This course is intended for those who are curious about human language but who have not had courses or formal training in linguistics. At the same time students will gain some insight into how linguists proceed in their task of analysis and explanation. They will also learn how to confront texts in languages they do not know. There are weekly problem sets, readings, and two hour exams. Introduction to Linguistics.
Nothing is more distinctly human than our ability to talk, to use language.
This course is an introduction to the methods which linguists have developed in the process of analyzing and describing human languages. We will look at the sounds of language, how they are produced, and how they are patterned into words. We will study the diverse ways in which individual languages approach the processes of word and sentence formation, while we try to decide if there are processes which are universal to all human languages. In other words, our focus will be on the processes of analysis and the methods of critical thinking as they apply to the study of language. Daily exercises will afford opportunities to collect data, define problems and propose tentative solutions.