LIN102H1S Introduction to Linguistics:
Sentence Structure and Meaning
Summer 2021 Syllabus (Ver 1.1)
1. General information
Instructor: Kazuya Bamba (“Kaz”)
Contact hours: Office Hours (Instructor) Tue./Thu. 4-5pm
Help Labs (TA) Wed. 8-9pm
Weekly Q&A (Instructor) Fri. 1-2pm
E-mail: see §6. E-mail Policy below
Lectures: Tuesdays & Thursdays
7:00-9:00pm (Toronto time) on Bb Collaborate
Tutorials: Tuesdays & Thursdays on Bb Collaborate
TUT5101 (6:00-7:00pm) TA: Hong-yan Liu
TUT5102 (6:00-7:00pm) TA: Ana Tona Messina
2. Course description
This course is an introduction to fundamental principles of linguistics with particular attention to
sentence and meaning structure, their acquisition, processing, and variation; practice in elementary
analytic techniques using data from a broad spectrum of languages.
3. Learning objectives
Students who successfully complete this course will have the ability to:
� formulate relevant generalizations over data sets in a range of languages
� analyze syntactic structure at multiple levels of representation
� explore the meanings of syntactic structures in a systematic manner
� solve simple problems in semantic analysis
� recognize cross-linguistic uniformity and variation in syntactic structure and meaning
� explain various methods and findings in the study of sentence processing
� explain various methods and findings in the study of the acquisition of syntax and semantics
� debunk common myths about language and linguistics
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4. Course website
The course website is where students can find important announcements as well as essential
course materials such as assignments, assigned readings and lecture slides. The website is avail-
able on Quercus (https://q.utoronto.ca). In order to access the website, students need their
UTORid and password.
Important: Make sure that your Notification Preferences are set to be “X Notify me right away”
for Announcement (visit https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10624-4212710344 for
guidance on how to do this).
5. Course readings
There is no textbook for this course. All the assigned readings will be posted on the course
website (Quercus) and be available to students through the university library (or course reserves*)
except for a few online textbooks we will be using. (Note: The reading list is subject to change)
(1) “Essentials of Linguistics” by Catherine Andersen
– https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics/
(2) “Introduction to Typology: The Unity and Diversity of Language” by Lindsey J Whaley
– https://www-doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.4135/9781452233437
(3) “An Introduction to Syntax” by Robert D. Van Valin
– https://books-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/uri/ebooks/
ebooks5/cambridgeonline5/2020-01-23/1/9781139164320
(4) “Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Second corrected and
slightly revised edition ” by Paul R. Kroeger
– https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/231
(5) “An Invitation to Cognitive Science, Second Edition, Volume 1 ” by Lila Gleitman, Mark
Liberman, and Daniel N. Osherson
– https://cognet.mit.edu.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/book/invitation-to-cognitive-science
(6) “English Words : A Linguistic Introduction” by Heidi Harley
– https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/lib/utoronto/
detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=242446
(7) “Introduction to Compositional Semantics” by Ai Taniguchi
– https://aitaniguchi.github.io/taniguchi-semantics-reading.pdf
(8*) “Contemporary Linguistic Analysis (Chapters 4 (pp.100-130) & 5 (pp.139-177))” by William
O’Grady and John Archibald. (2015, 8th edition, Pearson Canada) ISBN 9780321836151
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https://q.utoronto.ca
https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10624-4212710344
https://www-doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.4135/9781452233437
https://books-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/uri/ebooks/ebooks5/cambridgeonline5/2020-01-23/1/9781139164320
https://books-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/uri/ebooks/ebooks5/cambridgeonline5/2020-01-23/1/9781139164320
https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/231
https://cognet.mit.edu.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/book/invitation-to-cognitive-science
https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/lib/utoronto/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=242446
https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/lib/utoronto/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=242446
https://aitaniguchi.github.io/taniguchi-semantics-reading.pdf
(9*) “Language in mind: An introduction to psycholinguistics (Chapter 9)” by Julie Sedivy. (2019,
Sunderland, Massachusetts : Sinauer Associates) ISBN 9781605357058
(10*) “Understanding syntax (Chapter 1 & 2)” by Maggie Tallerman (2019, 5th Edition. London:
Routledge) ISBN 9780367198404
* = available via the “Library Course Reserves” feature on our Quercus page
6. Email policy
Any course-related communication will be limited in the following ways. Please make sure that
you follow these policies, or your messages will not be read by your instructor.
1. E-mails about course content will not be answered. Please ask those questions in other
available venues, including office hours and tutorials.
2. Before sending your message, please first consult with the course materials available to you
(e.g., syllabus, lecture slides). Please also examine the “LIN102 – Help Tool” available
through our course website to see if you can find an answer to your question on your own. If
an answer to your question can be found on the module, your message will be disregarded.
3. Your message must be sent through the “Inbox” function of Quercus (for more informa-
tion, visit https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10573-4212710324)
4. Please make sure that you include the word “LIN102” in the subject line of your
message
5. Your messages will be replied within 24 hours when your instructor receives them. Your in-
structor will not reply to messages received over the weekends, holidays and other days during
the semester on which the university is closed. No message about assignments (including
their content) due on the same day or the following day will be answered.
7. Accessibility
If you need an accommodation that will have a significant effect on your participation, please
let us know right away. For long-term accommodations, please contact the University Accessibility
Services at the following link: https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/as. They will contact the
teaching team directly on your behalf.
Also, if you need any accommodation for the midterm test and/or the final assessment, you must
contact the Accommodated Testing Services (ATS) in advance: https://lsm.utoronto.ca/ats/.
8. Course evaluation
Students’ performance will be evaluated based on the following assessments:
� Students will be evaluated based on the Grading A criteria unless permitted by the instructor
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https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10573-4212710324
https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/as
https://lsm.utoronto.ca/ats/
� Students who are in different time zones may be evaluated based on the Grading B criteria,
with the permission of the instructor
� Regardless of which criteria you are evaluated based on, you are subject to the same submission
deadlines and policies
Assessments Grading A Grading B Due Dates
Course Engagement (see §13) 10% 5%
Assignments (x5) (see §11) 5% each x 5 = 25% 25% see the Course Schedule
Midterm test 25% 30% July 27
Final assessment 40% 40% TBA
Total 100% 100%
9. Lectures
Lectures will be held synchronously, on Bb Collaborate on Quercus, from 7 to 9pm on Tuesdays
and Thursdays (see Section 20 for the detailed schedule).
+ Lectures will be recorded for allowing students in different time zones to be able to access
the essential course information
+ Lecture slides will be posted on Quercus; however, students are highly encouraged to
attend lectures since they are resposible for filling any information that is covered in lectures
but not stated explicitly in the slides.
+ Active participation in the Lectures will be counted towards your course engagement
grade (see Section 13 for more details)
10. Tutorials
Tutorials will be held regularly by your TAs throughout the term to clarify the students’
confusion regarding the course materials and apply their understanding in a series of practice
questions. Attendance in tutorials is required.
+ Check the schedule for the tutorials below (also available in Section 1)
+ Make sure you attend the tutorial section you have signed up for on ACORN
+ Active participation in the Tutorials will be counted towards your Course Engagement
grade (see Section 13 for more details)
Session code Time TA
T5101 TR 6:00-7:00PM Hong-yan Liu
T5102 TR 6:00-7:00PM Ana Tona Messina
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11. Assignments
There will be a total of five assignments in this course. The deadlines are listed below:
+ Students must submit all the assignments following the Submission Policy in Section 12.
+ Assignments are made available regularly on a week before the deadline.
Topics Due
Assignment #1 Morphology July 14
Assignment #2 Constituency July 21
Assignment #3 Constituent order July 30
Assignment #4 Locality August 6
Assignment #5 Semantics August 13
+ For these assignments, students must provide their original and individual responses; collab-
oration in any form is not allowed
12. Assessment policy & Academic integrity
All the course assessments will conform to the following rules. No exception will be considered.
A. Submission Policy
i. All assignments must be submitted on Quercus
ii. No submission over email (or using the Inbox feature on Quercus) is accepted
iii. For the assignments that require a file upload, the file must be in PDF format (.pdf or
.PDF) and no other format is accepted
B. Lateness Policy
i. Assignments submitted after the submission deadline automatically receive a 50% de-
duction as a penalty
ii. Assignments submitted after 12 hours from the submission deadline are not graded and
students receive 0% regardless of their answers
iii. If students are experiencing technical issues with their assignment submission, they must
report it to the instructor at latest one hour before the submission deadline in order for
an exception to be considered (any extension request made within the last hour before
the submission deadline will be disregarded)
C. Academic Integrity
i. Anyone who is suspected of academic dishonesty will be investigated and subject to aca-
demic penalty following the Code of Behaviour and Acadmic Matters of the university
(http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Assets/Governing+Council+Digital+Assets/
Policies/PDF/ppjun011995.pdf).
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ii. For more information, visit https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/academic-advising-and-support/
student-academic-integrity-osai
iii. The Department of Linguistics follows the University Assessment and Grading Practices
Policy (http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Assets/Governing+Council+Digital+
Assets/Policies/PDF/grading.pdf). Our grading conforms to this policy.
iv. We follow the tDepartment of Linguistics’s departmental grading policy (https://www.
linguistics.utoronto.ca/undergraduate-programs/grading-policy)
D. Regrading Policy
i. Students who wish their assessment to be regraded must submit the “re-grading re-
quest form” available on our course website (Quercus)
ii. The request form must be submitted within a week after its grade is published
iii. Regrading will not be considered if the submission violates any of the Submission Policy
stated above
E. Missing Assessment Policy
i. Students who need to miss the assignment deadlines for extenuating circumstances must
contact the instructor as soon as possible in order for us to be able to consider a possible
extension.
ii. For anything considered foreseeable (i.e., non-emergency), students must ask for a possi-
ble extension by no later than two days before the deadline; no request made retrospec-
tively will be considered.
iii. For anything considered as emergency, such as medical emergency, students may request
after the deadline to report to the instructor for receiving a possible exemption. Students
must declare their absence by completing the Absence Declaration form on ACORN as
per the university’s policy.
iv. The grade for any missed assessments with a valid excuse from the instructor will be
redistributed for future assessments
v. The grade for any missed assessment without a valid excuse from the instructor will
receive a grade of 0% for the assessment
vi. The above policy applies to all assessments.
13. Course Engagement
A part of your course grade is assessed based on your active engagement with the class. Stu-
dents may earn up to a maximum of 10% of the final grade by actively participating in various
activities this class offers. Your arctive participation is evaluated based largely on the students’
self-assessments.
� There are three self-assessment submissions every other week during the semester:
– self-assessment #1 : July 18
– self-assessment #2 : August 1
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https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/academic-advising-and-support/student-academic-integrity-osai
https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/academic-advising-and-support/student-academic-integrity-osai
https://www.linguistics.utoronto.ca/undergraduate-programs/grading-policy
https://www.linguistics.utoronto.ca/undergraduate-programs/grading-policy
– self-assessment #3 : August 15
� Each assessment will be graded out of 3% of your final grade based on how active your
participation has been for the two weeks immediately before the deadline
� If you are evaluated based on the alternative grading criteria (Grading B), each assesment
will be worth 1.5% instead
� The remaining 1% (or 0.5 if graded based on Grading B) will be automatically granted for
students whose average self-assessment grade is equal to or above 2.0% out of 3%
� In the self-assessment, you will be asked to list and evaluate the various activities you
have participated in the previous two weeks. The activities can take many forms, including
(but not necessarily limited to):
– asking questions or answering questions during the live components of the course (i.e.,
lectures, tutorials)
– volunteering to answer your classmates’ questions in class
– posting questions, comments and/or replies on the course discussion board on Quercus
– sharing any relevant resources and links on the course discussion board
– coming to office hours (group or individual)
– attending TA’s weekly drop-in hours and/or weekly Q&A sessions
– forming a study group with your classmate(s) … etc.
14. Bonus credits
Any of the following bonus activities/achievements will grant students an additional 1% for their
final grades. When the instructor finalizes the course grade at the end of the semester, the extra
credit will be taken into account for the calculation (Note: the maximum grade will never exceed
100%).
� participating in a linguistics experiment through the department participation pool (proof
required)
� achieving a 80.0% average for the five Assignments
15. Grade redistribution
In the event the instructor grants the reweighing of a grade assigned to a student’s missed graded
assessment, the adjustment will be made in the following manner:
Missed assessment Redistributed to…
Assignment #1 Midterm test
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Assignment #2 Midterm test
Assignment #3 Assignment #4
Assignment #4 Assignment #5
Assignment #5 Final assessment
Midterm test Split among Assignments #3, 4 and 5
Final assessment No reweighing possible
Self-assessments No reweighing possible
16. Contact hours / Appointments
If you have any questions about the course materials, you should first bring those questions to
your TAs during the regular tutorial hours. We do, however, offer various other venues through
which you can ask for assistance with course materials and administrative matters. Note: Contact
hours are not requirements for the course.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Lecture & Tutorial Lecture & Tutorial
Office Hours Office Hours
Help Lab
Weekly Q&A
Office Hours:
If you need a one-to-one meeting with the instructor for clarification of course content or dis-
cussion of administrative matters, please sign up for one of the time slots during the regular office
hours or set up an appointment by sending an e-mail to the instructor if none of the slots works for
you.
+ Will be held regularly between 4-5pm (Toronto time) on Tuesdays and Thursdays
+ To sign up for a time slot during the office hours, click on the “Calendar” option on
the leftmost tab on Quercus, find the time slot that works for you, and fill the
information requested (for more information: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/
Student-Guide/How-do-I-sign-up-for-a-Scheduler-appointment-in-the-Calendar/ta-p/
536)
+ If you are to send an e-mail to the instructor for setting up an appointment outside the regular
office hours, please make sure that you follow all the rules listed in Section 6. E-mail Policy
Help Lab:
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https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-sign-up-for-a-Scheduler-appointment-in-the-Calendar/ta-p/536
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-sign-up-for-a-Scheduler-appointment-in-the-Calendar/ta-p/536
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-sign-up-for-a-Scheduler-appointment-in-the-Calendar/ta-p/536
The weekly Help Labs function as an extra office hour and serve as an additional opportu-
nity with which students can drop by for asking questions about any course content discussed in
Lectures and Tutorials.
+ Unlike office hour appointments with instructors, the current session will be held for any
students present altogether.
+ Will be held by TAs regularly 8-9pm on Wednesdays
+ No sign-up is required
Weekly Q&A:
In this weekly review session, the instructor will go over the materials discussed during the
week with the focus on the concepts for which students have reported as confusing/unclear/need
clarification on the discussion board, over emails and feedback forms.
+ Will be held by the instructor regularly 1-2pm on Fridays
+ This session will be recorded for the purpose of helping students who cannot attend the session
+ No sign-up is required
17. Course materials and Copy rights
All lecture presentations and handouts are the intellectual property of the instructor. Students
may not create audio or video recordings, or take photos of any materials, without
explicit written permission from the instructor. Students creating unauthorized recording
of lectures violate the instructor’s intellectual property rights and the Canadian Copyright Act.
Students violating this agreement will be subject to disciplinary actions under the Code of Student
Conduct.
18. Technology
University of Toronto has identified the minimum technical requirements for remote / online
learning. The requirements found in the following URL also apply to this course:
Recommended Technology Requirements for Remote/Online Learning
In addition to your access to a computer device, you are required to have access to the following
technology to be able to fully participate in the course activities:
+ microphone for participating in lectures, tutorials, and any of the contact hours
or any individual meetings with the instructor
+ access to Quercus/Bb Collaborate (you should have this already as long as you are
enrolled and not waitlisted for the course)
+ text-editing software for typing your answers and/or drawing tree diagrams (e.g., Microsoft
Word, LaTex)
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Recommended Technology Requirements for Remote/Online Learning
19. Student resources
Here are the links to some of the helpful resources available to you.
Linguistics Graduate Course Union (LGCU) Tutoring Services:
https://www.linguistics.utoronto.ca/curriculum-course-information/tutoring
Online Recognized Study Group (RSG)
https://uoft.me/recognizedstudygroups
Online Meet to Complete program (MTC)
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https://www.linguistics.utoronto.ca/curriculum-course-information/tutoring
https://uoft.me/recognizedstudygroups
20. Course Schedule (preliminary version)
as : Assignment / sa : Self-assessment
# Modules Topic Reading (text) Submissions Tutorials
1 July 6 Introduction (1) Ch 1, 7 X
What is linguistics?
2 July 8 Morphology (6) Ch 1, (8) Ch4 X
Word structure & formation
3 July 13 Syntax I (1) Ch 8 AS1 X
Constituency
4 July 15 Syntax II (1) Ch 6, (8) Ch 5 SA1 X
Phrases & Clauses
5 July 20 Syntax III (1) Ch 7, (8) Ch 5 AS2 X
Constituent order
6 July 22 Sentence Processing (1) Ch 9, (9) X
Ambiguity
7 July 27 Midterm Test*
No lecture
8 July 29 Syntax IV (1) Ch 8, (8) Ch 5 AS3/SA2 X
Locality
9 August 3 Syntax V (8) Ch 5 X
Long-distance dependencies
10 August 5 Semantics I (7) AS4 X
Compositionality
11 August 10 Semantics II (1) Ch 10, (4) X
Relations
12 August 12 Semantics III TBA AS5/SA3 X
Cross-linguistic differences
*Midterm test will be made available to students for 24 hours starting the regular lecture time on Tuesday
July 27th. Students may start this timed assessment anytime during the 24-hour window. More details
will be provided closer to the date of the test.
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