Linguistics

The course examines language as a system of human communication, focusing on its biological, cognitive, and social foundations. It introduces key concepts in psycholinguistics, pragmatics, language comprehension, and production, and explores how language is processed in the mind and used in social interaction.

The course has two parts: the first consists of presenting the different fields and history of linguistics, as well as certain fundamental concepts and theories in language sciences (structuralism, generativism, functions of language). The second part focuses on traditional grammar, covering topics such as classification into grammatical categories (parts of speech) and grammatical functions, as well as the concepts of simple and complex sentences.

The course an overview of the major languages in the world, the families to which they belong, their structural characteristics and where they are spoken. Different accounts as to why languages resemble or differ from each other regarding grammar and sound systems are taken up and discussed. Explanations as to why the number of languages in the world is fast decreasing through language death are further examined. The course puts emphasis on practical exercises where students are trained in analyzing language structure and placing a language in a typological context on the basis of authentic data.

This is a language course designed to build the communicative competence in oral and written Twi for students who have completed the beginners' course (AFST 001), lived, and immersed themselves in Ghana for a semester. It focuses on the structure of the language as well as the culture of the people. It will improve oral skills, written expression, and listening comprehension. There will be an eight-week classroom lecture (16hrs) and about 28hrs field engagements. Students will witness and participate in; a traditional marriage ceremony, funeral, naming ceremony, going to the market to buy foodstuff and cook, a visit to a chief’s palace. There will be a pre and post-processing of each field engagement.

This course examines the Cantonese language as spoken in Hong Kong. The language will be discussed in its areal and historical context. Grammatical topics will include parts of speech in Cantonese, verbal aspect, noun classifiers, and sentence-final particles, with a particular focus on aspects of syntax which diverge from written Chinese and Putonghua such as dative, passive, and comparative constructions. Topics of sociolinguistic interest such as the use of Cantonese as a written language, ‘lazy pronunciation,’ and Cantonese as an endangered language will also be addressed.

This course provides a general history of the evolution of the English language, analyzing the mechanisms behind linguistic change, as well as the types of change. It addresses language relationships within the Germanic group, as well as the process of phonetic, grammatical, and semantic changes. The course also reviews the external history of the English language, examining Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Contemporary English.