Introduction to Chinese Linguistics I [CHIN123]
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
[Offered in the Fall Semester]

Course Description:
CHIN 123 and CHIN 124 form a general linguistic introduction to major aspects of the Chinese language including the history of the Chinese language (from Old Chinese to Modern Chinese), sound and structure of Modern Chinese, dialects and minority languages in China, social use and recent development of the Chinese language. CHIN123 will focus on modern Chinese grammar and phonology, although other aspects of the language will also be introduced. CHIN124 will look at different things in more depth and detail.

What this course is not:
This course is not a language course. Although the subject topic of this course is the Chinese language, most of the contents would be approached from the perspective of contemporary linguistic scholarship and class will be conducted mostly in English.

For whom it is intended for:
Anyone who has some general knowledge and interest in the Chinese language,  and the Chinese culture from the perspective of language can benefit from taking this course. Students who are Chinese majors and minors will definitely gain a better understanding of the Chinese language which will enhance their future studies.

Prerequisites:
No prerequisites. But some beginning-level knowledge of Chinese grammar, vocabulary and characters will be useful. Students who finished CHIN002 should be able to handle the course materials. Some knowledge in linguistics would be desirable as well, although we will also incorporate some lectures on linguistics in general throughout the course.

Course materials:

Student Learning Objectives:
At the end of this course, students should be able to

Assessment Methods:
Homework:  there will be weekly homework assignments designed by the instructor based upon materials covered each week. All homework assignments should be submitted by the due date. If made up within one week, your grade will be discounted by 10%. Students should not ask anyone for a specific answer to a homework assignment question. Sharing answers among students is not allowed, and it would be regarded as plagiarism.

Midterm: there will be a midterm exam. If you need to make up for the mid-term, you should let me know before the midterm.

Take-home exam: there will be a take-home exam on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Final Exam: there will be a final exam. No make-up exam will be given for the final exam.

Attendance and preparation:  students are expected to attend each class on time, and also be well-prepared for each class, i.e. do assigned readings before class. Active participation in class discussion is also encouraged. If you have to be absent from class for some legitimate reason, please let me know prior to the absence.
 
Grading Formula:

Attendance and preparation: 5%
Homework: 30%
Midterm: 25%
Take-home exam: 10%
Final Exam: 30%

The corresponding letter grades are:

>=94 A                           [90, 94) A-
[87, 90) B+                  [84, 87) B                    [80, 84) B-
[77, 80) C+                  [74, 77) C                    [70, 74) C-
[67, 70) D+                  [64, 67) D                    [60, 64) D-
<60 F

Course Schedule:

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
Week 1	Introduction to the Chinese language I (Synchronic view): standard language, dialects, other non-Chinese minority languages	Introduction to the Chinese language II (Diachronic view): history, writing system, genealogy
Week 2	The Sounds of Mandarin I: Articulatory Phonetics and IPA; the sound inventories; phonology and the Pinyin system	The Sounds of Mandarin: Tones
Week 3	The Sounds of Mandarin: Review and wrap up	Morphology 1: compounding and derivative-like  affixes
Week 4	Morphology 1: inflection-like affixes: aspect marker particles –le, -zhe, -guo	Morphology 1: review and remaining issues (tense in Chinese?)
Week 5	Morphology 2: clitics	Morpholgoy 2: reduplication
Week 6	Chinese writing I: historical development	Chinese writing II: characters and their structuring principles
Week 7	sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics of characters	Review and discussion
Week 8	Midterm exam	Language and Culture: Cultural underpinnings in language
Week 9	Language and Culture: borrowing	Language and Culture: Chinese Cultural Linguistics?
Week 10	Syntax 1: general tendencies: word order, parts of speech, etc	Syntax 1: constituency and phrase structures
Week 11	Syntax 1: Pronouns, Negation	Syntax 1: Sentence types: focus on questions
Week 12	Syntax 2: Nominalization	Syntax 2: Cleft sentences
Week 13	(take home assignment)	(no class)
Week 14	Syntax 2: Adverbials	Syntax 2: Prepositions
Week 15	Syntax 2: wrap up	review and discussion; student presentation