Fall 2024 undergraduate courses

For a full list of undergraduate courses in linguistics offered in recent years, see: CAS – Linguistics Courses.

Introduction to Linguistics

CAS LX 250 / MET LX 250

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. Also offered through Metropolitan College as MET LX 250. (Students must also register for a discussion section.)

BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.

Phonetics & Phonology: Introduction to Sound Systems

CAS LX 301

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. (Students must also register for a discussion section.)

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking.

Semantics & Pragmatics: Introduction to Linguistic Meaning

CAS LX 331

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. Students must also register for a discussion section.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking

Language Variation and Change

CAS LX 346

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.

BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Teamwork/Collaboration.

Topics in Linguistics: Language Revitalization

CAS LX 390 A1

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.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

Topics in Linguistics: Cognitive Science of Language

CAS LX 390 B1

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

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor

Topics in Linguistics: Lexical Semantics

CAS LX 390 C1

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.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, CAS LX 331/631 or equivalent, or consent of instructor. CAS LX 321/621 recommended.

Introduction to Programming for Computational Linguistics

CAS LX 394

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 (NLP). Topics include tagging and classification, parsing models, meaning representation, and information extraction. (Not intended for students with a background in programming or computer science.) Carries MCS divisional studies credit in CAS.

BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Research and Information Literacy.

Intermediate Syntax: Modeling Syntactic Knowledge

CAS LX 422

Using linguistic data drawn from a wide variety of languages, students develop a precise model of syntactic knowledge through evaluation of hypotheses and arguments. Exploration of major discoveries and phenomena from the linguistic literature. Also offered as GRS LX 722.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 321, or consent of instructor.

Experimental Pragmatics

CAS LX 433

Covers recent developments in the theory of pragmatics and related empirical findings obtained through a variety of experimental methods. Topics include scalar implicature and its relation to vagueness and imprecision, hyperbole, metaphor, irony, politeness, and the pragmatics of reference to objects in visual scenes.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 331/631, or consent of instructor.

BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Creativity/Innovation, Digital/Multimedia Expression