Linguistics

This course is intended for anyone interested in the two central themes of how languages work and how they change. The course covers: the basics of phonology (the sounds of a language) and morphology (analysis of the minimal meaningful elements in a language); the history of thought about language in the western tradition, from the ancient world to the 20th century; historical linguistics and the Indo-European languages; and sociolinguistics: how and why languages change.

This course studies the social function of language from a micro-linguistics point of view. Language is analyzed in relation to social structure. For example, we may casually say in our daily conversations that people in China speak Chinese, or that “we” speak Japanese. In this course, we re-examine concepts such as language, society, speech community, and code, and analyze the linguistic choices speakers make in order to express their identity in the context of society.

The course offers an introduction to English language history, paying attention to language changes, language contact, and the development into a modern national language in particular. An introduction is also given to the main characteristics of Old English and Middle English. The course discusses topics including the main lines of development of written English from approximately 700 AD to modern times; the most important changes in the fields of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics; and the basic structure of Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English grammar. The course requires students have completed courses in English grammar and phonetics and intonation or similar courses as a prerequisite.

Through a semester of Shanghainese teaching, students basically master the phonetic characteristics, some vocabulary and grammar of Shanghainese, understand Shanghainese in daily life, and use Shanghainese for simple communication. The course includes an overview of Shanghai dialect, introduction to Shanghai dialect pronunciation, practice of Shanghai dialect pronunciation in conversation courses, and arranging appropriate Shanghai dialect actual combat activities. Course topics include: introduction to Shanghai dialect, Shanghai dialect voice, consolidation and practice of Shanghainese pronunciation, Shanghai dialect conversation, Shanghai dialect actual combat mission. 

This course explores psycholinguistics and the psychology of language including current theories and recent research. It focuses on cognitive linguistics and English language learning.

The Celtic languages remain the media of communication to a greater or lesser extent in communities scattered on the western fringe of 21st-century Europe, in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany. These are the survivors of a history traceable over two and a half thousand years encompassing, at one time, nearly the whole of western Europe and much of central and eastern Europe. The modern Celtic languages interact in various ways with the societies in which they are embedded, the official and unofficial institutions of those societies (government, legislation, industry, etc.), and with the wider cultures of the countries where they are used. This course introduces students to the study of the Celtic languages in these contexts and the sociolinguistics of the Celtic languages, and considers the ways in which they are endangered as languages of the lives and thoughts of the people who use them. Students also examine ways in which their existence and status can be strengthened and expanded, through language planning, looking also at the cases of Cornish in Cornwall and Manx in the Isle of Man, where, though technically dead languages, vigorous revival movements work to prove that news of their demise was premature.

This course introduces students to the interpreting industry of Japan, covering legal and court interpreting; news and broadcast interpreting; medical and hospital interpreting, and sign-language interpreting. The course also covers the concept and framework of community interpreting, analyzing the role of interpreters in the Japanese community through their own experience of living in Japan. 
 

The course provides the opportunity to research fields in Japan where community interpreting is still lacking and how a proper framework may be established to meet these societal needs.