, Evolution) Homework #5 Due Instructions Given Week 12 Week 13 11/18 11/20 11/25 Variation Sign & the Brain Sign & the Brain *Lucas and Bayley, Variation in Sign s: Recent Research on ASL and Beyond Emmorey, Psycholinguistic Studies of Sign Perception, Online Processing, and Production Corina & Spotswood, Neurolinguistics *Best et al. Effects of sign language experience on categorical perception of dynamic ASL pseudosigns Proposals & Annotated Bibliographies Due Week 14 12/2 Sign Arts LASL U25 Klima & Bellugi, The Heightened Use of *Sutton-Spence, Poetry Homework #6 ( Variation, Sign & the Brain, Sign Arts)

6 Week 15 12/4 12/9 12/11 Form- Meaning Relationship in Sign Klima & Bellugi, Iconicity in Signs and Signing Wilbur, The semantics-phonology interface *Meir, Iconicity and metaphor: Constraints on metaphorical extension of iconic forms Homework #6 Due Obligatory Final Meeting day, December 16 th 3:15-5:15pm s Due day, December 18 th By 5:00pm * Reading is for graduate students only