Section 1m is the Honors Section. Registration in this section is by instructor permission, provided by PTE numbers which the intructor will distribute in the section. Preference will be given to students in the Honors program, but if the section is not large, other students can enroll. This course examines what the nature of language is, how the science of linguistics analyzes language data, and how language is integrated within culture and history. Everyone speaks a language and everyone is interested in language at some level.
Language is a continual object of interest in newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.
This course will use such materials as a source of data for analysis and, in some cases, as a way to draw attention to myths about language which many, if not most people believe. Textbook Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct , HarperPerennial, 1994. Lecture, discussion sections, and reading The course will be organized around the main text, The Language Instinct . The full class meetings on Tuesday and Thursday will be a combination of films and lectures. The films will parallel the chapters in The Language Instinct insofar as this is possible.