1. Readings, comments

There will be a set of required readings, starting with chapters from McCarthy’s text. You will need to read these as background for class discussion, though I won’t always be directly basing the classes on the readings.

As an aid to your understanding and our discussion of the readings, I will be asking you to leave comments and questions on this blog. Successful completion of the course requires at least 7 comments over the course of the semester.

2. Problem sets

To understand phonology, you need to do it. There will be near-weekly problem sets, some of which will involve working with software for phonological analysis (in the beginning of the semester, we will be using OT-Help, which you should go ahead and install, and try out the sample files)

3. Final paper 

You will write a short final paper, and present the results of your research to the class at the end of the semester. A “prospectus” for the paper will be due Nov. 6th. We will discuss potential term paper topics in class Oct. 4.