LING1000 Introduction to Language

Assignment #2
October 5, 2022

Part A Problem sets (50 points)

1. Structural Analysis (Morphology) - Swahili1 (18 points)

Examine the following data from Swahili, a language spoken in East Africa, and answer the
questions that follow.

a. [atanipenda] ‘s/he will like me’

b. [atakupenda] ‘s/he will like you’
c. [atampenda] ‘s/he will like him/her’
d. [atatupenda] ‘s/he will like us’
e. [atawapenda] ‘s/he will like them’
f. [nitakupenda] ‘I will like you’
g. [nitampenda] ‘I will like him/her’
h. [nitawapenda] ‘I will like them’
i. [utanipenda] ‘you will like me’
j. [utampenda] ‘you will like him/her’
k. [tutampenda] ‘we will like him/her’
l. [watampenda] ‘they will like him/her’
m. [tulikulipa] ‘we paid you’
n. [atanipiga] ‘s/he will beat me’
o. [atakupiga] ‘s/he will beat you’
p. [atampiga] ‘s/he will beat him/her’
q. [ananipiga] ‘s/he is beating me’
r. [anakupiga] ‘s/he is beating you’
s. [anampiga] ‘s/he is beating him/her’
t. [alinipiga] ‘s/he beat me’
u. [alikupiga] ‘s/he beat you’
v. [alimpiga] ‘s/he beat him/her’
w. [atakusumbua] ‘s/he will annoy you’
x. [unamsumbua] ‘you are annoying him/her’

(i) Identify all of the Swahili morphemes in the data set, and provide the meaning or function
of each. (9 points)

(ii) What is the order of morphemes in Swahili? (4 points)

(iii) Are the tense morphemes found in the dataset inflectional or derivational affixes? Explain
your answer. (5 points)

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These problem sets were taken from academic sources. The sources will be provided in the tutorials.
2. Structural Analysis (Syntax) – Scottish Gaelic (32 points)

Study the data below and answer the questions that follow.

a. Chunnaic mi an cù . ‘I saw the dog.’

b. Bhuail e an gille. ‘He struck the boy.’
c. Ghlac Calum breac ‘Calum caught a trout.’
d. Reic Calum an cù . ‘Calum sold the dog.’
e. Sgrìobh mi litir. ‘I wrote a letter.’
f. Ghlac Calum an cù . ‘Calum caught the dog.’
g. Bhuail Tearlach an gille. ‘Charlie struck the boy.’
h. Chunnaic an cù Calum. ‘The dog saw Calum.’
i. Bhàsaich Tearlach ‘Charlie died.’
j. Fhuair Tearlach cù . ‘Charlie got a dog.’
k. Sheinn mi. ‘I sang.’
l. Bhàsaich an cù . ‘The dog died.’
m. Chunnaic Calum cù ‘Calum saw a dog.’

(i) For each Scottish Gaelic word in the dataset, provide the meaning and identify the
word class. (9 points)

(ii) Classify the Scottish Gaelic verbs into transitive and intransitive verbs. Briefly justify
your classification. (7 points)

(iii) Write a set of phrase structure rules to describe the structure of the Scottish Gaelic
sentences as seen in the dataset. Assume that Scottish Gaelic has the following
categories: S and NP. (6 points)

(iv) Consider the sentence in (g) again:

(g) Bhuail Tearlach an gille.

Struck Charlie the boy
‘Charlie struck the boy.’

Analyze the structure of this Scottish Gaelic sentence by:-

(1) providing a tree diagram to show its constituent structure (6 points);
(2) identifying the grammatical functions (2 points); and,
(3) identifying the semantic roles (2 points).

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Part B Short essay (50 points)
Compare and contrast the following pair of concepts by writing a short essay of 450-550 words.

Arguments & adjuncts

Content:
• Use information from at least 3 academic sources to support your answer. Make sure all
sources are properly cited, and a reference list is included at the end of your assignment.

Cornell University. 2022. Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A

Checklist of Criteria. https://guides.library.cornell.edu/scholarlyjournals/scholarly. Last
accessed: Sept. 13, 2022.

• Use linguistic examples to illustrate your points.

• Non-English examples should be properly glossed (see handout from Week 1).

Referencing:
• There is no required or preferred citation style.
• See the Unified Stylesheet for Linguistics if you are looking for guidelines
(https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/unified-style-sheet).

Presentation & formatting:

• Word-process your work.
• Double-space your work, and include a word count at the end.

Word limit:
• The intended word limit is 500 words. A +/-10% buffer has already been included. Please
stay within the word limit.
• Words in linguistic examples are counted, but those in the reference list are not.

Turnitin:
• You will be asked to upload your work to Turnitin. Save all parts as one single file.
• You will be able to resubmit your work to Turnitin, if you accidentally submit the wrong file.
• The similarity index will not be released.

Assessment
This assignment is worth 20% of your overall course grade.

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Submission guidelines
Due: 11:59 p.m., November 2, 2022 (Wed)

Upload your SOFT COPY to Turnitin via Moodle.

You will see the link on Moodle one week before the due date.

A separate cover sheet is not necessary, but the following information must be clearly printed on
the first page of your assignment:-
(i) your full name;
(ii) your UID; and,
(iii) your tutorial group no.

Do NOT upload the question paper (this file) with your answers, or your work will get a very high
similarity index on Turnitin! Retyping the questions in Part A is not necessary.

Policy on Late Work

Late submissions will be penalized. Assignments submitted after 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 9,
2022 (Wed) will not be accepted.

The penalty for late submission will be a deduction of 5 points per calendar day, e.g. original mark
= 67 points; 1 day late = 62 points; 2 days late = 57 points etc.

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Appendix I – A guide for grading written work
When we grade your assignment, we look for the following items:-

1. Understanding, Analysis, Synthesis, and Application of Knowledge

a. Was the essay informative?
b. Did it contain only relevant information? Did the author stay on the topic?
c. Was the information accurate and reliable?
d. Were the key/ technical terms properly defined and used?
e. Was the essay original? Did the author include original points and examples, or was s/he
merely using the ones from the lectures and tutorials?
f. Were the main points/arguments well-supported by relevant evidence?
g. Did the author clearly present his/her own point of view on the topic?

2. Reading, research and Citations

a. Did the author use credible and reliable sources?
b. Was the selection of sources justified?
c. Were the sources referred to purposefully?
d. Did the author use material in accordance with copyright?
e. Did the author paraphrase ideas using his/her own words and try to avoid copying word-
for-word?
f. Were all the sources duly acknowledged?
g. Was a reference list provided?
h. Was the list of sources comprehensive?
i. Did the referencing style comply with the style described on the ‘Unified Style Sheet for
Linguistics Journals’?

3. Structure
a. Was the essay easy to follow?
b. Were the points logically sequenced?
c. Did the points flow naturally from one to the next?
d. Was the essay well-structured? Could the introduction, the main body and the conclusion
be easily distinguished?
e. Was sufficient background information included? Was there too much background
information and too little analysis?
f. Was the conclusion convincing?

4. Language
a. Were there spelling or grammatical errors in the essay?
b. Did these errors hinder the reader’s understanding of the content in the essay?

Appendix II – Grading rubric (on the next page)

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LING1000 Introduction to Language Grading rubric
Assignment #2

Categories Excellent Good Satisfactory Barely Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Marks

Conent (70% essay)

Thorough grasp of the Good to very good grasp of

subject as demonstrated the subject as
Reasonable grasp of the Minimal grasp of the Poor grasp of the subject
Understanding, by original, creative or demonstrated by
subject as demonstrated subject with little analysis with negligible or largely
Analysis, exceptionally astute generally persuasive
by some analysis of ideas of ideas or critical inaccurate analysis of
Synthesis, analysis and synthesis of analysis and synthesis of
or interpretation of interpretation of ideas or interpretation of / 25
and ideas or critical ideas or critical
texts/issues/other course texts/issues/other course texts/issues/other course
Application of interpretation of interpretation of
content or reflection on content or reflection on content or reflection on
Knowledge texts/issues/other course texts/issues/other course
learning experience learning experience learning experience
content or reflection on content or reflection on
learning experience learning experience

>=17.5 >=15 >=12.5 >=10 9.5 or below

Familiarity with relevant

Hardly any evidence of General lack of
Research, Some evidence of a reading and research is
Ample evidence of familiarity with relevant familiarity with relevant
reading generally sound adequate but tends to be
familiarity with relevant reading or research as reading or research, as / 10
and understanding of relevant rather descriptive with
reading and research required for the required for the
citations reading and research little evidence of critical
assessment task assessment task
reflection

>=7 >=6 >=5 >=4 3.5 or below

Organization (30% of essay)

Organizational, rhetorical
Very effective Effective organizational, Ideas presented are
and presentation skills, as
organizational, rhetorical rhetorical and generally not well Work presented is poorly
appropriate to the
Structure and presentation skills as presentation skills as organized or well argued organized, largely / 10
assessment task,
appropriate to the appropriate to the but still largely irrelevant and incoherent
contribute to overall
assessment task assessment task comprehensible
coherence satisfactorily

>=7 >=6 >=5 >=4 3.5 or below

Good to very good

Excellent knowledge and
performance in areas
Language
such as grammar,
vocabulary, and oral and
vocabulary, and oral and
aural competencies
Reasonable knowledge Minimal knowledge and Poor knowledge and
knowledge and
and performance in areas performance in areas performance in areas
performance in areas
such as grammar, such as grammar, such as grammar, / 5
such as grammar,
vocabulary, and oral and vocabulary, and oral and vocabulary, and oral and
aural competencies aural competencies aural competencies
aural competencies

>=3.5 >=3 >=2.5 >=2 1.5 or below

Part B Short Essay >=35 >=30 >=25 >=20 19.5 or below / 50

Part A Problem Sets / 50

Overall Grade >=70 >=60 >=50 >=40 39.5 or below / 100

70 = A- 60 = B- 50 = C-
47 = D+
73 = A 63 =B 53 = C Fail
40 = D (Pass)
77 = A+ 67 = B+ 57 = C+

Comments

Overall grade

Plagiarism or non-submission of coursework will result in a Fail.

Adapted from:
(i) ‘General expectations of student performance at the various grades'. Available online at: https://ar.cetl.hku.hk/pdf/grade_descriptors/General%20Grade%20Descriptors%20for%20BA%20Courses.pdf. Sept. 1, 2019.
(ii) ‘Grade Descriptions for Essays’, complied by CETL, HKU. Available online at http://ar.cetl.hku.hk/pdf/grade_descriptors/Grade%20Descriptors%20for%20Essays.pdf. Sept. 15, 2019.