Linguistics

This course covers applied areas of language use. It consists of a study of language in its social context, of theories of second language acquisition, and of an examination of language in its broader discursive context.

This course examines the phenomenon of written language from a range of perspectives. It begins by exploring the beginnings and historical development of writing, in the process considering the ways in which different writing systems (e.g., word-writing, syllable writing, alphabetic writing) represent different aspects of language. Further points of discussion are drawn from among the following: the debate around the social and individual consequences of literacy; the orthography of English; the mental processes involved in reading; written texts as coherent communicative acts; information structure and flow in written texts; differences between the language of speech and the language of writing; and the relationship between written language and communication technologies.

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 characteristics of English as a first language, linguistic development, input and interaction, child-directed speech; acquisition of English as a second language, contrastive analysis, sequences of development, pragmatics in second language; influence between languages, the concept of "language transfer," code switching, multilingual speakers.

This course equips students with the key theoretical and practical concepts of language policy and language planning. It familiarizes students with the processes by which languages are promoted or discouraged, e.g. by governments, and what impacts such choices have in areas such as education, minority languages, community empowerment, linguistic human rights, access to health, and nation building.

This course offers an introduction to lexicology, including definitions, the difference between lexicology and semantics, common and specialized vocabularies (e.g., folklore, scientific), and the analysis of relevant aspects of the Spanish lexicon. This course is facilitated through review and group discussion of these topics as well as completion of tasks and analysis exercises.