Courses

• CAS LW 211: Wolof 3
  This third semester four-skills Wolof course develops communicative competence and confidence in the use of Wolof in speaking, reading, writing, and listening in culturally appropriate ways. Students learn to communicate with native speakers at an intermediate mid level of proficiency.
• CAS LW 215: Akan Twi 3
  Third-semester four-skill Akan Twi course emphasizes oral expression, listening, reading and writing skills, focusing on the culture and the day-to-day life of Akan people. In-class discussions are learner- centered, drawing on experiences of both urban and rural speakers.
• CAS LW 311: Wolof 5
  Study and discussion of various contemporary issues in Wolof society and culture, including traditional and contemporary Wolof literature (folk tales, stories, proverbs, etc.) written in both Latin and Ajami scripts.
• CAS LW 411: Wolof 7
  Develops students' proficiency at the advanced-high level in oral expression, listening comprehension, reading, and writing in both Ajami and Latin scripts. Students apply their language skills to professional fields, the humanities, and social sciences.
• CAS LW 491: Directed Study: Wolof
  Directed study in Wolof.
• CAS LX 110: Say What? Accents, Dialects, and Society
  Exploration of how variation in accents and dialects interacts with various aspects of society and human life. Students examine how dialect variation arises, how it can be described, and what role it plays in literature, film, humor, and music. Cannot be taken for credit by students who have previously taken, or are currently taking, CAS LX 250 or a higher-level linguistics course. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS LX 205: Origins of Writing
  Overview of the world's major writing systems: Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs; Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform; West Semitic consonantal scripts (abjads); East Asian scripts; runes; Greek and Roman alphabets. Considerable linguistic component supplemented by historical information about ancient languages and cultures. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as CAS CL 205.
• 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 301: Phonetics & Phonology: Introduction to Sound Systems
  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. Carries humanities divisional studies credit in CAS. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Phonetics" that was previously numbered CAS LX 510.
• CAS LX 311: Morphology: Introduction to the Structures and Shapes of Words
  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. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS. Also offered as GRS LX 611. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Morphology" that was previously numbered CAS LX 521.
• CAS LX 317: "Having" and "Being" across Languages
  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. Also offered as GRS LX 617. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 517.
• CAS LX 321: Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure
  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. Carries humanities divisional studies credit in CAS. Also offered as GRS LX 621. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Syntax I" that was previously numbered CAS LX 522.
• CAS LX 328: Questions
  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. Also offered as GRS LX 628. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 519.
• CAS LX 331: Semantics & Pragmatics: Introduction to Linguistic Meaning
  Systematic examination of how meaning is encoded in words and sentences, and how it can emerge from the complexity of the grammar. Also touches on various aspects of pragmatics--the study of how meaning is shaped by context. Carries humanities divisional studies credit in CAS. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Semantics I" that was previously numbered CAS LX 502.
• CAS LX 341: Sociolinguistics
  Introduction to language in its social context. Methodological and theoretical approaches to sociolinguistics. Linguistic variation in relation to situation, gender, socioeconomic class, linguistic context, and ethnicity. Integrating micro- and macro-analysis from conversation to societal language planning. Also offered as CAS AN 521 and GRS LX 641.
• CAS LX 342: Language, Race, and Gender
  Do women talk differently from men? How do race and ethnicity relate to the way people use language? This course examines these interrelated questions from the perspective of modern sociolinguistic theory, analyzing a range of languages and communities throughout the world. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 320.
• CAS LX 349: Bilingualism
  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. Also offered as GRS LX 649. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 545.
• CAS LX 355: Second Language Acquisition
  Overview of second language acquisition at all linguistic levels. Topics include the role of the native language; markedness; universals; environmental variables; cognitive and affective factors; social dimensions; individual differences among learners; and application of theory to third language acquisition. Also offered as GRS LX 655. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 542.
• CAS LX 359: Interrupted Acquisition and Language Attrition
  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. Also offered as GRS LX 659. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Incomplete Acquisition and Language Attrition" that was previously numbered CAS LX 546.
• CAS LX 360: Historical and Comparative Linguistics
  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. Carries humanities divisional studies credit in CAS. Also offered as GRS LX 660. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 535.

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