Linguistics (LING)

LING 1000 - How Language Works: Introduction to Linguistics

3 Credits

This course provides an introduction to the scientific study of human language through the analysis of three mains aspects, namely, linguistic structures, language as a social dimension, and language as a mirror of cognitive processes. As such, we will study the various branches of general linguistics and explore interdisciplinary topics such as first, second, and heritage language acquisition, forensic linguistics, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics.

Attributes: MLIC Linguistics

LING 2000 - Research Methods in Linguistics

3 Credits

This course provides students with the tools to obtain, organize, and analyze language-related data. Empirical methods are explored with some attention given to data-driven quantitative methods employed in natural language analysis. The course includes language data collection, basic statistical analysis (as applied to linguistics), and language corpora. Students will also benefit from learning data processing computer software packages (e.g., Excel, R, SPSS).

Prerequisite(s): LING 1000

LING 3010 - Language Acquisition

3 Credits

This course serves as a general introduction to the cognitive and neural bases of language acquisition. Among the topics covered are phonological development, morphological development, lexical development, syntactic development, pragmatic development, and atypical language acquisition.

Attributes: Linguistics Elective

LING 3020 - Language and Society

3 Credits

This course introduces students to linguistic concepts relevant to the study of language use in society (also known as sociolinguistics). Students will explore how language is manifested in different social contexts, the role that social norms play in language use, and issues related to language policy and the politics of language. We will also explore individual linguistic differences among speakers with regard to gender, age, and ethnicity.

Attributes: Linguistics Elective

LING 3030 - Language and Computers

3 Credits

This course explores the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) as it intersects with the major branches of linguistics. Students will explore how CALL researchers develop and leverage technological tools to answer specific linguistic questions about language acquisition, learning, and teaching.

Attributes: Linguistics Elective

LING 3040 - Language Contact and Bilingualism

3 Credits

This course teaches students what it means to be bilingual and how language contact and bilingualism can be studied as an individual or group phenomenon, from social and cognitive approaches. Although we focus on the linguistic areas where bi/multilingual communities in the world speak English and another language(s), examples of language contact and bi/multilingual communities outside the English-speaking world will also be explored.

Attributes: Linguistics Elective

LING 3050 - Language Change and Evolution

3 Credits

Historical linguistics is the study of language change. In this course we will survey change at multiple levels (i.e., phonetic, phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, and semantic levels), practice methods of historical reconstruction, explore relationships between linguistic variation and change, study change in the context of language contact, language birth, and language death, and explore new methods in historical comparative linguistics. Our focus will be on Indo-European languages.

Attributes: Linguistics Elective

LING 3060 - Language in Evidence: Forensic Linguistics

3 Credits

This course explores issues of language usage in legal settings through the lens of forensic linguistics, both in the United States and abroad. We begin by examining the language of the legal process and reviewing key theoretical and methodological approaches. Next, we explore issues that arise from specific settings where language may have legal implications, such as initial calls to emergency services, police interviewing, and courtroom discourse. Finally, we look at language as evidence by means of considering the work of the forensic linguist, forensic phonetics, authorship attribution, the linguistic investigation of plagiarism, and the linguist as expert witness.

Attributes: Linguistics Elective