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 fieldwork and experimental components.  The fieldwork component consists of meeting with a native speaker of an unfamiliar language and using your developing knowledge of linguistics to discover facts about that language.  The experimental component consists of meeting researchers and discussing the design and implementation of current and recently completed experiments conducted by members of the Department of Linguistics.  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 session.  Lectures and group activities take place during the first part of each day, and are followed by small group work with a native speaker of a language that is unfamiliar to you.  These languages change each year, but have included varieties of Chinese, German, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Korean, Japanese, and Mexican Spanish.
 

Sample schedule for SLIYS I

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

12:00-1:00  Introduction to Linguistics; Language Documentation and Elicitation

1:00-1:15  Break

1:15-2:00  Phonetics: Consonants I

2:00-2:15  Break

2:15-3:00  Phonetics: Consonants II

3:00-3:15  Break

3:15-4:00  Phonetics: Vowels

4:00-4:15  Break

4:15-5:00  Elicitation session with language consultant

Optional Home Lab for further practice
 

Tuesday

12:00-1:00  Sociolinguistics

1:00-1:15  Break

1:15-2:45  Visiting guest lecture

2:45-3:00  Break

3:00-4:00  Language Variation

4:00-4:15  Break

4:15-5:00  Elicitation session with language consultant

Optional Home Lab for further practice
 

Wednesday

12:00-1:00  Morphology I: Breaking Down Words

1:00-1:15  Break

1:15-2:15  Syntax: Breaking Down Sentences

2:15-2:45  Break

2:45-3:45  Pragmatics I: Grice and the Conversation Game 

3:45-4:00  Break

4:00-5:00  Elicitation session with language consultant

Optional Home Lab for further practice
 

Thursday

12:00-1:00  Semantics: What Words Mean and How They Fit Together

1:00-1:15  Break

1:15-2:15  Historical Linguistics: Language Change

2:15-2:45  Break

2:45-3:45  Morphology II: Processes and Typology

3:45-4:00  Break

4:00-5:00  Elicitation session with language consultant

Optional Home Lab for further practice
 

Friday

12:00-1:00  Typology

1:00-1:15  Break

1:15-2:15  Linguistic Prehistory

2:15-2:45  Break

2:45-4:45  Panel discussions with OSU Linguistics faculty and alumni

4:45-5:00  Closing

 

Sample topics for SLIYS II

SLIYS II topics build on the foundation established in SLIYS I, and change each year depending on the instructors' areas of expertise.  Representative topics from recent offerings of SLIYS II include:

  • Bilingual Phenomena
  • Child Language Acquisition
  • Cognitive Psycholinguistics
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Language Contact
  • Language Reconstruction: The Comparative Method
  • Loanwords and Loanword Adaptation
  • Morphosyntax: Pronoun Syntax, Case, and Clitics
  • Phonology I: Allophones, Phonemes, and Phonotactics
  • Phonology II: Rule-Based Phonology
  • Pragmatics II: Speech Acts
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Semantics II