Part I Linguistics
Part I Linguistics (LING103) will introduce students to areas and topics across the full breadth of the linguistics discipline. The core areas of phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax will be covered in some depth, whilst semantics and pragmatics are also included. In relation to these areas students will get an appreciation of the nature of some of the major theoretical debates, whilst they will also acquire some actual analytical skills, using data not only from English, but crucially also from other languages. In addition to these core areas, a number of important sub-fields of linguistics will be dealt with, including sociolinguistics, the study of language acquisition and learning, historical linguistics, and linguistic typology. Finally, a number of applications will be discussed. Indicative topics here are: forensic linguistics, educational linguistics, and language testing.
Course Aims
On successful completion of this module students will be able to:
- carry out basic phonetic, phonological, and grammatical analysis of English and other languages
- appreciate broad structural differences between languages
- carry out basic semantic and pragmatic analyses of words and larger utterances
- differentiate between the main theoretical approaches to language acquisition/learning and the origins of language
- appreciate the extent to which language varies across time and across space, and discuss some of the main methods used in these areas
- understand and explain some of the main developments in the history of the field of linguistics
- appreciate and engage in basic discussions about some of the real world applications of linguistics
Course Outline (draft)
| Week | Block | Lecture 1 | Lecture 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beginnings and endings | Introduction to Linguistics, and to LING 103 | The beginnings of language I: child language acquisition |
| 2 | The beginnings of language II: acquiring a second language | The beginnings of language III: the species | |
| 3 | The loss of language I: disorders | The loss of language II: language death | |
| 4 | Grammar | Grammatical functions I | Grammatical functions II |
| 5 | Word classes I | Word classes II | |
| 6 | Latin grammar (or Bantu or Hungarian grammar) | Test | |
| 7 | Morphology I | Morphology II | |
| 8 | Chinese grammar I | Chinese grammar II | |
| 9 | Multilingualism and language contact | Multilingual societies | Bilingual individuals |
| 10 | Pidgins and Creoles I | Pidgins and Creoles II | |
| 11 | Language
variation and language change |
Language change | History of Indo-European |
| 12 | Language and gender I | Language and gender II | |
| 13 | Languages vs. dialects | Linguistic typology | |
| 14 | BSL I | BSL II | |
| 15 | Phonetics and Phonology | Speech versus writing | Consonants |
| 16 | Vowels | Phoneme theory | |
| 17 | Suprasegmentals | Chinese (or: Bantu) phonology I: tone | |
| 18 | Chinese (or: Bantu) phonology II (other aspects) | Test | |
| 19 | Language meaning and use | Semantics | Linguistic relativity (or: Arbitrariness vs. iconicity) |
| 20 | Pragmatics | Cross-cultural (mis)communication | |
| 21 | How we address each other | Animal communication | |
| 22 | History and applications of linguistics | History of linguistics | Writing systems and history of the alphabet |
| 23 | Forensic linguistics | Language rights and Human rights | |
| 24 | Educational linguistics | Language testing | |
| 25 | Literacy studies | Critical discourse analysis |
Assessment
There will be 4 pieces of CWA evenly spread throughout the 25 week course, plus a final exam. The 4 pieces of CWA, representing a range of types, are as follows:
2 x Tests (15% each)
2 x Essays (15% each)
The exam will comprise a wide-ranging three-hour exam worth 40%.