LING 1A03 Assignment 2

It is not necessary to copy the questions into your assignment document. Please number your answers clearly to make the TAs’ job easier.

Students may complete this project alone OR may work in teams of two. It’s your choice! If you choose to submit a joint assignment, you are claiming that you both contributed equally to the assignment, so you both receive the same score.

1. If you completed this project alone, write SOLO.
2. If you completed this project with a partner, write:
   
   
   1. JOINT
   2. your name and student number
   3. your partner’s name and student number

3. If you completed this project with a partner, both of you should submit a copy to Avenue.

The following links tell stories of how people behave with language. Choose one of the links and write a response to it from a linguistic perspective. Your job is not to express your personal opinion, but to apply the linguistic principles from Chapter 1 to respond to the issues that arise in the story. (Consult the Rubric linked in the assignment folder for guidance about what your answer should include.) (5 points)

Go to the site Signing Savvy and look up the following ASL signs.

1. SCHOOL, NICE, COOK (verb)
2. DRY, SUMMER, UGLY

For each set of three signs, make a table that lists the five ASL parameters. For each set of three signs, describe each parameter, being as specific as you can, and noting which parameters are the same across the set of three and which parameters differ from each other. (10 points)

In the “Why we do Phonetics” episode of the Word to the Whys podcast linked in Week 3, Dr. Sanders talks about the value of the IPA.

1. Explain in your own words why a system like the IPA is necessary for studying spoken language. (2 points)
2. Why is it challenging to design a system like the IPA for sign language? Describe at least two of the attributes of sign language that make it harder to transcribe than spoken language. (6 points)

English includes many words with a repeating or reduplicative pattern such as singsong, mishmash, Tiktok, ding-dong, criss-cross, hiphop, seesaw, riffraff, zigzag. Many of these words describe sounds, but not all of them!

1. The reduplicating pattern of these words is similar but not identical across the syllables of these words. (In other words, we’re not talking about fully reduplicated words like rah rah.) Describe what’s the same and what’s different between the two halves of this kind of word, using vocabulary you’ve learned in the course so far. (2 points)
   
   
2. Comparing across the whole set of words, you’ll notice a common pattern for the relationship between the first and second syllable of each word. Describe this pattern using linguistics vocabulary. (Hint: it’s not about spelling!) (2 points)
   
   
3. Suppose you’re assigned to name a new product (or new Pokémon?). When you present your candidate names to an opinion panel, do you think they’re likelier to prefer sleedslode or slodesleed? Why? (3 points)