Introduction to Chinese Linguistics II [CHIN3124]
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, GWU
[Offered in the Spring Semester]

Course Description:

CHIN 3124 is a continuation of CHIN3123. In CHIN3124, we will focus on the history of the Chinese language, classical Chinese grammar, dialectology of modern Chinese, sociolinguistics, language acquisition and special topics in Modern Chinese grammar, phonology/phonetics, semantics and pragmatics.

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 CHIN3123 should be able to handle the course materials, although CHIN3123 is not required to take this 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 1	General review of key concepts and data from CHIN3123
Week 2	Genealogical and typological characterization of Chinese
Week 3	Historical Phonology of Chinese: Middle Chinese and the Qieyun Phonological System
Week 4	Continuation of Qieyun phonology
Week 5	Historical Phonology of Chinese: reconstruction of Old Chinese
Week 6	Historical Phonology of Chinese: Early Modern Chinese and the Zhongyuan Yinyun Phonological System; mid-term exam
Week 7	Continuation of Zhongyuan Yinyun phonology
Week 8	Classical Chinese: words, morphemes and sentence structure Take-Home exam (due after Spring Break)
Week 9	No Class (Spring Break)
Week 10	Classical Chinese: typical grammatical operations
Week 11	Dialectology: phonological characteristics
Week 12	Dialectology: historical origins
Week 13	Sociolinguistics
Week 14	Psycholinguistics
Week 15	Language Acquisition