Currently Offered Courses - Spring 2025

Introduction to the theory and methodology of general linguistics; includes the various branches and applications of linguistics.

Examines the relationship between language and culture in the multilingual and multicultural context of India. Special topics of focus are: linguistic and cultural diversity in India, impact of the language and cultural contact on the structure and function of languages (convergence, diglossia, code-mixing, pidgins and creoles), language and identity, language of religion, language and gender, language in the media, literature and culture, language and power, language and globalization. Same as HNDI 115 and REL 115.

Study of selected topics on an individually arranged basis. Open only to honors majors or to Cohn Scholars. May be repeated once. Prerequisite: Consent of departmental honors advisor.

May be repeated.

Addresses the question "Why does language change?" Specific topics include: the history and origin of writing; why pronunciation changes; change in vocabulary and what it tells us about change in culture and society; the relation between "language" and "dialect"; multilingualism and its consequences, including Pidgins and Creoles; genetic relationship between languages, with focus on the "Indo-European" family (English, German, French, Russia, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit, etc.) and the relationships between human languages. Prerequisite: Fulfillment of the foreign language requirement of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Same as SHS 221. See SHS 221.

Introduction to the role of language in globalization by examining communication issues concerning language use across cultural, political and geographic boundaries. Explores the interaction of language and other cultural forms in the global context. Among the topics discussed are issues of identity, spread of English and its acculturation to local contexts of use, creativity in language mixing, language in global pop cultures, language in cyberspace, as well as minority language experiences, and loss of indigenous languages.

Introduction to the theory and methodology of psycholinguistics with emphasis on language acquisition and linguistic behavior. Same as PSYC 225.

The United States has a vast and varied linguistic landscape that has been shaped by a unique medley of peoples and cultural practices. From the colonization of North America to contemporary politics and popular culture, language has helped to connect us in many ways, and has also served as a tool for making and maintaining difference. This course explores issues of standardization, language maintenance, linguistic discrimination, identity formation, and many others to consider the ways "diversity" is not only a multiplicity of different histories, beliefs, and practices, but can also become a means of interpersonal prejudice and structural inequity.

What technologies have humans developed to augment the quintessential human ability: language? We start with the development of writing, the first technology that was specifically designed for language, and trace its history through the invention of printing, and into the digital age. With the advent of computers the relevance of language for technology has broadened significantly. We review technologies such as automatic speech recognition, speech synthesis and automatic translation, and discuss their implications for present and future human-machine interaction. Prerequisite: LING 100 or consent of instructor.

Introduction to concepts and techniques essential for syntactic analysis and description, with special attention to testing analyses and justifying them. Prerequisite: LING 100 or consent of instructor.

Introduces elements of phonological theory and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on both Structuralist and Generative theories, introducing students to the principles of phonological contrast, allophony, neutralization, and markedness. Formal phonological models are considered, including both distinctive feature theory and prosodic theory. Equal emphasis is placed on linguistic data analysis. Prerequisite: LING 100 or consent of instructor.

Same as SHS 301. See SHS 301.

An introduction to the concepts and methods of morphology, the linguistic study of word formation. We examine the smallest units of word structure--how they are arranged and organized, and how they interact with sentence structures (syntax) and sound patterns (phonology). Students will consider data from many different languages, and investigate how those languages are similar and different in terms of how they form their words. Prerequisite: LING 100.

Introduction to the theory of meaning for natural language, including techniques for the description of lexical meaning, compositional determination of phrase and sentence meaning, and pragmatic effects on interpretation in context. Same as PHIL 307. Prerequisite: LING 100 or consent of instructor.

Same as SHS 321. See SHS 321.

Study and research for honors thesis; open only to seniors in the linguistics major who are eligible for departmental distinction. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: Written consent of instructor and linguistics course average of 3.4.

Introduction to the theory and methodology of the science of linguistics with special reference to phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Not intended for undergraduate majors in linguistics. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

Hands-on (learn-by-doing) practical course in elicitation of linguistic data, and theoretical analysis of that data, from an unfamiliar language. Students will elicit, record, and transcribe data collected in group interviews. The class as a whole will work on a language archive: (i) recordings collected throughout the semester and their transcriptions, (ii) a dictionary with vocabulary translated into English, (iii) the final projects. This course provides advanced undergraduate students with the opportunity to integrate their previous training with this practical experience. Class focus will depend on the experience students have with phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, and semantics. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated in separate semesters for up to 6 undergraduate hours or 8 graduate hours, if topics vary or if a new language is in the focus of investigation. Prerequisite: LING 301 and LING 302 or LING 401.

Advanced or intensive language instruction in a selected non-Western language; excludes instruction in East or Southeast Asian languages. 1 to 5 undergraduate hours. 2 to 4 graduate hours. May be repeated with approval. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

Introduces the field of natural language processing and computational linguistics. Topics include finite-state methods, parsing, probabilistic methods, machine learning in NLP, computational semantics and applications of NLP technology. The course combines linguistic theory with computational modeling. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: LING 100 or LING 400, and CS 225 or equivalent, and STAT 200 or STAT 212 or STAT 400 or CS 361 or equivalent.

Introductory survey of the role of language in African cultures and societies, with particular emphasis on the study of indigenous African linguae francae in multilingual settings, their spread, and use as media of communication in various domains, and as tools of development. Same as AFST 412. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

Introduction to computational methods for analyzing large natural language corpora. Students will learn the computational skills necessary to build, validate, and analyze corpora with the goal of exploring linguistic phenomena and testing linguistic theories. Corpus linguistics as a field undertakes natural experiments to learn about language using the unelicited production of speakers. This course focuses specifically on computational corpus linguistics, which uses methods from natural language processing to expand the scale of corpus-based experiments. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: LING 100 or LING 400; and LING 402 or equivalent Python experience.

Same as EURO 418, FR 418, GER 418, ITAL 418, PS 418, SLAV 418, and SPAN 418. See FR 418.

Same as PSYC 427 and SHS 427. See SHS 427.

Provides an elementary introduction to concepts, principles and algorithms of digital signal processing. It focuses on computational implementations of contemporary methodologies in digital signal processing rather than underlying mathematical theories, and therefore requires students to have basic Python or MATLAB programming skills as prerequisite. This course comprises lectures and laboratory sessions, during which students are expected to produce their own computer code aided by ready-made programs to solve practical problems. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: LING 402 or equivalent.

Machine learning has been thriving in many areas for both research and industry. It offers solutions to problems that traditional approaches may not be able to deal with or fall short in efficiency. From unsupervised to supervised learning, this course provides a broad understanding of modern machine learning methods and techniques. Knowledge and skills are acquired in solving practical problems in clustering and classification, using techniques such as k-means, Gaussian mixture models, decision trees, support vector machines, and neural networks. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Credit is not given toward graduation for LING 448 and either CS 441, 442, 446 or 545. Prerequisite: Intermediate-level Python programming skills. Students are expected to know how to use libraries and modules, basic data structures, and the concept of object-oriented programming.

Introduction to the fundamental concepts, philosophy, and research methods of the study of language in its social contexts. Special attention to language spread, and language variation; language attitudes; language diversity; code-switching; language standardization; and language identity and loyalty. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

General introduction to second language acquisition (SLA) theory. Examines nativist, interactionist and cognitive approaches to SLA and explores the role of learner characteristics. Instruction in English. Same as FR 481, GER 489, ITAL 489, PORT 489, and SPAN 489. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: An introductory course in linguistics or consent of instructor.

Course provides an opportunity to focus on various subfields of the linguistic sciences, depending on the interests of the faculty and student. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated as topic varies to a maximum of 9 undergraduate hours or 12 graduate hours. Students may register for up to two sections in the same term. Prerequisite: LING 100, LING 400, or consent of instructor.

Examination of language-specific phonological problems with a view toward formulating a language-independent theory of phonology. Prerequisite: LING 401 or consent of instructor.

Provides an introduction to practical problems in computational linguistics in a laboratory setting. At the beginning of the semester, a substantial project will be assigned to the class, and the class will work as a team towards implementing a solution, and evaluating the final product against a test corpus, which will also be developed during the class. Topical readings will also be assigned and will be discussed. Approved for letter or S/U grading. May be repeated in more than one section per term to a maximum of 8 hours, if topics vary; may be repeated in subsequent terms to a maximum of 12 hours, if topics vary. Prerequisite: LING 406, and an introductory level Computer Science programming course, or consent of instructor.

Introduction to a quantitatively oriented approach to research design and methodology in language study, with emphasis on the construction of appropriate research designs for different subfields of linguistics (with a particular focus on designs for research in syntax/semantics and language acquisition / bilingualism). A variety of research methods are covered in detail, including both offline and online methodologies. Term paper required. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit. Prerequisite: LING 400 or equivalent; LING 425, or EIL 489 or consent of instructor.

Issues in the theory and practice of syntactic description, with special attention to implications for universal grammar. Prerequisite: LING 501 or consent of instructor.

Examination of the major theoretical frameworks in Gricean and post-Gricean pragmatics with an emphasis on theories of implicature, speech acts and im/politeness. Same as PHIL 551. Prerequisite: LING 501 and LING 507, or consent of instructor.

Research-oriented seminar on theoretical and applied aspects of bilingualism; critical evaluation of linguistic, neurolinguistic, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic approaches to bilingualism; and concentration on selected case studies from Western and non-Western societies, especially Asia and Africa. May be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: LING 450 or an introductory course in linguistics.

Same as EALC 588, FR 588, GER 588, ITAL 588, PORT 588, and SPAN 588. See SPAN 588.

Discussion of advanced topics of current interest. May be repeated with approval. Prerequisite: LING 501 and LING 502.

Approved for S/U grading only. May be repeated.