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Ling 6040:
Japanese Tense and Aspect
General Information
Course Description:
All languages have ways of specifying the temporal locations and
properties of events. There is quite a bit of variation, however, in
how exactly such information is encoded. In this course we will study
the Japanese temporal and aspectual system in detail. Specifically, we
will look at verbal aspect, tenses, aspectual operators and temporal
adverbials; we will explore their distribution and interpretation in
matrix clauses and in various embedding environments, such as temporal
adjunct clauses, relative clauses, conditionals and attitude
ascriptions.
In addition to getting a clear picture of the Japanese data, we will
pursue three interlocking goals: (i) acquaintance with the basic
formal analysis tools for the study of these phenomena in
compositional semantics and at the syntax/semantics interface; (ii) an
understanding of the interactions between temporal expressions and
other grammatical categories, such as modals and quantifiers; (iii) a
wider typological perspective on Japanese in relation to English and
other languages.
Prior familiarity with Japanese is not required. Japanese data will
figure prominently in the class, but each of the above three goals
will require readings and discussions on theoretical topics of a
general nature. Topics and readings are flexible. Students are
encouraged to propose their own research questions.
Prerequisites:
Permission of the instructor.
Teaching method:
Lectures, presentations, discussions. Students will be asked to lead
class discussions once or twice during the quarter (depending on the
enrollment and pace of the course) and to give a short presentation of
their final project (see below) towards the end.
Evaluation:
Attendance, participation, student-led discussions, small written
assignments, final take-home project. Collaborations are encouraged,
but must be arranged and discussed with me in advance.
- Students who lead the discussion should prepare a handout or
slides and submit them to me on the day of the discussion. These
materials will enter the evaluation.
- Written assignments will be required at irregular intervals,
about every other week on average. Typically they will be critical
discussions of the literature or statements of opinion on some issue
or data set. They should not exceed 500 words (about one page,
single-spaced, with normal formatting and font size).
- The final project will be due on the Monday of exam week. The
topic must be discussed with me at least two weeks before the due
date. The topic, scope, and the size of the deliverable will be
adjusted to students' level of preparedness (grad vs.~undergrad
etc.) and interests. There is much flexibility: It may be a
literature overview, an analysis of a linguistic data set, a
psycholinguistic experiment design, or yet some other topic I
haven't thought of. Students are strongly encouraged to come up with
ideas of their own.
Readings: Will be provided.
Etiquette:
No use of email or social media in the classroom, please.
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