LING 20
Introduction to Linguistic Analysis
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Introduction to theory and methods of linguistics: universal properties of human language; phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic structures and analysis; nature and form of grammar. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Stefan is an amazing professor and such a wholesome person. I thought I would eventually stop watching lecture since everything was online but I found myself WANTING to go because he made the content interesting and easy to understand. His positive energy was so infectious, even through Zoom. I couldn't help but smile when he would geek out over the content or when the class taught him how to use "yeet" in a sentence. The only downside of this class was the Zoom chat. Students would often ask highly specific questions that had little to no correlation to the content or provide unsolicited facts that always disrupted the flow of the lecture. Like...take that stuff to office hours or go to Google.com. Anyway, the homework and exams were fairly easy and straightforward. The homework was always similar to the examples during lecture and the exams had the same format as the homework. So, if you understand the worksheets that done during lecture you should be totally fine. However, it's very easy to make mistakes since you are often repeating the same process for several questions in a row. I recommend doing the homework then coming back to it after a while to catch any small errors that could get you docked. This is pretty important since homework is weighted so heavily. Overall, I think this class is pretty interesting and not stress-inducing whatsoever. However, if you plan on taking this class as a GE and you don't have any interest in linguistics at all, you may not find it interesting.
Fall 2021 - Stefan is an amazing professor and such a wholesome person. I thought I would eventually stop watching lecture since everything was online but I found myself WANTING to go because he made the content interesting and easy to understand. His positive energy was so infectious, even through Zoom. I couldn't help but smile when he would geek out over the content or when the class taught him how to use "yeet" in a sentence. The only downside of this class was the Zoom chat. Students would often ask highly specific questions that had little to no correlation to the content or provide unsolicited facts that always disrupted the flow of the lecture. Like...take that stuff to office hours or go to Google.com. Anyway, the homework and exams were fairly easy and straightforward. The homework was always similar to the examples during lecture and the exams had the same format as the homework. So, if you understand the worksheets that done during lecture you should be totally fine. However, it's very easy to make mistakes since you are often repeating the same process for several questions in a row. I recommend doing the homework then coming back to it after a while to catch any small errors that could get you docked. This is pretty important since homework is weighted so heavily. Overall, I think this class is pretty interesting and not stress-inducing whatsoever. However, if you plan on taking this class as a GE and you don't have any interest in linguistics at all, you may not find it interesting.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Professor Claire is the GOAT!! I loved Professor Claire and this course in general, and this is coming from someone who is not a linguistics major and was simply taking this class as a GE. There was roughly one homework each week, one midterm, and one final. I found the lectures and slides to be very helpful. Between the lecture slides and notes/practice problems posted to CCLE, I was able to get through each homework relatively easily. Claire gave very nice and engaging lectures, making the two-ish-hour lectures fly by. We were given 24 hours for our midterm and a WHOLE WEEK (!!) to complete our final exam, which was amazing and allowed me to do well on exams relatively easily. Overall, the material really resonated with me (basically math with sounds (?) is how I'd describe it), I learned something completely new that I had no knowledge of before, and found this course to be low-stress and relatively easy compared to my other classes, so it was a really nice GE in my opinion. 10/10 would recommend!
Spring 2021 - Professor Claire is the GOAT!! I loved Professor Claire and this course in general, and this is coming from someone who is not a linguistics major and was simply taking this class as a GE. There was roughly one homework each week, one midterm, and one final. I found the lectures and slides to be very helpful. Between the lecture slides and notes/practice problems posted to CCLE, I was able to get through each homework relatively easily. Claire gave very nice and engaging lectures, making the two-ish-hour lectures fly by. We were given 24 hours for our midterm and a WHOLE WEEK (!!) to complete our final exam, which was amazing and allowed me to do well on exams relatively easily. Overall, the material really resonated with me (basically math with sounds (?) is how I'd describe it), I learned something completely new that I had no knowledge of before, and found this course to be low-stress and relatively easy compared to my other classes, so it was a really nice GE in my opinion. 10/10 would recommend!
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I took this class as a GE, but now I think I wanna get into linguistics more! Professor Poole was super clear in lectures (his slides were amazing), and there were no weird curve balls in the homeworks or on the exams. He does examples in class and gives a lot of extra practice material, which appears in a very similar format on the hws/exams. He was also very approachable in terms of asking questions, which was nice as well. Would definitely recommend this class and the professor!
Winter 2021 - I took this class as a GE, but now I think I wanna get into linguistics more! Professor Poole was super clear in lectures (his slides were amazing), and there were no weird curve balls in the homeworks or on the exams. He does examples in class and gives a lot of extra practice material, which appears in a very similar format on the hws/exams. He was also very approachable in terms of asking questions, which was nice as well. Would definitely recommend this class and the professor!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - She was one of my favorite professors at UCLA. She is very friendly, caring, approachable, and helpful. Homework assignments were not too hard to get over 90% on in my opinion. Some questions were a bit difficult in the beginning, but I thought it was easier to get 100% on the homework towards the second half. I got 100% on all the quizzes and on the midterm. They were similar to the homework assignments and problems in the workbook. She gives up to 3% extra credit for doing SONA studies. The workload in the class is not too bad. It involves 1 homework assignment per week. I ended up getting over 100% in the class and got an A+. I'd say it isn't too difficult to get an A in her class. At no point was I worried about not getting an A. Grade Breakdown: Weekly homework assignments 40% (lowest homework grade will be dropped) Quizzes 5% Midterm exam 20% Final exam 30% Participation 5% Extra credit (for SONA experiments) up to 3%
Winter 2020 - She was one of my favorite professors at UCLA. She is very friendly, caring, approachable, and helpful. Homework assignments were not too hard to get over 90% on in my opinion. Some questions were a bit difficult in the beginning, but I thought it was easier to get 100% on the homework towards the second half. I got 100% on all the quizzes and on the midterm. They were similar to the homework assignments and problems in the workbook. She gives up to 3% extra credit for doing SONA studies. The workload in the class is not too bad. It involves 1 homework assignment per week. I ended up getting over 100% in the class and got an A+. I'd say it isn't too difficult to get an A in her class. At no point was I worried about not getting an A. Grade Breakdown: Weekly homework assignments 40% (lowest homework grade will be dropped) Quizzes 5% Midterm exam 20% Final exam 30% Participation 5% Extra credit (for SONA experiments) up to 3%
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - 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.
Spring 2022 - 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.