Linguistics

This course introduces students to descriptive English grammar and to central themes relating to sound patterns and pronunciation in English. The first part of the module, which focuses on grammar, provides you with an understanding of the way in which phrases and sentences are constructed and equips students with the skills to break sentences down into their constituent parts, to describe the category and grammatical function of those parts, to distinguish clause types, to distinguish the parts of the English verb group, to construct and test hypotheses and to represent sentence structure by means of tree diagrams. The second part of the course focuses on phonetics and phonology. Students acquire knowledge and understanding of the production of sounds and the skills necessary to describe, define, and transcribe consonants and vowels using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Students are also introduced to fundamental concepts related to contrast and meaning in sound structures and to fundamental concepts in phonology that go beyond the description of individual sounds, such as syllable structure, stress, and phonological processes and the relationship between pronunciation and spelling.

This course examines forensic linguistics. It covers legal language, forced confessions, investigative interviewing, authorship analysis, copyright infringement, earwitness testimony, linguistic disadvantage and the impact of power in real case outcomes.

The course focuses on the philosophy of contemporary language. This course includes an introduction to contemporary philosophy of language and focuses on truth and relativism and logical reasoning and rational argumentation on the topic of post-truth. The course includes lectures, quizzes on the e-learning materials, and peer instruction based on the Kahoot model. Assessment is based on a final research paper on a pre-approved topic and an oral exam on class lectures, required readings, and special materials.

This course provides a study of the principal aspects of language acquisition, particularly as it relates to the case of second languages, examining the main theories of language acquisition while focusing particularly on English as a first and second language. Topics covered include: input, interaction, and output-- language as a generator of second languages; acquisition in natural and formal contexts; the language learner-- individual variables and the age factor; acquisition and communication strategies-- pragmatics and interaction in English as a second language; research methodology in second language acquisition.