About Us
The resources for the How Languages Work website were developed in collaboration with students and faculty at UC Santa Barbara, under the direction of Carol Genetti. The interactive modules were designed and constructed by Carlos M Nash (UC Santa Barbara) with significant initial contributions by Kobin H. Kendrick (University of York). In 2008, these modules were originally designed to be SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) packages for use in content management systems (e.g. Moodle, Blackboard). In 2014, the modules were converted to stand-alone entities for the first edition of the How Languages Work textbook and made available through Cambridge University Press’s website. For the 2018 edition, all of the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript coding have been rewritten for a more consistent experience across different devices, operating system, and browsers.
Compatibility
The How Languages Work website is written using HTML 5.2 standards. In a relatively few instances, some HTML 4 practices remain in order to support older web browsers. The site has been tested on the following operating systems and browsers:
Operating system: Windows 7 and higher, MacOS 10.12 (Sierra) and higher, iOS 9.3 and higher, Android 8.0 and higher
Browsers: Google Chrome 67, Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge 40, Firefox 60, Safari 11, Opera 54
Acknowledgements
Primary contributors for the student resources accompanying How Languages Work, 2nd edition: Carol Genetti, Carlos M Nash, Allison Adelman, and Dibella Wdzenczny.
Additional contributors to the problem sets, exercises, and PowerPoint presentations: the contributing authors of the textbook, Brendan Barnwell, Lea Harper, Mara Henderson, Kobin Kendrick, Robert Kennedy, Bradley McDonnell, Onna Nelson, Laura Robinson, Carl Rubino, Kathy Sands, Rebekka Siemens, Heather Simpson, Alexander Wahl, and Alexander Walker.
We also wish to acknowledge George Michaels and UCSB’s Instructional Development for their support by providing us the server space and facilities needed to host the How Languages Work website.
Troubleshooting
Modules fail to start
Many of the modules on this site rely on JavaScript. If a module fails to start, check to see if JavaScript is enabled for your browser (consult the help section of your browser). This site also contains PDFs. Many newer browsers have the ability to render PDFs, but some older ones may require you to install a PDF reader.
Text in interlinear glosses do not line up correctly
Some transcripts with glossing run a little wide. If morphological glosses and translations do not line up because the text is wider than your screen, try rotating your mobile device in landscape mode (i.e. wide, or horizontal mode). The following icon will be placed at the beginning of transcripts with interlinear glosses to remind you to orient your phone in landscape orientation: