Course descriptions→ Linguistics course schedules |
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Linguistic analysis of Japanese |
| Note! Effective Fall 2016, the numbers for many Linguistics (LX) courses are changing. | ||
| Linguistics Courses | |||
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Linguistic theory
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CAS LX 110 Offered: |
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| When people from different regions of the US and from various parts of the English-speaking world meet for the first time, they are immediately struck by differences in the way they speak. For speakers of so-called “non-standard” dialects, this can give rise to insecurity and frustration, and dialect prejudice may lead such speakers to suppress aspects of their native variety (an experience familiar to many American college students). But is there any objective reason to consider non-standard dialects as inferior? What are the implications of dialect diversity for education, civil rights, and other aspects of public policy? How are dialects and their speakers represented in literature, film, humor, music, and other aspects of popular culture? How exactly does English vary across different places and social groups? Where do these accents and dialects come from in the first place? This course, which assumes no previous background in linguistics, investigates these questions from both a linguistic and a more broadly humanistic perspective. | |||
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CAS LX 235 Offered: |
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| Exploration of the role of human language in society, focusing on language in legal settings. Addresses governmental policy on language; language crimes such as perjury, solicitation, and bribery; the meaning of consent; and the linguistics of legal interpretation. | |||
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CAS LX 240 Not in current schedule. |
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| Introduction to linguistics through writings of important linguists, including Descartes, Saussure, Sapir, Jespersen, Bloomfield, and Chomsky. Students read original works and write short essays. Lectures and discussion place readings in the tradition of structural linguistics, within a broad humanistic context. | |||
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CAS LX 245 Not in current schedule. |
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| Foundations of linguistics as a science, in relation to cognitive science, philosophy, and psychology, including a critical overview of the research program initiated by Noam Chomsky. Specific questions that we will consider include: what exactly is a language--a set of utterances, a set of sentences, a set of cognitive abilities? Do humans possess an innate "instinct" to acquire a language? How are our linguistic abilities realized in the brain? Does the language we speak determine the structure and content of our thoughts? Is language a uniquely human ability? Students read and discuss original works, and write short essays. | |||
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CAS LX 250 Offered: |
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| Study of the fundamental properties that all languages share, and of how languages differ, with respect to structure (sound system, word formation, syntax), expression of meaning, acquisition, variation, and change; cultural and artistic uses of languages; comparison of oral, written, and signed languages. | |||
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CAS LX 301 Offered: |
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Introduction to the nature and patterning of sounds in human language. Presents articulatory and acoustic phonetics, and basic phonological analysis, focusing on cross-language typology and comparison. Hands-on development of practical skills, including IPA transcription, field techniques, and digital speech analysis. |
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CAS LX 311 Offered: |
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| Morphology, the study of the internal structure and the shapes of words across languages, straddles the boundary between syntax and phonology. This course covers the major empirical and theoretical issues in the study of morphology, emphasizing links to other components of grammar. | |||
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CAS LX 317 Offered: |
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| Languages differ startlingly in how they express the apparently basic concepts of “possession” and “essence”. Students explore this variety and its implications, addressing fundamental questions about linguistic relativism, language universals, and the relationship between structure and meaning. | |||
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CAS LX 321 Offered: |
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| Introduction to syntax as an object of inquiry. Students build an increasingly sophisticated model of syntactic knowledge to account for data from English and other languages, constructing and evaluating alternative hypotheses about how sentence structure works. | |||
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CAS LX 327 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of focus in natural language, integrating syntax, phonology, semantics, morphology, and pragmatics in pursuit of a general understanding of both the phenomena and the ways in which different aspects of linguistic knowledge cooperate in its expression. | |||
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CAS LX 328 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of question formation across languages, and from several theoretical perspectives, integrating syntax, phonology, semantics, morphology, pragmatics, and philosophy in pursuit of a general understanding of one of the central phenomena in theoretical linguistics. | |||
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CAS LX 331 Offered: |
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| Systematic examination of how meaning is encoded in words and sentences, and how it can emerge from the complexity of the grammar. This course also touches on various aspects of pragmatics—the study of how meaning is shaped by context. | |||
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CAS LX 345 Not in current schedule. |
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| Examines the mechanisms and outcomes of language contact by surveying cases around the globe from the past and present. Topics include lexical-borrowing, code-switching, pidgins and creoles, language death, and the emergence of entirely new linguistic systems. | |||
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CAS LX 360 Offered: |
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| Introduction to language change and the methodology of historical linguistic analysis, using data from a wide array of languages. Investigates genetic relatedness among languages, language comparison, historical reconstruction, and patterns and principles of change in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. | |||
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CAS LX 403 Offered: |
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| Survey of phonological theory and analysis, with focus on crosslinguistic typology of phonological systems. Phonological reasoning and argumentation skills are developed. Empirical coverage includes contrast, distinctive features, rules and constraints, opacity, tone, syllabification, stress, and interactions with morphology and syntax. | |||
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CAS LX 405 Offered: |
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| Exploration of the melodic and rhythmic aspects of the languages of the world. Emphasis on theoretical and experimental approaches to cross-linguistic typology. Specific topics include: syllables and syllable-weight, rhythm and speech timing; stress and metrics; tone and intonation. | |||
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CAS LX 422 Offered: |
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| Using linguistic data drawn from a wide variety of languages, students develop a precise model of syntactic knowledge through evaluation of hypotheses and arguments. Exploration of major discoveries and phenomena from the linguistic literature. | |||
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CAS LX 423 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of advanced topics in syntax, chosen in part based on student interest, through reading and critical discussion of both foundational and recent literature. | |||
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CAS LX 432 Offered: |
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| Introduction to the semantics of natural language at an intermediate level. Topics include (but are not limited to) predication and quantification, scope and anaphora, problems of discourse analysis, various issues at the interface of semantics and pragmatics, and crosslinguistic semantics. | |||
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CAS LX 433 Not in current schedule. |
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| Hands-on seminar on pragmatics, the study of how meaning beyond the literal is communicated in context. Students will study research articles in pragmatics that use experimental methods, design their own original experiment, and run a student-designed experiment as a group. | |||
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Also relating to linguistic theory: |
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Linguistic analysis of African languages
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CAS LX 368 Not in current schedule. |
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| African language structure and status from the perspectives of theoretical and comparative linguistics (within the generative grammar framework), typology, and sociolinguistics, with focus on South African Nguni languages, especially IsiXhosa, with comparisons to its sister languages in that language group. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of English
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CAS LX 364 Not in current schedule. |
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| Systematic introduction to the linguistic analysis of modern English (phonology, morphology, syntax) from the perspective of generative grammar. Other topics include: English and its West Germanic relatives, non-standard varieties and the development of standard English, varieties of World Englishes. [Note that this will count as a course in the linguistic analysis of a specific language for purposes of satisfying requirements for the Linguistics major.] Also offered as CAS EN 514. | |||
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CAS LX 365 Offered: |
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| This course explores how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into British dialects. The class will examine grammatical diversity on a number of levels (including accents, dialectal vocabulary, and social factors in language variation), but the main focus will be on studying and accounting for morphosyntactic differences amongst varieties. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects. | |||
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CAS EN 514 Not in current schedule. |
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| [see CAS LX 406] | |||
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CAS EN 515 Not in current schedule. |
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| How do the social and cultural experiences of young adults contribute to development of the English language? Examination of how, from Old English to current times, they learned and changed their native tongue at home, in schools, and neighborhoods. | |||
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CAS EN 516 Not in current schedule. |
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| Everyone who uses English has reason to wonder about its idiosyncrasies and its history. How can words with such different spellings as “eight” and “ate” be pronounced alike? Why do we say “a twenty foot” pole, rather than “twenty feet”? And why is it “feet” rather than “foots”? What did Shakespeare’s spoken language sound like? What happened to the word “thou”? What is an Anglo-Saxon rune (∑∏∑) and how do you read it? This course will address everyone’s curiosity about these and other features of the English language through analysis of medieval and early modern literary texts, noting especially changes in pronunciation, syntax, spelling, and vocabulary. We will also explore the pre- and early print culture of England, locating these early forms of English in relation to the material forms onto and into which they were written; students will learn to read and analyze not only handwritten scrolls, manuscripts and early printed books but also other media including sword belts, jewels, illuminated manuscripts, goblets, stone cross monuments, pregnancy girdles, barrow tombs and king’s coffins. We will also give some thought to constructed and fictional languages that draw on medieval British languages, such as JRR Tolkien’s Orkish, Elvish, and Mannish. No previous knowledge of linguistics or medieval literature required. Fulfills English major Pre-1800 Literature requirement. | |||
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CAS EN 518 Not in current schedule. |
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| Application of linguistic concepts to the teaching of English as a foreign language. Includes description of contemporary English grammatical structures that pose problems for learners and teachers. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of Romance languages
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CAS LX 370 Not in current schedule. |
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| This course covers sound and morphosyntactic change since Latin, plus various topics in the comparative grammar of modern Romance languages. In addition, there is a module introducing students to the grammatical systems of certain less-studied Romance languages. Students deepen their linguistic knowledge and analytic skills by applying what they have learned in other Linguistics courses to this language family, and learn how data from Romance languages have contributed to our understanding of how language works in general. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of French
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CAS LX 372 Not in current schedule. |
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(Conducted in French) Students improve their pronunciation and aural comprehension by applying linguistic principles governing the articulation and distribution of French sounds, liaison, "mute e," and intonation. Written exercises reinforce theoretical points; oral exercises and audio and video recordings allow focus on individual difficulties. Includes readings from literary texts. |
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CAS LX 373 Not in current schedule. |
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(Conducted in French)
The sound system of standard French, with exploration of dialect variation in France, Canada, and other Francophone regions of the world. Questions about mental representation of linguistic information, processes of word formation, and language variation and change. Students discover linguistic regularities through frequent problem sets.
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CAS LX 374 Not in current schedule. |
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(Conducted in French) After an introduction to some of the main features of the sentence structure of French (with occasional excursions into Quebecois), attention will be focused on a number of specific topics in French syntax: e.g., the position of the finite and non-finite verb, formation of questions and relative clauses, different types of subject-verb inversion, quantifier floating and the position of subjects, negation, the behavior of clitic pronouns, imperative and causative constructions, right and left dislocation, as well as the relationship between specific syntactic constructions and intonation.
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CAS LX 376 Not in current schedule. |
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(Conducted in French) Topics vary by semester. Previous topic: Parlers français d'Amérique du Nord (French dialects of North America). Population history and demography. Dialectal divisions. Phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical features. French in Quebec, Acadia, NY/New England, Missouri, and Louisiana. Hypotheses on the genesis of certain dialects. Analysis of certain Creole features (Haitian, Louisiana, Lesser Antilles) from a comparative perspective. |
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CAS LF 504 Not in current schedule. |
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(Conducted in French) Prosodic, phonetic, and morphosyntactic changes from Classical Latin to Modern French, highlighting the common roots between French and other Romance languages. Lexical influences (Gaulish, Frankish, etc.). Comparative linguistic study of texts in Old or Middle French. Sociopolitical events in the history of the French language. Standardization, linguistic unification of France after the Revolution, and the worldwide spread of the language. Changements prosodiques, phonétiques, et morphosyntaxiques du latin classique au français moderne, mettant en relief les racines communes qui unissent le français aux autres langues romanes. Influences lexicales (gaulois, francique, etc.). Comparaison linguistique de textes en ancien ou moyen français. Evénements sociopolitiques dans l'histoire de la langue. Standardisation, unification linguistique de la France après la Révolution, et diffusion du français dans le monde. |
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Linguistic analysis of Spanish
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CAS LX 381 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in Spanish) An ethnographic survey and sociolinguistic analysis of the Spanish language as it is spoken in urban USA. The course will focus on issues of language and dialect contact, language change, the fraught notion of 'heritage' speakers, and also code-switching as a sociolinguistic phenomenon. | |||
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CAS LX 383 Offered: |
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| (Conducted in Spanish) The goal of this course is to introduce students to the linguistic analysis of speech, with a focus on the Spanish language. We examine the vowels and consonants of Spanish from the perspective of articulatory and acoustic phonetics. In addition, the course introduces core concepts in phonological analysis, surveying the phonemic inventory and phonological organization of Spanish. We also investigate a range of regional variation demonstrated by so-called ‘dialects’ of Spanish, with an emphasis on the historical and social significance of such variation in Spain, Latin America, and the United States. In summary, this course aims to examine the sounds of Spanish as physical, mental, and social phenomena. | |||
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CAS LX 384 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in Spanish) The goal of this course is to introduce students to the structure of the Spanish language, with a focus on its morphology and syntax. We examine the internal structure of words and the inflectional and derivational processes that constrain them. In addition, the course introduces key concepts such as morpheme, affix, grammatical class, linguistic gender, nominalization, and verbalization. We also investigate fundamental principles of syntactic theory and analysis, with an emphasis on the hierarchical relationships among words at the phrasal level. We use naturalistic speech data, collected from around the Spanish-speaking world, to critically examine key assumptions and tools of contemporary syntactic theory, including X-bar theory, binary branching, thematic role assignment, and the concept of the sentence. We give special attention the notion of ungrammaticality as it relates to syntactic and morphological variation and change. | |||
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CAS LS 504 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in Spanish) Study of the structure of sounds, general concepts of language change, and specific phonological, morphological and syntactic changes in the history of Spanish. Begins with the modern language and proceeds to successively earlier stages; includes reading of representative medieval and dialectal texts. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of German
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CAS LG 315 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in English) Introduction to major subfields of German linguistics: phonetics/phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics, regional variation, and sociolinguistic aspects such as gender and English influence. Includes familiarization with Middle High German. Course also aims to improve students’ German pronunciation and awareness of grammar. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of Japanese
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CAS LJ 410 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in English) Overview of major issues in the history of Japanese: genetic relationships, changes in sound system, word and sentence structures, and pragmatics. Special attention to the process leading to the current writing system. Representative texts used to demonstrate different literary languages. | |||
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CAS LJ 510 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in English) Introduction to Japanese syntax, covering a range of topics including word order, information structure, questions, types of verbs, demonstratives, anaphora, and relative clauses. Close study of Japanese data will also form the basis for comparisons with English and other languages. Lectures and discussions in English with bilingual materials. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of ASL
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SED DE 672 Not in current schedule. |
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| Structural linguistic study of specific aspects of phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicology in ASL. Concepts of language variation, dialect, creolization, and bilingualism. | |||
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Linguistic analysis of other languages
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CAS LX 369 Not in current schedule. |
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| Overview of pidginization and creolization. Evolution, typology, and area characteristics of creole languages. Role of contact languages and other substrata. Field and classroom research with creole language speakers. | |||
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CAS LX 391 Offered: |
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| An in-depth investigation of the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon of an African or other non-Indo-European language. Weekly sessions with language consultant. | |||
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Also relating to linguistic analysis of other languages: |
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Language, culture, and society
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CAS LX 205 Offered: |
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| An overview of the major writing systems of the world: Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs, Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform, West Semitic consonantal scripts (abjads), East Asian scripts, runes, and Greek and Roman alphabets. This course has a considerable linguistic component supplemented by historical information about ancient languages and cultures. | |||
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CAS LX 255 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of several widespread misconceptions about language and its use, developing students' abilities to evaluate these critically from the perspective of linguistic theory. Topics include: multilingualism and linguistic diversity; language and the law; language "decay"; and prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar. | |||
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CAS LX 341 Not in current schedule. |
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| Sociolinguistics, broadly construed, is the investigation of relations between linguistic phenomena and human social life. This course covers several recent theoretical approaches to the study of language and society: variational sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, and international sociolinguistics. Also covered are development of pidgins and creoles, multilingualism, language choice, and other aspects of language and culture. | |||
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CAS LX 342 Not in current schedule. |
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| Do women talk differently from men? How do race and ethnicity relate to the way people use language? This course examines these inter-related questions from the perspective of modern sociolinguistic theory, analyzing a range of languages and communities throughout the world. | |||
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CAS AN 351 Offered: |
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| Introduction to basic concepts, problems, and methods used by anthropologists in the investigation of relationships among language, culture, and society. Topics include language and conceptual systems, language and role, language and social context, and language and thought. | |||
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CAS AN 524 Not in current schedule. |
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| Concepts and theoretical approaches to study language variation and change in sociolinguistics/linguistic anthropology. This course examines internal and external factors that trigger language variations and changes and the social attitudes associated with them. The nexus between diachronic and synchronic changes will also be reanalyzed in light of the Labovian variationist model. While the course will focus on language variations and changes in Africa, it will draw from existing literature to provide students with a strong foundation on the scholarship in the field of contact linguistics, language variation and change, types of variations, the relationships between these variations and gender, ethnicity, religion, youth culture, and globalization. It will conclude by introducing students to the new field of forensic linguistics (the interface between language, crime and law). Using actual cases from the US and Europe, the use of linguistic features as evidence in criminal investigations, in authorship disputes, and in asylum cases will be examined. The course will consist of lectures and class discussions, practical exercises dealing with issues on language variation and change and their various implications in the 21st century. The course will provide students with the tools necessary to plan and execute studies on language variation and change in the world's speech communities. | |||
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CAS AN 532 Offered: |
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| Ajami comes from the Arabic word for non-Arab, or foreigner. It also refers to the practice of writing other languages using a modified Arabic script. Although written records are rarely regarded as part of sub-Saharan Africa’s intellectual heritage, important bodies of Ajami materials have existed in numerous communities in Africa for centuries. In South Africa, Muslim Malay slaves produced the first written record of Afrikaans in Ajami. Africa’s Ajami traditions developed in communities with a long history of practicing Islam, and who sought to adapt the Arabic alphabet to their own tongues, first for religious purposes such as prayers, writing magical protective devices, and disseminating religious materials and edicts, and later for secular functions such as commercial and administrative record-keeping, writing eulogies and family genealogies, recording important events such as births, deaths and weddings, and writing biographies, poetry, political satires, advertisements, road signs, public announcements, speeches, and personal correspondence. The course will examine both major and minor African Ajami traditions. It will investigate (1) the Islamization of Africa and the subsequent development of Ajami literary traditions in the continent, (2) the forms, contents, and goals of Ajami materials, (3) their role in the spread of Islam and the reverse effect of African influences on Islam, (4) the past and current secular functions of Ajami materials, and (5) the Arabic and Ajami materials written by enslaved Africans in the Americas. The primary goal of this course is to enable students to have access to the unique sources of knowledge generally missed in the studies on Africa written in Arabic and European languages, and to provide them with a deeper understanding of the spread of Islam and its Africanization in the continent. The course will open new research opportunities for students interested in the histories and traditions of sub-Saharan African Muslim communities. | |||
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CAS AR 208 Not in current schedule. |
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| An overview of the archaeology of writing focusing on modern decipherments of ancient texts. Related topics include characteristics of the world's major language families, the nature of linguistic change, and the origin and history of the alphabet. | |||
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Also relating to language, culture, and society: |
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Language acquisition
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CAS LX 349 Offered: |
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| The psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics of life with two languages. Topics include bilingual language use, processing, acquisition, organization; effects of bilingualism on cognition and development; the bilingual brain; the bilingual speech community; bilingual education; bilingualism in the media and public eye. | |||
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CAS LX 350 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration, within the framework of generative grammar, of how similarities and differences in the acquisition patterns of syntax, semantics, and morphology across typologically diverse languages provide key evidence about the essential nature of first and second language acquisition. | |||
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CAS LX 355 Not in current schedule. |
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| The goal of this course is to provide an overview of findings from the interdisciplinary field of second language acquisition (SLA), especially as they relate to differences between adult and child learners and individual variation among adult learners. The course examines data from many different language pairs, diverse theoretical perspectives on second-language attainment, and a wide range of factors influencing acquisition: language-universal, demographic, experiential, cognitive, social/affective, and environmental. The course also considers the case of third language acquisition as well as pedagogical implications. | |||
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CAS LX 359 Not in current schedule. |
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| Examines native language knowledge and change in speakers who have become dominant in another language. Topics include differences among heritage speakers, international adoptees, and adult second language learners; language change in expatriates; and environmental and affective factors conditioning language loss. | |||
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CAS LX 453 Not in current schedule. |
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| The goal of this course is to examine the resources, mechanisms, and limitations underlying children's acquisition of phonology during the first years of life. Specific topics include the biological foundations of phonological acquisition; the developmental arcs of both speech perception and production; the relationship between phonological development and word learning; phonological universals as they apply to acquisition; and implicit and explicit learning mechanisms. The course considers different theoretical models of phonological development, as well as the range of variation observed among typically developing children. | |||
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CAS LX 454 Offered: |
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| Exploration of the character and course of acquisition of syntactic knowledge in both first and second language contexts. Covers methodological principles for conducting studies and analyzing data, and topics such as development of verb movement, binding theory, and tense. | |||
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CAS PS 545 Not in current schedule. |
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| Language development in children. The acquisition of phonological, morphological, and syntactic systems; the role of both parent and child in the acquisition of communicative competence. | |||
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SED LS 566 Not in current schedule. |
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| Overview of language acquisition in typical, atypical, and second language learners. Topic areas include phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, child-directed speech, the role of cognitive development, and theories of language acquisition. Students will apply course material during weekly observations of a language learner, and in a data analysis project. | |||
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Also relating to language acquisition: |
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Neurological aspects of language
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CAS PS 544 Not in current schedule. |
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| Study of the neural mechanisms underlying behavioral development. Topics include the plasticity of the developing brain in response to deprivation or damage and mechanisms underlying specific syndromes (e.g., aphasia, dyslexia, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, autism, and Tourette's syndrome). | |||
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SAR SH 505 Offered: |
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| This course provides an overview of current models of normal and disordered phonological development. Students examine and practice evidenced-based principles and practical applications of assessment, analysis, diagnosis, and remediation approaches and procedures to facilitate critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to apply to working with individuals with a variety of phonological disorders. | |||
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SAR SH 523 Offered: |
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| Lecture, laboratory, and demonstrations. Introduction to the basic physics of sound, including the decibel scale, spectral analysis, and sound resonance. Acoustic theory of speech production. Effects of contact on speech acoustics. Suprasegmental characteristics of speech production. Introduction to speech perception. | |||
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SAR SH 524 Offered: |
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| This course will focus on first language acquisition in infancy and childhood. We will cover the progression of language development in each of the traditional areas of linguistic analysis: phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. The course will be focused on experimental research in typical language acquisition and on different theories that strive to explain the underlying cognitive and linguistic mechanisms at work in an early learner. | |||
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SAR SH 531 Offered: |
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| Introduction to various speech and language disorders found across linguistically and culturally diverse populations. Characteristics underlying biological systems and methods for evaluation and treating a variety or communication disorders are examined. Exploration of the professions of speech pathology and audiology | |||
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Logic and the philosophy of language
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CAS PH 160 Offered: |
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| A systematic study of the principles of both deductive and informal reasoning, calculated to enhance students' actual reasoning skills, with an emphasis on reasoning and argumentation in ordinary discourse. | |||
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CAS PH 261 Not in current schedule. |
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| Some of our most basic beliefs, when scrutinized, lead to absurd conclusions. For example, using only beliefs that seem uncontroversial, we can conclude that motion is impossible, that everyone is bald, and that it is impossible to give a surprise exam. Carefully scrutinizing the reasoning that leads to these absurdities often yields substantial philosophical insight. This course examines a number of such puzzles and paradoxes in detail. | |||
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CAS PH 360 Not in current schedule. |
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| Study of the basics of modern logic, including propositional logic, quantifiers, identity and functions, completeness and incompleteness. A special emphasis is placed on strategies of deductive reasoning. | |||
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CAS PH 421 Not in current schedule. |
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| An in-depth reading of several works by Russell. | |||
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CAS PH 463 Not in current schedule. |
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| Critical survey of the main issues in the philosophy of language and the foundations of linguistics, including the ideas of logical form and the universality of languages as well as the basic ideas of generative grammar, possible-worlds semantics, Wittgenstein, and speech-act theories. | |||
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CAS PH 486 Not in current schedule. |
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| This course will focus on new approaches to logic and language theory, as well as their impact on epistemology. | |||
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| Linguistics Courses: Topics Courses | |||
| Topics vary by semester, and may be taken more than once with different topics. Current and recent offerings are listed below. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of linguistic focus from several perspectives. Developing a theoretical understanding of how languages signal focus through syntax and intonation, and how focus interacts with semantics and pragmatics, we examine how diverse aspects of language knowledge interact as a system. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| A general introduction to the study of first and second language acquisition within the framework of generative grammar, focused on the development of syntax. Topics include: the status and development of functional categories, verb-movement, finiteness, null subjects, binding, and questions. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Modality expresses the possibility or necessity of a situation: 'John may/must be at home.' This course investigates types of modality and ways in which modality is encoded in the grammar in mood and modal systems across languages. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| How does a child acquire an adult grammar, and the ability to interpret words and complex phrases? This course examines the acquisition of meaning, both the literal meaning of words and phrases and their implied meaning in conversation. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of a central issue in theoretical linguistics, the typology of question formation across languages, from several perspectives. Syntactic universals and variation, semantic interpretation and discourse effects, and intonational effects will be brought to bear in developing a theoretical understanding. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration and analysis of English melodic patterns. Students transcribe and even gather prosodic data (intonation, grouping, and prominence), using computer software and the ToBI framework. Comparisons of the English intonational system to systems of other languages of the world. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| An examination of the diverse strategies for expressing negation in natural languages (cf. not, no one, un- in English). Topics include: negation and scope, polarity items/concord, antynomy and reversal, and morphosyntactic variety in the expression of negation. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| A general introduction to the study of first and second language acquisition within the framework of generative grammar. The course will cover theoretical approaches to syntactic, semantic, and phonological development, reviewing studies and methodologies both classic and current. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Survey of a range of characteristics that differentiate possible from impossible human languages, which inform modern understanding of the human language capacity. Discussion will center on readings presenting different perspectives on issues of typology, modalities, acquisition, variation, change, and creolization. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Number is sometimes defined as the category marking the opposition between singular and plural. This greatly underestimates its role in the grammar. This course examines number systems in a variety of languages from morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic perspectives. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration of how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into British dialects. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Examines the evolution of the language faculty in the human species. Compares and contrasts language with other forms of animal communication. Explores and evaluates findings and claims from paleontology, biology, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, and cognitive science. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| A general introduction to theoretical study of first and second language acquisition, focusing mainly on the development of syntax. Topics will include tense and agreement, word order, and constraints on pronoun use, as well as lexical semantics and discourse constraints. | |||
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CAS LX 500 Not in current schedule. |
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| Exploration, within the framework of generative grammar, of how similarities and differences in the acquisition patterns of syntax, semantics, and morphology across typologically diverse languages provide key evidence about the essential nature of first and second language acquisition. | |||
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CAS LS 505 Not in current schedule. |
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| (Conducted in Spanish) Introduction to Spanish phonetics and phonology. Covers articulatory, acoustic, and auditory phonetics, focusing on techniques for visualizing speech sounds. Examines the phonemic inventory and phonological organization of Spanish from several perspectives, including generative and articulatory phonology as well as sociolinguistics. | |||
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CAS LX 386 Not in current schedule. |
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| TBA | |||
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