Linguistics 603 – Generative Phonology

meeting: MW 1:10 – 2:25, ILC N458
instructor: Gaja Jarosz
office: Integrated Learning Center, N410
email: jarosz@linguist.umass.edu
office hours: W 11:30-12:30 and by appointment

Overview
This is the first course in a two-semester sequence in phonology, oriented primarily toward graduate students in linguistics, though other interested participants are welcome with the instructor’s consent. The primary goal of the course sequence (603 and 606) is to prepare you to do research in phonology. A major emphasis in this course will be on Optimality Theory (OT: Prince and Smolensky 1993/2004) and its variants. We will survey OT’s foundational principles, its formal architecture, and the results it has achieved. We will also discuss the motivations for various modifications and extensions of OT and for alternative phonological frameworks. There will be an emphasis on theory development and comparison: a major goal of the course is to develop your understanding of the different assumptions and approaches that guide work in phonology today and the consequences that follow from them.

Download the syllabus here: 603-Fall2019-syllabus