Linguistics

• CAS LX 235: Language in the Contemporary World: Technology, Society, and the Law
  Exploration of the role of human language in a range of activities and endeavors, focusing on issues of technology, governmental policy, education, gender roles, legal language, language crimes, and the use of language in both media and politics to shape perceptions.
• CAS LX 240: Great Linguists
  Introduction to fundamental questions in the study of natural languages from a historical perspective, addressed through reading and discussion of works by prominent linguists, including Saussure, Sapir, Jespersen, and Chomsky. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS LX 245: Language and Mind
  Foundations of linguistics as a science, in relation to cognitive science, philosophy of language, and psychology, including a critical overview of the research program initiated by Noam Chomsky. Students read and discuss original works, and write short essays. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS LX 250: Introduction to Linguistics
  Properties that languages share and how languages differ with respect to structure (sound system, word formation, syntax), expression of meaning, acquisition, variation, and change; cultural and artistic uses of language; comparison of oral, written, and signed languages. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS LX 340: Language Myths
  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 "decay," and prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS LX 401: Senior Independent Work
  
• CAS LX 402: Senior Independent Work
  
• CAS LX 491: Directed Study: Linguistics
  Application form available in department.
• CAS LX 492: Directed Study: Linguistics
  Application form available in department.
• CAS LX 500: Topics in Linguistics
  Topic for Spring 2012: Linguistics of Contemporary English. 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, the development of standard English, and non-standard varieties of World Englishes.
• CAS LX 501: Linguistic Field Methods
  An in-depth investigation of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and discourse/pragmatics of an African or other non-Indo-European language. Weekly sessions with language consultant.
• CAS LX 502: Semantics I
  Introduction to the study of linguistic meaning, with the goal of improving understanding of the ways in which native speakers produce and interpret language. Emphasis on the interaction of meaning with other components of grammar and cognitive systems.
• CAS LX 503: Semantics II
  Systematic development of a semantic theory of natural language, using the tools of model-theoretic semantics. In-depth study of the relation between meaning and grammar, and the relation between meaning and context.
• CAS LX 504: Topics in Pragmatics
  Covers the main areas of linguistic pragmatics, the study of language use and the relation between meaning and context. Study of pragmatic phenomena such as presuppositions, implicatures, anaphora, and focus, from the perspective of linguistic semantics.
• CAS LX 506: Topics in French Linguistics
  Topics vary by semester. Topic for Spring 2012: 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, Louisiana. Hypotheses on the genesis of certain dialects. Analysis of selected Creole features (Haitian, Louisiana, Lesser Antilles) from a comparative perspective. Also offered as CAS LF 506.
• CAS LX 510: Phonetics
  Introduction to articulatory and acoustic phonetics: the anatomy of human speech production and perception. Practice in using feature-based analysis beginning with English and including other European and non-European languages. Introduction to spectographic analysis.
• CAS LX 513: Introduction to Phonology
  Introduction to the sound system of languages. Study and analysis of physical and mental aspects of sound production in speech and the system in which sounds are organized. Phonological rules, processes, and universals are examined through consideration of various languages.
• CAS LX 518: Focus
  Exploration of focus in natural language, integrating syntax, phonology, semantics, morphology, and pragmatics in pursuit of general understanding of the cross-linguistic diversity of focus phenomena and the ways in which different linguistic processes cooperate to express focus.
• CAS LX 521: Morphology
  Introduction to major theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of word structure in natural language. Emphasis on the development of skills for analysis of morphological structures of unfamiliar languages.
• CAS LX 522: Syntax I
  Introduction to the logical structure and organization of language, and to Chomskyan theory. Application of principles of syntactic analysis to students' own and other languages through data-oriented problems from different language types.

Back to full list of Courses