This class was quite difficult. Nearing the end of the quarter, there are many topics that should require lots of details and attention towards when prepping for the final. Homework assignments were initially manageable but topics covered after the midterm become increasingly hard to understand. My TA was really helpful in breaking down how and why things work the way they do and she remained patient with any questions we have. I regret not attending as many office hour sessions as I should have been. However, I would say that this course eventually became more of a self-study course as the weeks passed. To anyone who would like to take this course, I say to proceed with caution.

There are many comments I have towards Carson Schutze that probably will not completely fit into this, but I will try my hardest to convey to you why taking a seemingly-enjoyable course taught by him has been one of my deepest regrets. Having already taking Ling 1 this fall, I believed that Ling 20 would be a relatively simple course as I thought I knew a bit going into it and was interested in the subject material (going into a ling minor). Additionally, having taken three courses on top of Ling 20 this quarter, I believed Ling 20 would only hold 1/4 of my attention throughout the weeks of this quarter. With both of these assumptions, Carson proved me very very wrong. To describe this professor, he is the type of teacher who continuously acts like his class is the only one his students are taking. Assigning heaps of readings (that he constantly makes corrections on) and homework assignments that I dedicated up to 10 hours on each week (staying up to 4am some nights), he turned a once hopeful student into one hoping at times I'd even earn a B for homework assignments with his harsh grading system. As a lecturer too, he conveys his subject material in such a way that 2x speed can't even replicate the pace of normal human speech. While his uploaded slide presentations were thorough, his lectures were not. Dull, convoluted, and incoherent, his lectures often left me more confused than I felt coming in. The only reason I think I might be gaining an A is because I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this class (literally), which I don't think one should have to do for one introductory college level course. This class has killed my love for a subject I once adored, and I place the blame to this occurring on Carson. Respectfully, I do not think he deserves the role to continue teaching first years this subject material; we deserve teachers encouraging us to be inspired, not to drop out.

If you're taking this class as a GE, stay away at all costs. If you're fully invested in minoring/majoring in Ling, stay cautious.

Stay away!!! I took this class not for a requirement but because I was interested in the material, and I dropped the class in week 6. Carson Schutze makes fascinating topics in linguistics very odious. Everything is much more complicated than it needs to be and he makes no effort to actually teach to an undergraduate, lower-division level. While I appreciated the clarity with which he communicates with the class, he is so stingy with points and grades all assignments super harshly and on CORRECTNESS, not completion! There is one homework assignment per week and each one took me HOURS to complete. I was taking 3 classes at the time, and it was more work than when I had taken 4 in previous quarters. He makes no effort to connect with students and is frequently late for office hours or not there at all. The class was made extra stressful and it was a completely unsupportive learning environment. He even threatened to curve down the midterm if people did too well, a midterm which was over-complicated and used the most complex examples possible to ensure we couldn't succeed. I studied everything beforehand and memorized everything and felt that I had full mastery of the material, but I couldn't even find the necessary patterns to start the problems. He does not care if anyone succeeds and I will be retaking Ling-20 with another professor who supports my success.

Professor Schutze's not an altogether bad teacher- he's very knowledgeable and seems like a nice enough person. His lectures however, are so monotonous and dry that it's nearly impossible to sit through the two hours. He posts his slides ahead of time, and considering how he's often 20-30 minutes late to lecture, it's far more beneficial to look at the slides than to attend lecture. Furthermore, his homework assignments are unbearably long and difficult. He does give 4-5 days to finish the assignments, but they usually require several hours of commitment, as they're often very complicated and require lengthy answers.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASSS IF IT'S NOT FOR YOUR MAJOR. It is only worth taking if you need it as a requirement for your major, but as a G.E. it would be both ridiculous and a waste of your time. Even as someone who loves linguistics and does well in the class, it was thus far one of the worst classes I've taken at UCLA.

After taking this class with Professor Schutze, it's so easy to see why Ling 20 is considered a weeder for linguistics majors. It's a time consuming class with moderately challenging material. However, it felt a lot harder than it actually was because homework was graded rather harshly, so you spend a lot of time checking for the smallest errors. Homework is 45% of your grade, so review it twice or thrice before submitting (and pray you have a lenient TA grading it). Lectures were rather dry so I preferred to just review the slides myself. Reading the textbook and lecture slides thoroughly is mandatory if you want an A in this class. Do the 3 psychology studies for 3% overall extra credit because you WILL need it, trust me. I wouldn't have gotten an A- in the class otherwise. Attend weekly discussions and ask your TA questions to survive this class. And pace yourself for the midterm and final exam. I finished both with no time remaining and with questions left completely blank, but fortunately they're curved.

Ling 20 with Schutze is one of the most challenging classes I've taken so far, but if you are willing to put A LOT of hours into understanding the copious amounts of material, you will do fine.