Linguistics

The course provides students with a first introduction to language acquisition research – with particular reference to second language acquisition (SLA) research. It identifies the central issues on which such research has focused, reviews some of the principal findings which have emerged and explores the implications of such findings for language teaching. The course encourages students to reflect on their own experience as a language learner and to make sense of that experience. Topics include child language acquisition, the nature/nurture debate, errors and learning strategies, the learner’s "internal syllabus," individual learner differences, theories of second language acquisition, communication strategies, and second language teaching.

This course examines how comparisons can be made between languages with respect to their sound systems, lexical-semantic structures, sentence patterns, and pragmatic properties. Through systematic analysis, students gain understanding from research findings in language typology, language universals, and language acquisition. This course focuses on the basic characteristics of English and Chinese, and some salient contrasts between them. The approach is largely descriptive without assuming prior knowledge of theoretical syntax. The course also considers how comparisons between languages may help students associated with problems of translation and language teaching/learning. 

This course presents scientific methods of analysis and develops a better knowledge of grammatical constructions and constraints across languages through linguistic analysis exercises. It also provides a good understanding of the division of "tasks" between the different components of grammar, as well as the link between syntax and morphology on the one hand, and between syntax and semantics on the other.

This course examines basic communication in Hong Kong Sign Language. An emphasis will be placed on the essential grammar of the Hong Kong Sign Language. It also offers a general introduction to the culture and customs of the local Deaf community.

This course enables students to acquire some basics of Hong Kong Sign Language and the general principles for communicating with deaf people in a visual-gestural modality. With different videoed scenarios, students are systematically guided to acquire elementary signing skills for fulfilling basic communication needs in everyday situations. Emphasis will be placed on a range of simple, general-purpose expressions, which allow students to converse with local deaf people, as well as prepare themselves for learning the language further.

This course is an introduction to linguistics. It gives a general knowledge of each area of linguistics drawing from a range of spoken and signed languages. It provides the students who have no previous knowledge of linguistics with a background in core areas of the field – phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and their acquisition. The course is divided in three parts: the first part is an introduction to the field of linguistics, the second part is concerned with the structure of natural languages, and the third part is related to language modality, with particular attention to signed languages and gesture.

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.

This course provides a broad introduction to the linguistic analysis of Korean. Topics include phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, as well as a small amount of orthography, history, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics.  

This course primarily focuses on Korean, but it will include examples from other languages to show how Korean compares and contrasts. 

The recommended prerequisite for this course is two years of college-level Korean. If a student has completed one year of college-level Korean, they must be prepared to put in extra time and effort. Students who have completed less than one year of college-level Korean are not encouraged to enroll in this course, unless they have already had some coursework in general linguistics (e.g., an introduction to linguistics, plus one or two additional courses in core topics such as phonetics, phonology, syntax, or semantics).  

This course provides a broad understanding of language learning and familiarizes students with some pedagogical considerations and second language acquisition theory as a necessary underpinning to the use of technology in language learning. Students learn a range of speech and language technologies that can be deployed in educational applications. Students learn practical skills in the design/development of digital educational content.