Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:00-3:20pm in HH 178
Professor: Lisa Pearl, Department of Cognitive Sciences, SBSG 2314
Office hours: Wednesday 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Email is the best way to reach her to schedule an appointment not during these times. 
Teaching Assistant:
Galia Bar-Sever, Department of Cognitive Sciences
Location for office hours: SBSG 2221
Office hours: Wednesday 10:00am-12:00pm, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Email is the best way to reach Galia to schedule an appointment not during these times.
Announcements:
- 12/4/15: Lisa & Galia will have office hours
during finals week, but at different times than
usual:
Lisa = Wednesday 12/9/15 @ 12:30pm-1:30pm
Galia = Tuesday 12/8/15 9am-11am, Wednesday 12/9/15 @ 10am-11am.
- 11/24/15: Lisa & Galia's office hours this
week have
been changed -- check this message
board post for details. (Short version: We've
moved them to Monday 11/30.)
- 9/29/15: Galia's office hours are now
available, and will start this week.
- 9/16/15: Welcome to the class webpage!
Note: All assignments, all lecture notes, and most reference readings can be found by clicking on the relevant link in the schedule section. In addition, any reference readings that are password protected can be accessed by using the username and password found in the first set of lecture notes (Introduction to Language Acquisition), which can be downloaded from the schedule section, or in the relevant post in the "Administrative questions" section of the message board. Please note also that the first set of review questions (for the introductory material) is available to be downloaded and the first homework is accessible on EEE using the links on the schedule page.The material for the class that you are responsible for is covered completely in the course lecture notes, available (sometimes with accompanying podcasts) for download through the schedule section. However, reference materials are often helpful for understanding the material in the lecture notes, and will come primarily from the coursebook, websites, and occasionally short articles. These can all be found on the readings section and the schedule section.
Please note that Lisa will not have office hours on Wednesday November 11.
Language is an incredibly complex system of knowledge. Not only are there multiple levels of representation - sounds and words and phrases and meanings - but within a given level, even simple output forms can be derived from multiple interacting pieces of knowledge. Yet as speakers of any given language, we are often blissfully unaware of how much we need to know in order to be able to communicate with language.
One of the most striking things about language is that all normally-developing children learn their native language flawlessly, especially when compared to adults trying to accomplish the same task. This is true despite adults' superior cognitive skills. Children of the world seem somehow suited for language acquisition in a way that adult humans - and other animals - are not.
In this class, we survey the broad topic of language acquisition, focusing not only on children's developmental trajectory, but also on what knowledge of language is, how language acquisition relates to cognition in general, and acquisition of language by speakers with sensory or cognitive deficits. Topics include the biological basis of language, levels of linguistic knowledge, language and cognition, and language in special populations.
This course counts as a category III GE course. After completing this course, successful students will be able to do the following:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the theories, sources, and interpretations of human language acquisition behavior at the individual level.
- Understand and explain the scientific/interpretive methods used in (i) the acquisition of knowledge about human language learning behavior and (ii) the testing of competing theories about human language acquisition.