Notes for LING-UA-2

Author: localhost433

notes/courses/LING-UA-2/00-intro.md

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+---
+title: Intro
+date: 2025-09-02
+---
+
+# Intro
+
+## Your teaching team
+- Dr. Laurel MacKenzie  
+- Dr. Lisa Davidson
+
+## The scientific study of language (LING-UA 2)
+
+### Linguistics: What do linguists want to know?
+- What is language?
+- How is language physically embodied and cognitively processed?
+- How is language use socially embedded?
+
+*(from U. of Michigan Dept. of Linguistics)*
+
+### In this class, we’ll try to find out…
+- **What is language?** Are names part of language, or are they separate? Do they show the same sorts of patterns as non-name elements of language? How do names and naming processes differ (or not) around the world?
+- **How is language physically embodied and cognitively processed?** How do our brains produce and perceive names? Is it different from how they produce and perceive non-name elements of language?
+- **How is language use socially embedded?** How do names reflect the social characteristics of their bearers? Can one’s name influence their life outcomes?
+
+## Names and society
+- First names, just like other aspects of language, have social correlates. Names and language can be signals about who we are and where we come from. *(Namegrapher)*
+- But names can also be a double-edged sword. When society discriminates against people from certain backgrounds, if one’s background is evident through their name, names can be a target of discrimination.

notes/courses/LING-UA-2/01-sounds.md

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+---
+title: Sounds (Consonants, Vowels, Syllables & Stress)
+date: 2025-09-04/09/11
+---
+
+# Consonants
+
+## How we classify consonants
+Consonants are described by **place of articulation** (where in the vocal tract the constriction is), **voicing** (vocal folds vibrating or not), **manner of articulation** (how narrow/complete the constriction is), and **oral vs. nasal** airflow.
+
+### Places of articulation (English examples)
+- **Labial**
+  - **Bilabial**: [p] *pit*, [b] *bit*, [m] *mitt*
+  - **Labiodental**: [f] *fan*, [v] *van*
+- **Coronal**
+  - **Interdental**: [θ] *breath*, [ð] *breathe*
+  - **Alveolar**: [t] *tip*, [d] *dip*, [s] *sip*, [z] *zip*, [n] *nip*, [l] *lip*, [ɹ] *rip*
+  - **Alveo-palatal**: [ʃ] *Asher*, [ʒ] *azure*, [tʃ] *chip/search*, [dʒ] *judge*
+  - **Palatal**: [j] *yacht*
+- **Dorsal**
+  - **Velar**: [k] *pick*, [g] *pig*, [ŋ] *ping*
+  - **Labiovelar**: [w] *wig*
+- **Glottal**: [h] *head*.
+
+### Voicing
+Some pairs differ **only** in voicing while oral articulation is the same (e.g., [s] vs. [z]). A quick test is whether you feel vocal-fold “buzz.”
+
+### Manners of articulation
+- **Stops**: complete oral closure -> [p b t d k g]
+- **Fricatives**: narrow constriction with turbulent airflow -> [f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h]
+- **Affricates**: stop + fricative release -> [tʃ dʒ]  
+  The set **stops+fricatives+affricates** are **obstruents**.
+
+- **Nasals**: oral closure, airflow through nose -> [m n ŋ]
+- **Approximants**: relatively open oral tract -> [l ɹ w j]  
+  **Nasals+approximants** are **sonorants**; in English, sonorants are voiced.
+
+> **Quick practice:** Transcribe and label the consonants in your first name.
+
+
+---
+
+# Vowels
+
+## How we classify vowels
+Vowels are described by **height** (tongue high–low), **backness** (front–back), and **lip rounding**. These dimensions are summarized in the **vowel quadrilateral**.
+### American English vowel inventory (high-level)
+- **Front**: [i] (*heed*), [ɪ] (*hid*), [eɪ] (*hayed*), [ɛ] (*head*), [æ] (*had*)
+- **Back**: [u] (*who’d*), [ʊ] (*hood*), [oʊ] (*hoed*), [ɔ] (*hawed*, not in all dialects), [ɑ] (*hod*)
+- **Central**: [ʌ] (*cut*), [ə] (*sofa*, unstressed “schwa”)  
+Rounded back vowels include [u ʊ oʊ ɔ].
+
+### Diphthongs vs. monophthongs
+- **Diphthongs**: vowel quality moves during the syllable -> [eɪ], [oʊ], [aɪ] (*bite*), [aʊ] (*bout*), [ɔɪ] (*boy*)
+- **Monophthongs**: relatively stationary tongue configuration.
+### Lax vowels and word-final position
+The **lax** set [ɪ ɛ æ ʊ] (and [æ], [ɛ]) have distributional constraints in American English-for instance, they generally do **not** appear word-finally without a following consonant.
+
+> **Quick practice:** Transcribe and label the vowels in your first name.
+
+
+---
+
+# Syllables & Stress
+
+## What is a syllable?
+A **syllable** minimally contains a vowel; many English syllable shapes combine consonants and vowels (e.g., **CV** *tea*, **CCV** *glue*, **CVC** *pot*, **CCVCC** *stink*). Complex clusters occur in words like *sixths* [sɪksθs], *twelfths* [twɛlfθs].
+
+### Parts of a syllable
+- **Nucleus** (vowel)
+- **Onset** (consonants before nucleus)
+- **Coda** (consonants after nucleus).
+
+### Syllable-building heuristics (English)
+1. **Nucleus Rule:** create a syllable for every vowel/diphthong.
+2. **Onset Rule:** maximize onset consonants-but only sequences that can begin a word may be onsets (*e.g.*, [ŋ], /ktr/ cannot start English words).
+3. **Coda Rule:** leftover consonants fill the coda.  
+Try parsing **conflict** and **manuscript** using these rules.
+
+## Phonotactics (what sequences are allowed)
+- English allows clusters but not all combinations: *[ktɑm]* is ill-formed in English (though cf. Polish [kto] *‘who’*); *strict* [stɹɪkt] is fine, but *[stlɪtk]* is not.
+- **Nasal place assimilation** before oral stops: *romp* [ɹɑmp], *lent* [lɛnt], *skunk* [skʌŋk].
+- Some segments occur only in onsets or only in codas: [tʌŋ] ‘tongue’ vs. *[ŋʌt]*; [hɪm] ‘him’ vs. *[mɪh]*.
+- Some vowels require codas; **lax** vowels [ɪ ɛ æ ʊ] cannot appear word-finally without a following consonant (e.g., [pɛg] but not *[pɛ]).
+
+## Lexical stress
+English contrasts stress positions: **OBject** (noun) vs. **obJECT** (verb); **CONflict** (n) vs. **conFLICT** (v). Prominence typically involves higher pitch, longer duration, and greater intensity on the stressed vowel.
+
+### Common stress patterns
+- **Two syllables:** **Trochee** (first-syllable stress) *never, window, sprinkle*; **Iamb** (second-syllable stress) *indeed, perhaps, amuse*.
+- **Three syllables:** **Final** (*introduce, guarantee, comprehend*), **Penultimate** (*bandana, December, regardless*), **Antepenultimate** (*excellent, festival, happily*).
+> **Names & stress:** Try naming examples that fit each pattern; note why some shortened forms are impossible (*Jennifer -> Jen*, but not *Je*; *Alfred -> Al/Alf*, but not *Alfr*).

notes/courses/LING-UA-2/02-change.md

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+---
+title: Naming Change & Blends
+date: 2025-09-16/18/23
+---
+
+# Naming & Change - How tastes shift over time
+
+**Themes**
+- Names behave like fashion: popular tastes evolve in orderly, progressive ways, then reverse once saturation is reached (“ratchet effect”).  
+- External events can nudge trends, but broad patterns often diffuse socially without central coordination.  
+- US given names have diversified over time.
+
+**Explore**
+- Try NameGrapher to visualize: a *fad* name (spike), a *U-shaped* revival, an *obsolete* fade-out, and a *new* spelling post-1980s.  
+- Compare wording variants in corpora (e.g., Google Books Ngram Viewer) to see analogous “fashion cycles” in language.
+
+**Discussion prompts**
+- Why do many families independently converge on similar name choices?  
+- What mechanisms could explain progression -> reversal -> slow cyclic return?
+
+---
+
+# Name Blends - Portmanteaux of personal names
+
+**Idea**: Proper names can blend (e.g., *Kim Kardashian* + *Kanye West* -> **Kimye**), following phonological and orthographic pressures.
+
+**Probabilistic constraints (tendencies, not rules)**
+1. **Overlap**: Blend where sounds/spelling overlap.  
+2. **Onset conservation**: The name with the more complex onset tends to come first.  
+3. **Lexical neighborhood**: Prefer outputs that sound like existing words (avoid negative associations).  
+4. **Orthographic transparency**: Keep common sound↔spelling correspondences.  
+5. **Understandability**: Result should clearly reveal both sources (match syllable count or stress when helpful).
+
+**Try it**
+- Justify given celebrity blends using the constraints above.  
+- For pairs with two candidate blends, argue which is “better” and why.  
+- Create and defend your own blends for the provided pairs.
+
+---
+
+# Trends in Name Data
+
+**Setup**
+- Copy the provided US and UK “Top 100/Top 10 by decade” sheets -> *File -> Make a copy*.  
+- Inspect structure (esp. the **Rank** column). Use *Data -> Create a filter*.
+
+**String utilities**
+- Extract edges: `=RIGHT(cell, n)` and `=LEFT(cell, n)` -> build **First letter** / **Last letters** helper columns.  
+- Fill formulas efficiently -> drag the **fill handle**.
+
+**Count/average by criteria (slow path)**
+- `=COUNTIFS(range1, "A", range2, "F", range3, "1904")` -> e.g., count girls’ names starting with **A** in 1904.  
+- `=AVERAGEIFS(rank_range, first_letter_range, "A", sex_range, "F", year_range, "1904")`.
+
+**Pivot tables (fast path)**
+- *Insert -> Pivot table* -> set **Rows -> Year**, optionally **Columns -> Sex**.  
+- **Values -> COUNTA** on a flag column (e.g., “Monarch name?”) to count; **Values -> AVERAGE** on **Rank** to track average rank over time.  
+- Chart it: select pivot output -> *Insert -> Chart*.
+
+**Mini-project**
+- UK: Are girls’ **A-initial** names more/less common in 2014 vs. 1904?  
+- US: Build a grouped flag for names ending with the **[o]** sound (various spellings) -> pivot by **Year** to see trend.
+
+---
+
+## References
+- Lieberson, *A Matter of Taste* (2000)  
+- Labov (2010) on diffusion and ratchet-like change

notes/courses/LING-UA-2/03-gender.md

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+---
+title: Naming & Gender
+date: 2025-09-25/30
+---
+
+# Broader patterns in Naming & Gender
+
+**Cross-linguistic cues**
+- Many languages use overt gender markers in names (e.g., Latin **-a** vs. **-us**; Lahu **cà-** vs. **nā-**).
+
+**English tendencies (probabilistic)**
+- Female names more likely to **start with a vowel**, **end in a vowel**, and be **longer** or **iambic**; male names more likely to end in a consonant or have voicing patterns that differ in initial segments.  
+- Are these still visible today? Use the datasets above to test.
+
+**Psycholinguistic evidence**
+- Listeners use stress/length/finality cues to infer a novel name’s gender; such knowledge parallels other category-sound correlations (e.g., noun/verb stress biases).
+
+---
+
+# Trends
+
+**Task 1 - Final-sound “genderedness” (Barry & Harper scale)**
+- Score each unique name by final sound:  
+  +2 -> ends in [ə]; +1 -> ends in any other vowel; 0 -> final liquid/nasal; −1 -> final fricative/affricate; −2 -> final stop.  
+- Then *Insert -> Pivot table* on **Top 10 by decade**: **Rows -> Year**, **Columns -> Sex**, **Values -> Average(B&H scale)** -> *Insert -> Chart*.  
+- Interpret: Do average scores by sex drift over 1890–2020?
+
+**Task 2 - Syllable count**
+- Enter **syllables per name** -> pivot (**Rows -> Year**, **Columns -> Sex**, **Values -> Average(syllables)**) -> chart.  
+- Compare trajectories with Task 1.
+
+---
+
+## References
+- Barry & Harper (1995/2000/2010) on final-sound scale and gendered endings  
+- Lieberson & Bell (1992); Lieberson (2000) on fashion dynamics and diversity  
+- Cutler, McQueen & Robinson (1990) on phonological distinctiveness of names  
+- Wright et al. (2005); Slepian & Galinsky (2016) on segmental correlates  
+- Cassidy, Kelly & Sharoni (1999) on judgments of novel names  
+- Kiesling (2019); Handschuh (2019) for gender categories/markers across languages

notes/courses/LING-UA-2/04-symbolism.md

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+---
+title: Naming & Sound Symbolism
+date: 2025-10-02
+---
+
+# Sound Symbolism
+
+**Warm-up (Bouba/Kiki)**  
+Two shapes, two names. One is *bouba*, one is *kiki*.
+
+**Definition**  
+*Sound symbolism*: when a sound or pattern of sounds “expresses a certain meaning directly and intrinsically.”  
+This challenges the traditional notion of the *arbitrariness of the sign* (that sound↔meaning pairings are mostly conventional, not iconic).
+
+---
+
+## Cross-linguistic tendencies
+
+**Size**  
+High/front vowels and palatal/voiceless segments often feel “smaller,” while low/back vowels and voiced/stop segments often feel “larger.”  
+Illustrations in multiple languages (English, Spanish, French, Greek, Ewe).
+
+**Proximity**  
+Pairs like “this” vs. “that” often show vowel contrasts that pattern with near vs. far across languages (English, French, German, Malay).
+
+**Emotion and connotation**  
+Clusters with [ʌ] in English (e.g., *mud, grumble, ugh*) skew toward “heavy/dull/negative” meanings.
+
+**Shape (rounded vs. angular)**  
+Bouba/kiki mappings: round sounds (e.g., /b, m, l, o, u/) -> round shapes; sharp sounds (e.g., /k, t, i, e/) -> spiky shapes.
+
+*All of the above are tendencies, not hard rules.*
+
+---
+
+## Names show sound symbolism too
+
+**Domains**  
+- **Animal names**: systematic differences track perceived creature properties.  
+- **Chosen names / nicknames**: speakers pick sounds that match desired persona.  
+- **Invented names (e.g., Pokémon)**: systematic correlations with in-world size/power.
+
+---
+
+## Evidence from studies highlighted in class
+
+**Baseball player names (1920–2017)**  
+“League-registered” first names show measurable correlations between phonology and player size proxies:  
+- More high vowels / shorter names / more sonorants often pattern with perceived “smaller/lighter” impressions, and vice versa.  
+Interpretation: when people select the public form of their name, they (probabilistically) align sound patterns with identity cues.
+
+**Pokémon across languages**  
+Correlations between name phonology and character **size/power**:  
+- Longer names, more voiced obstruents -> higher power.  
+- Fewer sonorants / different place features track with evolutionary stage.  
+- In Japanese data, more **labial** consonants associate with *smaller/cuter* items (mirrors broader Japanese branding tendencies).
+
+**“Round” vs. “sharp” names and gendered perception**  
+Experimental tasks with novel names:  
+- “Round-sounding” names (e.g., /b, l, m, n, u, o, ɑ/) are more often judged as fitting round/soft characters and are perceived as more feminine.  
+- “Sharp-sounding” names (e.g., /k, p, t, i, e, ɛ, ʌ/) map to angular characters and are perceived as more masculine.  
+Hypothesis: cultural associations (e.g., size dimorphism) + articulatory/acoustic cues -> implicit gendered expectations.
+
+---
+
+## In-class activities
+
+1. **Bouba/Kiki on Names**  
+Given pairs like *Milo* vs. *Kai*, *Noelle* vs. *Tia*, decide: round vs. sharp, and match to shapes. Explain which segments drove your judgment.
+
+2. **Nickname design**  
+Design a nickname that shifts the persona of a base name along a size/softness axis (e.g., from “tough/edgy” -> “cute/approachable”). Document which phonological changes you used and why.
+
+3. **Mini corpus test**  
+Take a list of names partitioned by gender from a public top-names list. Compute quick proxies:  
+- Number of high vowels, number of sonorants, number of voiced obstruents, length (in segments).  
+Report which features differ by group and whether they match the tendencies above.
+
+---
+
+## Takeaways
+
+- Sound symbolism provides **probabilistic** mappings from form -> meaning (size, shape, emotion, social categories).  
+- These mappings appear in **names** because names are curated social signals.  
+- Effects are cross-linguistic but **not universal** and are mediated by culture, phonotactics, and orthography.  
+- Good practice: treat them as testable hypotheses, not rules.
+
+---
+
+## References
+- Taylor (1976). On sound symbolism and arbitrariness.  
+- Berlin (1995). Huambisa zoological nomenclature and sound symbolism.  
+- Shih & Rudin (2021). Phonological properties of league-registered baseball player names.  
+- Shih, Kawahara, et al. (2019). Cross-linguistic sound symbolism in Pokémon names.  
+- Kumagai & Kawahara (2017). Labial consonants in Japanese diaper brand names.  
+- Cutler, McQueen & Robinson (1990). Phonological distinctiveness of name categories.  
+- Slepian & Galinsky (2016). Sound symbolism and social perception.  
+- Sidhu & Pexman (2015). Round vs. sharp sounds in name gender judgments.