Fall 2020 (tentative)

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Linguistics courses
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room

GRS LX 601

Phonetics & Phonology: Introduction to Sound Systems

 A1 Lindsey TR 2-3:15 TBA
S1 M 11:15-12:05 TBA
S2 M 2:30-3:20 TBA
S3 M 3:35-4:25 TBA
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.

Starting in Fall 2020, undergraduates enrolled in CAS LX 301 A1 will also need to register for one of the discussion sections, S1, S2, or S3.

[Prereq: CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or consent of instructor.
Please note that this course cannot be taken for credit towards the MA or PhD program in Linguistics.]
[Meets with CAS LX 301; Also offered as MET LX 501; Previously offered as CAS LX 510 "Phonetics"]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Scientific Inquiry II
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
    • Critical Thinking

GRS LX 621

Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure

 A1 Hagstrom MWF 11:15-12:05 TBA
S1 R 11:15-12:05 TBA
S2 R 12:30-1:20 TBA
S3 R 5-5:50 TBA
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.

Starting in Fall 2020, undergraduates enrolled in CAS LX 321 A1 will also need to register for one of the discussion sections, S1, S2, or S3.

[Prereq: CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or consent of instructor.
Please note that this course cannot be taken for credit towards the MA or PhD program in Linguistics.]
[Meets with CAS LX 321; Also offered as MET LX 521; Previously offered as CAS LX 522 "Syntax I"]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.

GRS LX 667

Indigenous Languages of Latin America

 A1 Myler MWF 12:20-1:10 TBA
Exploration of the structure, history, and varieties of indigenous languages of Latin America, and of the communities that speak them. [Prereq: Undergraduate prerequisite: CAS LX 250 or consent of instructor and a First-year Writing Seminar (CAS WR 100 or 120)]
[Meets with CAS LX 367]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive
    • Research and Information Literacy

GRS LX 670

Romance Linguistics

 A1 Myler MWF 9:05-9:55 TBA
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. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 or consent of instructor; PLUS prior study of Latin or a Romance language at the 4th semester level or higher (e.g., CAS LF 212 or CAS LI 212 or CAS LS 212 or CAS LP 212 or equivalent).]
[Meets with CAS LX 370; Previously offered as CAS LX 532 "Romance Linguistics"]

GRS LX 690

Topics in Linguistics: Truth

 A1 Coppock MWF 10:10-11 TBA
Approaches the notion of truth through the study of lies and other forms of deception, partial truths, imprecision, subjectivity, bullshit, hustle, and nonsense. Builds on perspectives from linguistics, philosophy, media/communication, law (perjury), and political science (fact-checking). [Prereq: CAS LX 250 or permission of instructor]
[Meets with CAS LX 390]

GRS LX 723

Advanced Syntax: Issues in Modern Syntactic Theory

 A1 Hagstrom W 2:30-5:15 TBA
Exploration of advanced topics in syntax, chosen in part based on student interest, through reading and critical discussion of both foundational and recent literature. [Prereq: CAS LX 422 GRS LX 722 Intermediate Syntax (or CAS LX 522) or consent of instructor]
[Meets with CAS LX 423; Previously offered as CAS LX 523 "Syntax II"]

GRS LX 732

Intermediate Semantics: The Grammatical Construction of Meaning

A1 Coppock MWF 1:25-2:15 TBA
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. [Prereq: CAS LX 331/ GRS LX 631 Semantics & Pragmatics: Introduction to Linguistic Meaning (or CAS LX 502) or consent of instructor.]
[Meets with CAS LX 432; Previously offered as CAS LX 503 "Semantics II"]

GRS LX 795

Quantitative Methods in Linguistics

 A1 Chang T 3:30-6:15 TBA
Introduces students to quantitative approaches to linguistic data, including visualization, hypothesis testing, and data modeling. Students will gain proficiency in R, an open-source statistical environment, and learn the logic behind statistical techniques, as well as practical skills for using them. [Prereq: Graduate standing in the Linguistics program, or consent of instructor]

GRS LX 801

Seminar in Linguistic Research

 A1 Chang R 3:30-4:45 TBA
Advanced graduate students working on their qualifying research papers or thesis present and discuss work in progress. The course is organized thematically based on students' research areas. Readings each week are determined on the basis of the research discussed. 2 cr. per semester.
 
Related courses at BU
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room