What is language? How does language make us who we are? This introductory course addresses issues of linguistic relevance to your daily life: What is language? Are human language and animal communication really that different? Is English a global language? Who speaks the best English? What does our speech say about who we are, where we come from, and where we are going? How do children learn language? Why is it so hard to learn a second language? How do we process language? What does language look like in our brains?

Examine world history and political events through the lens of language! Learn how international and local political and ethnic conflicts can be better understood through the lens of language, how language plays into the politics of power and social difference, and how linguistic minorities have struggled through conquest, colonization, immigration, enslavement, and class distinctions.

What is language and how does it define us? Language is both a system and creative entity. It lives in our brains but is shaped by society as a social convention. Come learn how the cognitive and social sides work together and help shape us as human beings.

How does English work? Why is there no “proper English”? This course provides an introduction to the field of linguistics through an in-depth exploration of many facets of the English language. We will examine the English sound system (phonetics and phonology), word structure (morphology), grammar (syntax), and meaning and usage (semantics). We will also consider other aspects of English, including its acquisition by children, its history as a language, and its social functions as a local and global language. LING 305.001/

This course provides an introduction to the major topics in second language acquisition (SLA). The course topics are divided into three different areas of SLA: 1) stages of learning first and second languages: similarities and differences, 2) the external factors that affect SLA, and 3) the internal factors that affect SLA.  We showcase some descriptive approaches to SLA. The overall objective of the course is to help students better understand the relationships between SLA theory, research and pedagogy, as well as key terms and concepts in SLA.

Not your parents’ Spanish class, and not like any you’ve had before! Analyze and practice pronunciation based on the study of Spanish speech sounds and processes. Your pronunciation will improve dramatically, including such obvious markers of nonnative status as the pronunciation of vowels and trilled rr. To top it off, you will more easily recognize and identify different accents and dialects, and improve general listening comprehension.

An intensive, hands-on introduction to principles and techniques of teaching English language learners, exposing students to norms of the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), working with non-native English speakers, and discovering TESOL opportunities worldwide.

Not your high-school grammar course! Have you ever heard about descriptive grammar? This course will introduce you to grammar patterns emerging from a million-word written and spoken corpus. By the end of the course, you should be familiar with grammatical terms and be able to explain grammar rules, diagram English sentences, carry out editing, and perform linguistic analysis at discourse level.

Not your high-school grammar course! Have you ever heard about descriptive grammar? This course will introduce you to grammar patterns emerging from a million-word written and spoken corpus. By the end of the course, you should be familiar with grammatical terms and be able to explain grammar rules, diagram English sentences, carry out editing, and perform linguistic analysis at discourse level.

Introduction to historical Germanic linguistics including a survey of the Old Germanic languages (Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Norse, Gothic); comparative phonology, morphology, and syntax, typology of modern Germanic languages and dialects; and common Germanic in its Indo-European context.

Approaches to language, gender, and sexuality emphasizing the social grounding of both; how language reflects sociocultural values and is a tool for constructing different types of social organization.

This course offers a broad introduction to the study of language development. We explore the most important and fascinating aspects of typical and atypical, monolingual and bilingual language development, focusing on both theoretical and practical issues. The goal of the course is to better understand the linguistic, cognitive, cultural, and neurological dimensions of language acquisition in childhood. Some of the questions we will ask include: How do people acquire language? Is it harder for a child to learn two languages at once? What are the physiological bases of language?