The ability to acquire and use language is a biological trait of the human species. This capacity for language manifests itself as thousands of particular languages spoken around the world in communities large and small. But what is language? What does it mean for a human to ?know? a particular language? How do children acquire this knowledge? How do we use language to communicate? These are some of the important questions addressed by the field of linguistics, the scientific study of the human capacity for language in its physiological, cognitive, historical, and social manifestations. This course introduces some of the essential findings of linguistics: first and foremost, that all varieties of all languages are intricately structured at multiple distinct but related levels. Second, that this intricate structure can be described in terms that are not only precise, but which apply to all human languages. We will work to replicate some of these findings by deploying simple analytical methods on data from a variety of languages. These methods allow us to answer questions about the different structural components of language: phonology (how do speech sounds pattern?), morphology (what are possible words and how are they built?), and syntax (what is the hierarchical structure underlying sequences of words?). In all instances these methods require that we pay attention to basic notions of semantics, from which more complex conceptions of meaning will emerge. Having characterized language as an intricately-structured system of knowledge, we will then possess the tools to ask a number of additional questions about language and cognition. How does such complex knowledge play into the actual task of sentence production or comprehension? What do we know about the neural implementation of this knowledge in human brains? How does child language acquisition proceed, and what makes it so much more robust than language acquisition later in life? Do animals have languages of their own? Can they learn human languages? Finally, we will turn our attention to variation in language patterns observed over the passage of time, across geographical space, and within social systems. How and why do languages change over historical time? What can we know about languages spoken before the invention of writing? What distinctions exist between languages spoken in different places, and how can we tell whether similarities are due to genealogical relationships? How do new languages emerge? How do languages disappear? How does language use vary between individuals from the same place or the same community? How do socioeconomic class, ethnicity, and gender relate to the linguistic behavior of individuals? How does language policy affect educational outcomes? What about social cohesion and conflict? Although we will find that most of these questions lack definitive answers, we will develop an understanding of what it takes to ask them meaningfully and precisely. In particular, we will be able to eliminate false or misleading answers, especially when they fail to take into account the observable and describable properties of the human capacity for language.

Scientific study of human language. Methods, questions, findings, and perspectives of modern linguistics. Components of the language system (phonetics/phonology, syntax, semantics/pragmatics); language acquisition; language and social variables; language and cognition; language change; language processing; language and public policy. prereq: Honors student or instr consent

Scientific study of human language. Methods, questions, findings, and perspectives of modern linguistics. Components of the language system (phonetics/phonology, syntax, semantics/pragmatics); language acquisition; language and social variables; language and cognition; language change; language processing; language and public policy; language and cognition.

How words are organized into phrases/sentences. Basic units of a sentence. How these units are structured. How languages may be the same, or different, in syntax. prereq: 3001 or 3001H or 5001 or instr consent

Concepts/issues in current syntactic theory. Prereq: LING 5001 and graduate student or honors student, or instructor consent

How sounds are organized/patterned in human languages. Foundation in phonological theory/problem-solving for advanced work in phonology and other fields in linguistics. Analyzing data, presenting written solutions. prereq: 3001 or 3001H or 5001 or instr consent

How sounds are organized/patterned in human languages. Phonological theory/problem-solving for advanced work in in linguistics. Analyzing data. Presenting written solutions to problem sets. prereq: 5001 or honors student or instructor consent. LING 5302 is directed towards honors students and graduate students.

Role of language in human social interaction; linguistic indicators of social status and attitudes; language and sex roles; linguistic ecology; language planning for multilingual communities; implications for education and public policy.

Topics vary. See Class Schedule.

Supervised planning and research for thesis under direction of Linguistics advisor. Students enrolling in this directed study/research course will complete the University's common Directed Study/Research contract with the faculty mentor/evaluator. The Faculty member will ensure academic standards are upheld, including: - the work proposed is at the appropriate level for the course, academic in nature, and the student will be involved intellectually in the project. - the project scope is reasonable for one semester and the number of credits specified (42 hours of work per credit) - the faculty mentor is qualified to serve in this role - assessment of student learning and grading criteria are clear and appropriate - the student will be working in a respectful, inclusive environment prereq: Linguistics honors candidate, instr consent.

Survey of language families of the world. Classifying languages genetically/typologically. Historical relationships among languages. prereq: 3001 or 3001H or 5001 or instr consent

Topics vary. See Class Schedule.

Syntactic theory. Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach to grammar. Focuses on Minimalist Program (MP). prereq: 4201 or 5201

Continues work of LING 4302W with emphasis on critical reading of current phonological literature. Phonological phenomena in the context of new developments in the field. Optimality Theory and the phonology-morphology interface. prereq: Ling 4302W

This course focuses on a core methodological tool in linguistics: working directly with native speakers of a language in order to gather information about that language. To gain practice and understanding in this broad methodological technique, we discuss practical fieldwork concerns, including: approaches to organization and record-keeping; techniques and pitfalls for conducting interviews; developing a good working relationship with native speaker consultants; ethical issues; and the relation between linguistic theory and language data. Each year, the course will tackle these issues in the context of a particular language of focus, working directly with a native speaker of that language in order to gain an understanding of the basic grammatical structure of the language. Students will learn to conduct interviews with the language consultant in class and will practice these techniques on their own as they pursue individual research projects through weekly interviews conducted outside of class. The course relies on knowledge of linguistic theory that students bring from syntax (LING 4201 or 5201) and phonology (LING 4302 or 5302) courses, but does not require any background knowledge of the language that we will investigate. Prerequisites: LING 4201 or 5201 and LING 4302W or 5302, or instructor consent

Techniques for obtaining/analyzing linguistic data from unfamiliar languages through direct interaction with a native speaker. prereq: [5105, grad major] or instr consent

Modern syntactic theory. Syntactic phenomena in various languages. Syntactic argumentation, development of constraints on grammar formalisms. prereq: 5201 or instructor consent. LING 5201 is directed towards honors students and graduate students.

Analysis of sentence meaning. Semantic properties. Relations such as analyticity, entailment, quantification, and genericity. Philosophical background, formal techniques of semantic analysis, how sentence meaning depends on word meaning, syntax, and context. The role of semantics in grammatical theory. prereq: [4201 or 5201] or instr consent

Analysis of linguistic phenomena in relation to beliefs and intentions of language users; speech act theory, conversational implicature, presupposition, information structure, relevance theory, discourse coherence. prereq: [4201 or 5201] or instr consent

Phonology of human languages. Reading papers in the literature. Doing research in phonology. prereq: 5302 or instr consent. LING 5303 is directed towards honors and graduate students.

Discourse processes. Application of concepts through conversation analysis. prereq: 3001 or 3001H or 5001 or instr consent

Transcribing/analyzing talk and movement related to talk. Applying concepts to recorded conversations. prereq: 3001 or 3001H or 5001 or instr consent

Methods/issues in computer understanding of natural language. Programming languages, their linguistic applications. Lab projects. prereq: [4201 or 5201] or programming experience or instr consent

Topics vary. See Class Schedule.

Directed study for Linguistics. Prereq instr consent, dept consent, college consent.

Historical change in phonology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon. Linguistic reconstruction. Genetic relationship among languages. prereq: 3001 or instr consent

Historical change in phonology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon. Linguistic reconstruction. Genetic relationship among languages. prereq: 3001 or 3011H or 5001