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Linguistics

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  • CAS LX 601: 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. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Quantitative Reasoning I
    • Scientific Inquiry II
  • CAS LX 611: Morphology: Introduction to the Structures and Shapes of Words
    Graduate Corequisites: (GRSLX612) - (Students must also register for required co-req GRS LX 612.) 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. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Morphology" that was previously numbered CAS LX 521.
  • CAS LX 617: "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. 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 621: 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. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Syntax I" that was previously numbered CAS LX 522.
  • CAS LX 628: 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. 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 631: 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. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Semantics I" that was previously numbered CAS LX 502. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork and Collaboration.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • The Individual in Community
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS LX 641: 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.
  • CAS LX 645: Languages in Contact: The High Stakes of Grammatical Border-Crossing
    Examines the mechanisms and outcomes of language contact by surveying cases around the globe from the past and present. Topics include lexical-borrowing, code-switching, pidgins and creoles, language death, and the emergence of entirely new language systems. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 515.
  • CAS LX 646: Language Variation and Change
    Why do languages change over time' Who leads and who follows in situations of language change' The course answers these questions by examining the link between language change and linguistic variation, focusing on how synchronic variation leads to diachronic change. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS LX 649: 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. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 545. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • The Individual in Community
    • Social Inquiry II
  • CAS LX 660: 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. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 535. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS LX 665: Variation in Dialects of English
    Graduate Corequisites: (GRSLX666) - Exploration of how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into other dialects. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects. Students must also register for GRS LX 666.
  • CAS LX 667: Indigenous Languages of Latin America
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLX250) and First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g. CAS WR 100; WR 120) - Graduate Corequisites: (GRSLX677) - Exploration of the structure, history, and varieties of indigenous languages of Latin America, and of the communities that speak them. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy. Students must also register for GRS LX 677.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Research and Information Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS LX 670: Romance Linguistics
    Graduate Prerequisites: prior study of some Romance language at the 4th semester level or higher (e.g. CASLF 212 or LI 212 or LP 212 or LS 212 or CL 212, or equivalent); or consent of instructor. Corequisite: CASLX 671 - Covers morphophonological and morphosyntactic change since Latin, plus various topics in the comparative grammar of modern Romance languages. Students deepen their linguistic knowledge and analytic skills by applying what they have learned in other linguistics courses to this language family.
  • CAS LX 675: The History of the French Language
    Undergraduate pre-requisites: CASLX 250. - Overview of socio-historical and linguistic factors underpinning the emergence, development, and spread of the French language over time. Study of historical, societal, and political events, along with phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and orthographic changes. Representative texts demonstrate stages of language change. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS LX 683: The Sounds of Spanish
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: one LS 300-level language course; or consent of instructor. - Introduction to Spanish phonetics and phonology. Covers articulatory, acoustic, and auditory phonetics, focusing on techniques for visualizing speech sounds. Examines the phonemic inventory and phonological organization of Spanish from several perspectives, including generative and articulatory phonology as well as sociolinguistics. Conducted in Spanish. Also offered as CAS LS 507. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 507.
  • CAS LX 684: The Structure of Spanish
    Graduate Prerequisites: one LS 300-level language course; or consent of instructor. - Introduction to Spanish morphology and syntax. Explores the structure of Spanish words, phrases, and sentences from multiple perspectives with a focus on natural language data. Examines Generative, Usage-based, and Lexical-Functional approaches to the analysis of grammatical structure. Conducted in Spanish. Also offered as CAS LS 508. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same title that was previously numbered CAS LX 508.
  • CAS LX 690: Topics in Linguistics
    Topics and pre-requisites vary by semester and section. May be repeated for credit as topics change. The pre-requisite for all three Fall 2024 sections is CASLX250 or equivalent. Topics for Fall 2024: Section A1: Language Revitalization. Languages become "endangered" or "dormant" for multiple reasons, and efforts to revitalize languages take many paths. We examine key cases of language revitalization, including examples from around the world, but with a primary focus on indigenous languages of North America. Section B1: Cognitive Science of Language. This course serves as an introduction to studying language as a part of broader cognitive science, exploring questions about the nature of linguistic representations, how they are processed and acquired, and how they interact with other cognitive domains. Section C1: Lexical Semantics. Pre-requisite in addition to CASLF 250 is CASLX 331 or 631 or equivalent. Recommended is CASLX321/621 or equivalent; or consent of the instructor. Investigation of the traditional notion of morpheme as a ¿minimal form-meaning pairing," and its attendant difficulties. Students gain an appreciation of the relationship between word structure and word meaning across languages via a series of case studies.
  • CAS LX 691: Linguistic Field Methods
    A team-based in-depth investigation of the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon of an African or other non-Indo-European language. Bi-weekly sessions with language consultant. Weekly trainings on methodology, ethics, analysis, and presentation of results. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS LX 694: Introduction to Programming for Computational Linguistics
    Introduction to computational techniques to explore linguistic models and test empirical claims. Serves as an introduction to programming, algorithms, and data structures, focused on modern applications to Natural Language Processing. Topics include tagging and classification, parsing models, meaning representation, and information extraction. [Not intended for students with a background in programming or computer science] This course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Research and Information Literacy.
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
    • Research and Information Literacy

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