What to Expect

What you can expect to learn

SLIYS is a condensed (and more fun) version of the Introduction to Linguistics (LING 2000) course taught at OSU. SLIYS coursework will provide hands-on linguistics experience that self-study or normal classroom work cannot. Our program includes both experimental and fieldwork components. The experimental component consists of participating in and discussing the design and implementation of current and recently completed experiments conducted by members of the Department of Linguistics. The fieldwork component consists of meeting with a native speaker of an unfamiliar language and attempting to discover facts about that language. Both components are designed to give the scholars an opportunity to engage in the study of language like a working linguist.
 

Your week at SLIYS

Instruction will be online and will take place between 12:00PM and 5:00PM EDT (16:00-21:00 UTC). Ample breaks will be included throughout the afternoon. Lectures and group activities take place during the first three hours of SLIYS, and these are followed by small group work with speakers on unknown languages. These languages change each year, but have included varieties of Chinese, German, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Korean, Japanese, and Mexican Spanish.
 

Sample schedule

This is a sample schedule from a previous year of our online program. We are constantly working to improve the SLIYS experience and each year brings new activities, so your schedule may be different.
 

Monday

12:00-1:15  Topic - Allophones, Phonemes, and Accents 

1:15-1:45  Break, get a snack, recharge mental (and laptop) batteries

1:45-3:15  Topic - Rule-Based Phonology

3:15-3:30  Break

3:30-5:00  Elicitation Sessions 1 & 2 [Language Consultation]

Home Lab: TBD
 

Tuesday

12:00-1:05  Topic - Phonology - Phonotactics and Loan Word Adaptation

1:05-1:20  Break

1:20-2:50  Topic - Historical Phonology

2:50-3:00  Break & transition to elicitations

3:00-5:00  Elicitation Sessions 1 & 2 [Language Consultation]

Home Lab: TBD
 

Wednesday

12:00-1:05  Topic - Language Learning and the problem of Zipf

1:05-1:20  Break

1:20-2:50  Topic - Pronoun Syntax, Transitivity

2:50-3:00  Break & transition to elicitations

3:00-5:00  Elicitation Sessions 1 & 2 [Language Consultation]

Home Lab: TBD
 

Thursday

12:00-1:05  Topic - Deixis

1:05-1:20  Break

1:20-2:50  Visiting Guest Lectures

2:50-3:00  Break & transition to elicitations

3:00-5:00  Elicitation Sessions 1 & 2 [Language Consultation]

Home Lab: TBA
 

Friday

12:00-1:05  Panel Discussion with OSU Faculty

1:05-1:20  Break

1:20-2:50  Presentation Prep Time

2:50-3:00  Break & transition to presentations

3:00-5:00  Presentations