Linguistics

This course examines language and politeness (and by extension also language and impoliteness). The first part of the course will provide a critical overview of major approaches to linguistic (im)politeness, including early classic politeness and impoliteness theories and more recent developments in the field and look at how (im)politeness is defined, theorized and analyzed differently by different approaches. The second part of the course will turn to topics in relation to linguistic (im)politeness such as (im)politeness and culture as well as (im)politeness in (social) media communication. Examples will be drawn from a wide range of sources such as everyday conversations, political communication and online communication.

This beginners’ course is aimed at non-mother tongue speakers of Swahili. This course provides a broad overview of the study of sociolinguistics with specific reference to Southern Africa. Topics such as language and gender, language and power, linguistic prejudice as well as language planning are covered. The latter is a very important and controversial field in Southern Africa, given the liberal constitution, which allows for 11 official languages. The course focuses on two specific arenas or work situations i.e. the legal and medical fraternities, in order to assess what complications and challenges arise in a multilingual work environment. How are these challenges being addressed? Why is it important for you to be a multilingual citizen? DP requirements: Students are expected to complete all tests and assignments and attend at least 80% of all lectures, tutorials and language labs. Assessment: Coursework 50%; exam 50%.

This course introduces students to the core concepts, terminology, and technical apparatus of the structural parts of linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics), as well as the conceptual underpinnings of the discipline. Students learn about fundamental concepts such as contrast and distribution; structure; rules and representations; the cognitive basis of language, and how that is distinct from its social basis; and language universals and variation. They also learn how to solve problems of linguistic analysis using these concepts and the terminology and techniques of the discipline as well as how to use hypothesis testing to devise solutions to these problems. 

Through a diverse range of specific case studies, this course introduces students to the study of language policy, incorporating language management, language practices and language beliefs. Crucially, this field sheds light on the balance of power between different languages and their users. In addition to framing key concepts in the field, four specific sociolinguistic case studies will typically be considered: these vary from year to year, but may include languages such as Gaelic, Greenlandic, Russian, the Sámi languages, Scots, and Spanish (no prior knowledge of any of these is required). Thematic topics and approaches to be covered also vary, but may include globalization, minoritization, indigeneity, legal frameworks, education, commodification, media, language visibility, superdiversity, pluricentrism, and language contact.

 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The aim of the course is to illustrate the diversity of the world's languages and the implications of this diversity for a general theory of language and its use, discussing the main methods and results of the typological-functionalist approach and of the approaches developed in the pragmatic field. Through the comparison of different languages, belonging to the various families attested in the world, the theoretical and methodological bases for the analysis of structural, semantic and pragmatic diversity of human languages are discussed in detail, also in relation to cultural diversity. At the end of the course, students are able to trace different languages back to different 'linguistic types' and have an up-to-date knowledge of threatened and endangered languages; have a thorough knowledge of the notions of linguistic and pragmatic universals; be able to set up and carry out autonomously an interlinguistic comparison with respect to single linguistic and pragmatic phenomena; be familiar with the main techniques of data collection and linguistic documentation; and be able to orient themselves within the descriptive grammars of different languages.

The course is organized in five parts. For each topic, different perspectives and theoretical proposals are compared, in the light of the most recent scientific debate:

1. Introduction to linguistic diversity
2. The world's languages and their health status.
3. Analyzing linguistic diversity: data collection and methods of analysis
4. Linguistic typology: seeking order in chaos
5. Explorations of linguistic diversity

The topics addressed in the second part of the course are listed below. The list may be subject to change depending on the specific interests of the attending students.

• Different languages construct words differently: morphological types
• Subject and object in world’s languages: syntactic types
• The categorization of time and reality: languages without time markers, time and reality of nouns and adjectives
• Noun categories: genders (how many?) and number (beyond singular and plural...)
• Parts of speech: how are people, things, and events categorized? Are there languages without adjectives?
• The expression of gratitude in the world's languages: is saying 'thank you' a universal phenomenon or does it depend on education and culture?
• How to communicate misunderstanding? The expression of error and its repair in world languages
• Languages without AND and languages without OR: connectives beyond logical distinctions

A basic knowledge of general linguistics is required. Those who have never taken a basic linguistics exam will have to recover independently, by studying a basic manual (Berruto & Cerruti 2011 is suggested).

This course focuses on the relationships between language and society with special focus on those areas where Dutch is spoken. Questions about language variation are central to the course. How and why does variation emerge? What social, individual, and linguistic factors are important? Concepts addressed include standard language, accent and dialect, youth language, ethnolect, gender differences in language and gendered language as well as the differences between language variation and language change, linguistic style differences, racist and sexist language and the social meaning and function of language differences. Other topics include language planning, multilingualism, codeswitching, the status of minority languages and their role in education, language loss and language shift among migrants.

This seminar course surveys major approaches and current issues relevant to the study of language in society. It aims to familiarize students with a range of theoretical and conceptual frameworks they may refer to in addressing sociolinguistic questions across a variety of sites and to provide general principles that they may consider when engaged in the study of language in social context. For this purpose, we will critically discuss classical and contemporary research in sociolinguistics to explore the historical background, prevailing assumptions, methodological perspectives, and analytic strengths of different approaches to language in society and consider recent developments in the field. Students will also be enabled to use empirical methods to conduct sociolinguistic research.

The objective of the course is to develop the student’s knowledge of English morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics at an advanced level, as well as their knowledge of the history of the English language. The course introduces the detailed grammatical analysis of English, which includes the analysis of the constituent structure of English words and clauses. It also introduces historical variants such as Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Late Modern English, as well as the historical basis for the present-day social and regional variation in English.

This course examines the different anatomical structures that are involved in voice production and speech articulation. Topics include: tissues, organs, systems, and apparatus; locomotor system; the bony skull and cranial norms; facial bones; central and peripheral nervous system; brain stem; cranial nerves; nerve pathways; muscles of the head; mimic muscles; nose; pharynx; oral cavity; tongue; larynx; vocal cords; thorax; diaphragm muscle; respiratory system.

How do we create meaning from the air we breathe and from marks on a page? How has language been exploited now and throughout history for effect, self-expression, and story-telling? In this course, students study the most intricate, powerful, and beautiful parts of our most valuable human asset - language. In three strands this course explores in detail how newspapers, adverts, and politicians all try to persuade us; how linguistic meaning and structure are key to making ourselves understood; and how the 1500-year history of English tells us about who we are and where we came from.