Courses offered in 2021-2022

Courses ending with suffix "A" or "Q: Fall term 2021 (from September 8, 2021 until December 8, 2021)
Courses ending with suffix "B": Winter term 2022 (from January 3, 2022 until April 1, 2022)

FALL TERM 2021

Linguist *9500Q/**9501Q - Graduate research seminar
Dr. Jacques Lamarche
Scheduled time: Fridays 11:30am-12:30am EST.

  *Linguist9500Q: Course number reserved for 2nd year MA students only
**Linguist9501Q:Course Number reserved for 1st year MA students only

As part of your training in linguistics, you will develop valuable transferrable skills that can be effectively applied in a wide range of job settings. This course aims to help students identify and strengthen their marketable skills and learn to present themselves effectively to prospective employers both within and outside of academia. These skills include time management, oral communication, grant writing, teaching, leadership, research, project management, editing, interpersonal skills, and an appreciation of ethical and civic responsibility.

Linguist 9600A - Syntax: The syntax of subjects
Dr. Ileana Paul
Scheduled time: Wednesdays 9:30am-12:30pm EST.

The main goal of this course is to familiarize the students with current syntactic theory, by investigating the notion of the grammatical subject and how it has been analyzed over the past 50 years. Students will be expected to read original literature in the Principles and Parameters/Minimalism frameworks and will learn about different approaches to syntax (e.g. Relational Grammar, Lexical-Functional Grammar). Students will also learn to apply what they have learned to new data from different languages.
By the end of the course students should:
▪ feel confident reading formal syntactic literature
▪ be able to apply theoretical analyses to original data
▪ be able to critique and present research papers
▪ feel confident about doing original research within the frameworks provided
▪ be able to communicate their research results (in the form of abstracts, squibs, and oral presentations)

Linguist 9640A - Morphology
Dr. Ileana Paul
Scheduled time: Thursdays 9:30am-12:30pm EST.

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words, of the processes by which words are
created, and of the relation of words and word-parts to meanings and to syntax. This course will
survey some of the important phenomena which have been noted in the course of recent
morphological research and the major approaches which have been proposed to deal with them.
Where possible readings will be taken from the primary linguistic literature focussing on key
articles and monographs. We will be exploring a shift from a lexicon-based to a syntax-based
theory of morphology, but in order to do this, we will (i) develop a common vocabulary to
discuss morphological structure, and (ii) explore ways that theoretical constructs can be used to
represent morphological structures. The overall take home message should be that all theories are
works in progress and closely tied to the datasets that they can explain.

Linguist 9752A/Spanish 9717A - Sociolinguistics of Spanish
Dr. Olga Tararova
Scheduled time: Thursdays 1:30pm- 4:30 EST. University College (UC) Room 2120

This graduate seminar focuses on the study of linguistic variation across the Spanish speaking world. It covers the central issues in phonological, morphological, and syntactic variation, analyzed from a geographical as well as from a social point of view. Introduction to survey methods in sociolinguistics and techniques for critically assessing different issues concerning the effect(s) of gender, age, education, and class are provided so students will be able to develop a research paper, as part of the course requirement. The classes will be divided in two parts: 1) discussion of the weekly material, followed by 2) Goldvarb software use. During the course, students will have an opportunity to carry an experimental work of their choice (e.g., investigating phonetic or morphological variation among different social groups).

Linguist 9709A/Spanish 9720A - L2 Speech Learning in Context
Dr. Yasaman Rafat
Scheduled time: Wednesdays 1:30pm- 4:30 EST.

In this course, we will be examining a variety of themes related to the acquisition of L2 phonetics and phonology including theories and models of L2 speech learning, the role of input, social and cognitive factors and universal phonetic principles. We will read and discuss empirical studies on important phenomena in L2 speech learning of a number of languages including English, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Arabic, & Japanese. Experimental paradigms most often used in laboratory research will be presented.


WINTER 2022

Linguist 9620B - Empirical Issues in Phonology
Dr. David Heap
Scheduled time: Wednesdays 9:30am-12:30pm EST.

  • Course outline

A range of readings are used to examine development of phonological theory over a number of decades, from the early generative linear approaches to more recent non-linear alternatives. The emphasis is on the dynamics which drive change from one model to another, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches in accounting for linguistic facts. Students explore a range of datasets from various languages to illustrate phonological processes and cross-linguistic typological patterns.

Linguist 9819B/French 9800B - Sociolinguistics: Language Variation and Change
Dr. Jeff Tennant
Scheduled time: Tuesdays 9:30am-12:30pm EST.

  • Course outline

This course offers students the opportunity to explore foundational research as well as some of the most recent work on language and society, with a particular focus on the theory, methodology and findings of sociolinguistic research on language variation and change.

Students will carry out an empirical analysis of a set of language data as part of their course project or do a critical survey of the literature to argue a position on a given sociolinguistic topic. Through bibliographic research and a class presentation, they will progress incrementally in their research on their chosen topic throughout the course, and this work will culminate in a final paper.

While some “classic” work in sociolinguistics will be read and reviewed, a significant proportion of our effort in the course will be devoted to studying some of the most recent research in the field.
The language of instruction will be English but students have the option of submitting written work in English, French or Spanish. Students in French Studies graduate programs are required to submit all written work in French.

Linguist 9708B/Spanish 9729B - Heritage Speakers
Dr. Olga Tararova
Scheduled time: Mondays 1:30pm-4:30pm EST. University College (UC) Room 2120

  • Course outline

A 3 hour seminar focuses on Spanish bilingualism from three different perspectives: linguistic (morphosyntactic), sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic. The course examines typical language contact phenomena with materials from Spanish. A number of case studies of Spanish in contact is provided to deepen students understanding. Introduction to survey methods in sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, and techniques for critically assessing different issues are demonstrated so students will be able to develop an individual research paper, as part of the course requirement.

Linguist 9724B/Spanish 9734B - Phonological Attrition
Dr. Yasaman Rafat
Scheduled time: Wednesdays 11:30am- 2:30pm EST.

  • Course outline

The goals of this course is to examine language change and relearning with a focus on phonology. We will discuss the effect of both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that constrain language loss. Various first language change situations and languages such as Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Mandarin, Persian and Dutch will be examined.


Summer TERM 2022

TBA