LINGUIST 108: Flanagan, Güzeldere
Philosophy of Mind
This course examines various philosophical issues
involved in the understanding of the mind. Both
contemporary and historical debates will be introduced,
and some relevant material from Psychology and
neuroscience, as well as from artificial intelligence and
animal studies will be discussed. Topics include the
mind-body problem, the puzzle of consciousness,
perception, Personal identity, and the self. Crosslisted: Philosophy 112.
LINGUIST 109: Sterrett
Philosophy of Language
A philosophical
anlaysis of problems arising in the study of language and symbolism.
Topics include:
theories of language, the nature of signs and symbols, theories of meaning,
types of discourse (scientific, mathematical, poetic), definition,
ambiguity,
metaphor. This course will provide an introduction to some of the core topics in contemporary philosophy of language: What should a theory of meaning look like? How do words pick out things in the world? What, besides stating facts, do we use language for? Crosslisted: Philosophy 109.
LINGUIST 110: Day
Psychology of Language
Psychological "reality" of linguistic structures
language and cognition, biological bases, animal communication, language
pathologies, nonverbal communication, linguistic universals, and bilingualism.
Everyday language phenomena (for example, slips of the tongue)
as well as experimental and theoretical research. Emphasis on
the research designs, methods and reasoning by which the features of
language are assessed. Crosslisted: Psychology 134.
LINGUIST
112: Tetel Andresen
English Historical Linguistics
The entire history of the English language
from its origins as an Indo-European language (5000 B.C.E.) to the present.
In the first half of the course, focus is on the causes and principles
of language change, investigating phonetic, syntactic, and semantic
change
from Indo-European to Old English (450-1100 A.D.) and on to Middle English
(1100-1500 AD). In the second half of the course, emphases shifts
to understanding the phenomenon of language variation as the course
chronicles
the spread of English(es) around the globe that began with the Renaissance.
The second half of the course is, thus, concerned to understand
the social and political conditions in which the varieties of English
in the world today have developed. Crosslisted: English 112.
LINGUIST 119: William O'Barr
Language, Culture and Society
Analysis of language
behavior within and across societies. Topics include the relation
of language
structures to cultural values, the role of speech in expressing and creating
relations of power and intimacy, and the way social ideologies shape
different
kinds of discourse. Crosslisted: Cultural
Anthropology 119.
LINGUIST 120 & 120D: William
O'Barr
Advertising and Society
History and development
of commercial advertising; advertising as a reflector and/or creator
of
social and cultural values; advertisements as cultural myths; effects
on children, women, and ethnic minorities; advertising and language;
relation
to political and economic structure; and advertising and world culture.
Emphasis on American society complemented by case studies of advertising
in Canada, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Western Europe, and selected other
countries.
This course deals with the place of advertising in society, culture, history, and the economy. The course deals with the history and development of advertising in the United States and selected other countries. This not a course about how to do advertising, but rather about what advertisements mean and about what advertising itself means in the context of global capitalism.
LINGUIST 120D (CULANTH 110D) is in lecture and discussion
format. Crosslisted: Cultural Anthropology 110.
LINGUIST
121: Sean-Jacques Thomas
French Composition and Translation
The purpose of this course is to study how the tightly functional expressive system of a national language can be transposed into another one. Study of French texts and documents serves as support for the study of the equivalencies between French and English. This leads to the acquisition of a more advanced competence in the area of written expression. Presentation of the fundamental elements of French grammar and expressive stylistics will encompass, among others, the following fundamental processes: ideational clauses, group structures, discursive categorization, synonymy, speech acts and situational pragmatics. Weekly written assignments, detailed correction; use of computer assisted composition in French. Emphasis on explanation of grammatical and stylistical mistakes. Crosslisted: French 108.
LINGUIST
122S: Paredes
Fundamentals of Spanish Linguistics
A comprehensive overview of the
field of linguistics as it relates to Spanish. Starting from the question, What
does it mean to know Spanish?, the course reviews the areas of phonology,
morphology, syntax, pragmatics, semantics, applied linguistics and
sociolinguistics.
The main goal is to develop students' skills in analyzing data, forming
and testing hypotheses, and arguing for the correctness of solutions.
There are prerequisites. Consent required. Crosslisted: Spanish 109S.
LINGUIST
123S: Paredes
Topics in Spanish Linguistics
"What does it mean to speak Spanish in the United States?" In-depth analysis of specific themes related to applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition and teaching.
Develops student skills in collecting and analyzing linguistic data, framing, and testing hypotheses. This is a service learning course and is by permission of instructor only. This course requires 20 hours per semester outside classroom.
LINGUIST
125S: Kim
Bilingualism
This course examines linguistic, psychological, sociol and educational issues facing multi-lingual individuals. Our goal is to understand the relationship between a social millieu and the learning and use of their languages. We approach the task by addressing these questions: i) What are societal reactions to the existence of competing languages and values? ii) Does a bilingual child's linguistic and cognitive development differ from a monolingual child's? What about an adult? iii) How do language identity and loyalty affect a bilingual person's speech and linguistic behavior?
Studying bilingualism will involve us in psycholinguistics, sociolinguisitic and anthropological modes of inquiry, which tap into different dimensions of language development and language maintenance. Crosslisted: Asian & African Languages & Literature 125.
LINGUIST
133S: Andrews
Neuroscience and Human Language
The relationship of brain and language is explored through a variety of methodologies and approaches, including studies of first and second language acquisition across cultures, multilingualism, language disorders, and imaging studies contributing to understanding current neurobiological, neurophysiological and neurolinguistic perspectives of representation of language in the brain.
Other topics considered in the course include the relationship of memory systems to language acquisition, maintenance and loss, the role of language and memory in the construction of identity at the individual and group levels. Crosslisted: Russian 133S.
LINGUIST
152S: Rubin
The Cognitive Psychology of Oral Traditions
Oral traditions
are transmitted over generations through memory. They provide an
ideal way to study memory in social context and the changes in literature
and culture that take place when the technology of writing is introduced.
Readings cover: the basic knowledge of the cognitive mechanisms,
examples of several oral traditions, and speculation on how the technology
of writing changed both society and the cognitive activities that
were possible. Each student will choose an area of expertise/paper
topic, which will be either an aspect of cognition, an oral tradition
or its role in culture, or the impact of writing, or a topic central
to the course. Crosslisted: Psychology 152S.
LINGUIST 153S: Mazuka
Issues in Language Development
This
is a seminar on selected topics in language development. Topics
are
selected
from a wide range of research areas: first language acquisition
(phonology, syntax and semantics), second language acquisition,
bilingualism,
language pathology and language and cognition. Crosslisted: Psychology 153S.
LINGUIST
174: Andrews
Gender and Language
Explores
a broadly-based set of issues and theoretical approaches that
deal with
the question of the interrelationship of gender and language. The
question of gender and language is conceived and developed within
the
context of those linguistic theories that necessarily require a definition
role of speaker and addresses in models of speech acts and sign
production.
Readings taken from a variety of disciplines that grapple with linguistic
issues, including neurobiology, psychology, semiotics, feminist
critical
theory, philosophy of language, discourse analysis and general linguistic
theory. Linguistic data includes a representative selection
of the world's languages. The question of natural and human
language(s) is also discussed. Crosslisted:Cultural
Anthropology 174, English 115, Russian, 174, Women's
Studies.
LINGUIST
182S: Mazuka
Research Method in Psycholinguistics
Students
will learn the basic principles of experimental psychological
research
methods. This involves forming experimental hypotheses, designing
and conducting experiments to gather data, and learning to use
statistical
techniquest to evaluate specific hypotheses. Crosslisted: Psychology 182S.
LINGUIST
185S: Andrews
Introduction to Slavic Linguistics
Basic
introduction to linguistic terminology; emphasis on synchronic
linguistic
theory in the East, West, and South Slavic areas. Phonological, morphological,
and syntactic structure of contemporary standard Russian. Crosslisted: Slavic Studies 185S.
LINGUIST
186S: Andrews
History of the Russian Language
The
development of the Russian language fromt he eleventh century,
with consideration
of the origins of the modern literary and dialectal features. Contrastive
analysis of Old Russian to contemporary Russian. Crosslisted: Russian 186S.
LINGUIST
187:
Variety in Language: English in the United States
This course is offered every year, usually in the spring semester. English language variation in the United States and elsewhere is considered from a current sociolinguistic perspective. The course introduces sociolinguistic theory, and looks at social, regional, ethnic, gender, and style related language variation. It also discusses a variety of issues in sociolinguistics,such as educational implications, questions of language and gender and language and power, and models for describing and applying knowledge about language variation. Students are exposed to a range of data on language variation focused on vernacular varieties of American English in general and North Carolina in particular. Crosslisted: Cultural
Anthropology 187, English 187
LINGUIST
190 A & B
Independent Study
Individual research and reading in a
field of special interest, under the supervision of a faculty member,
resulting in a substantive paper or written report containing significant
analysis and interpretation of a previously approved topic. Consent
of
instructor and DUS required.
190A qualifies for a half course; 190B qualifies for a one course.
For information and application to Independent Study, link to Independent
Study Guidelines and Application.
LINGUIST
199, 199S/299,
299S
SPECIAL TOPICS
Study of theoretical
and applied linguistics. Contrast and comparison of both
theoretical approaches and language groups is required. Courses numbered
299 and 299S are upper level courses involving the advanced
study of linguistic theory. LINGUIST 199 and 299 are in lecture format
and LINGUIST
199S and 299S are seminars. Topics vary each semester.
Examples of Special Topics courses
recently taught include:
Language
and Identity
Language is a primary tool we use to portray ourselves to others, to negotiate our interactions, and to maintain and change social categories. In this course, we will cover linguistic and social theories used to examine the relationship between identities and language use, using
frameworks from sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and socially oriented discourse analysis. We will focus on relationships between language and gender, ethnic, and regional identities, and we will examine how these categories are interwoven and embedded in structures of power and authority. Students will explore issues related to language and identity on their own as well, through projects that will prepare them to pursue original research in sociolinguistics."
Language
Change Research Seminar
This course explores the role of language in the social construction andinstitutionalization of race, ethnicity, racism, and racial/ethnic identities in the U.S. context.
In an interdisciplinary perspective drawing from linguistics, sociology, and anthropology, the course covers such topics as the social construction of race; the construction of standard language ideologies; the role of race and ethnicity in the English only debate; linguistic profiling; and the significance of racial and ethnic dialects. We address these issues for a variety of racial and ethnic groups, including African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos/as, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and white ethnic groups.
Students will explore issues related to language, race, and ethnicity through projects that will prepare them to pursue original research in sociolinguistics.
Language
and Social Interaction
This team-taught
special topics course will explore ways in which language structure
and language use intersect with the social behavior of language users.
The class thus focuses both on the social contexts of language use
and also on how language can serve to mark, perform, and interpret
social
identities. Topics to be covered in class include: dialects as an
indicator of regional, ethnic, and class identities; speech acts and
theories
of politeness; language and power; discourse as a means for social
interaction; language as both expression and source of ideology; narratives
and storytelling;
language styles and the question of gender.
Computation and Natural Langauge
This course is an introduction to a number of corpus and computational approaches to the study of natural, human language, focusing on the use of computerized methods to conduct empirical analyses of written and spoken language and language variation. We start by analyzing text through corpus methods, but mostly focus on exploring speech – audio data – through computational and corpus approaches. Along these lines, we examine a range of issues learning about the acoustics of speech, issues in the transcription and annotation of spoken language, and the development and analysis of linguistic corpora. While the focus is on developing a better empirical understanding of language through computational techniques, the course also provides a hands-on introduction to UNIX and Perl programming for linguists, and the use of R for quantitative and statistical analysis.
LINGUIST 200: Andrews
Issues in Second Language Acquisition
Analysis and application
of principles of second language acquisition in the context of theoretical
and applied language paradigms, including psychological, neurobiological,
anthropological, and sociological theories and their pragmatic realizations.
Contrastive analysis of multiple languages in implicit and explicit form.
First language acquisition research is central to the course.
LINGUIST 201: Andrews
Cognitive & Neurolinguistics
The interrelationship between language and brain as described and analyzed
in cognitive linguistics. Topics include localization theories, hemispheric
dominance in language, language disorders, invasive and noninvaisve
scanning and imaging technologies (including ERP, EEG, MRI, MEG), encoding and decoding of
language at the phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic
levels. Readings include scholarship from theoretical and cognitive
linguistics, neurolinguistics, neurobiology, neuropsychiatry, and neuropsychology. Crosslisted: Russian 216.
LINGUIST
202S: Tetel Andresen
Language, Brain & Human Behavior
It is
widely agreed that the understanding of human cognition
intersects
with
an
understanding
of human language, but there the agreement ends. This seminar
will explore the intersection of cognition and language
by looking at a variety of theories of language, including:
traditional models that vary according to how much the
capacity for language is attributed to "the genes" or to "the
environment" and newer models that question and redescribe
traditional definitions of terms such as "nature," "nurture," genetic
code," and "language." We examine the ways in which traditional
and new models of language interpret the capacity for language
in its relationship to both cognition and social interaction.
LINGUIST 203S: Tetel Andresen
Language Evolution & Acquisition
This course examines in depth three issues in contemporary linguistic theory: 1) evolutionary theories and accounts of the emergence of language in the human species (phylogeny); 2) language acquisition (ontogeny); and 3) the latest studies in linguistic relativity, aka the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. We will end by looking at the relationship between language and ethics. The main points of the first half of the course is devoted to neurolingusitics and psycholinguistics.
LINGUIST 205: Andrews
Semiotics and Linguistics
A survey of modern semiotics,
particularly the works of C. S. Peirce, Roman Jakobson, Yury Lotman, Roland
Barthe and Umberto Eco. Analysis of semiotic works directly related
to questions of the construction of cultural and linguistic meaning, and
linguistic sign theory. Emphasis on semiotic theories from a multicultural
perspective, especially the European, Tartu, Soviet, and American schools. Crosslisted: Russian 205, English 205.
LINGUIST 207S: Andrews
Semantics
Survey of modern semantic
theory, including a range of theoretical approaches: communication
theory,
structuralism, markedness, formal, cognitive and generative semantics.
Emphasis on lexical meaning in two or more languages with a strong comparative
semantic component. Examples from the world's languages. Crosslisted: Russian 207S.
LINGUIST 210S: Garci-Gomez
History of the Spanish Language
Formation and development.
Internal forces and external contributions. Crosslisted: Spanish 210.
LINGUIST 212S Paredes
Topics in Spanish Linguistics
In-depth analysis of
one area of Spanish linguistics. Topics may include Spanish phonology,
Spanish
syntax, discourse analysis, applied linguistics, or Spanish pragmatics.
Consent required. Crosslisted: Spanish 212S.
LINGUIST 213S
Linguistics and Law
This course will consider some of the intersections of language and law and legal institutions. All issues considered will be examined from a thoroughly comparative approach, considering how different societies have dealt with the following issues: Language and national
identity (role of official state language in establishing national identity; the rights of national minorities to use their own languages); language that offends (freedom of speech and its limitations: obscenity, defamation, hate
speech, seditious libel); and language as property (copyright, trademarks, trade secrets).
LINGUIST
220S: Day or Mazuka
Psycholinguistics
Selected topics such as neurolinguistics,
linguistic versus pictorial representation, individual differences,
oral versus written expression, language and personality, and the language-thought
interaction. Prerequisites: Psychology 134 for undergraduates
and consent of instructor.
LINGUIST
221: Sean-Jacques Thomas
Structure of French
The purpose of this course is to study contemporary French phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. All elements are first studied from a descriptive point of view. This leads to the acquisition of a more advanced competence in the area of French linguistics. Special emphasis is then laid on the functional regularity of verbal and syntactical components. Basic tendencies in the semantic development of contemporary French will also be stressed. Study of French texts and documents serves as support for the study of the general language evolution in the last 20 years. Finally presentation of the fundamental elements of French pragmatics will encompass, among others, the following processes: ideational clauses, discursive categorization, speech acts and situational pragmatics. Crosslisted: French 212.
LINGUIST
228S Sterrett
Recent and Contemporary Philosophy
A critical study of some contemporary
movements, with special emphasis on analytic philosophers. Crosslisted: Philosophy 228S.
LINGUIST
250S:
The Cultural Analysis of Discourse
Talk and other discourse are the major source of clues to cultural meaning. This is a "how-to-do-it" course that will explore the possible applications, advantages, and limitations of different approaches to reconstructing people's cultural understandings from their discourse, provide in-class demonstrations of interviewing and various methods for analyzing the resulting discourse, and allow you to design and conduct your own research project using these approaches. You will collect and analyze interviews or some other corpus of spoken or written discourse, applying existing methods of analysis and inventing your own methods, as appropriate to your research goals, presenting your ongoing analysis to the class for feedback, and writing up the results in a final paper. This is an excellent introduction to doing anthropological research, and a valuable course for those doing or planning to do discourse analysis in their undergraduate theses, doctoral dissertations, or other research.. Crosslisted: Cultural Anthropology 250S.
LINGUIST
260: Keul
History of the German Language
This course introduces students to the history of the German language from its earliest roots in Indo-European to the emergence of a separate Germanic family of languages to the development of a distinctively German language (Deutsch) within this family and its subsequent evolution to the present day. In so doing, the focus will be on the history of the German sound system (phonology), grammatical forms (morphology), syntax, and vocabulary. No previous knowledge of linguistic theory or methodology is expected or assumed. Indeed, one of the goals of the course will be to acquire the linguistic tools needed to study the diachronic history of German. In addition, we will examine the relationship of written to oral texts as well as of dialect to standard language, including the history of the development of Hochdeutsch as the standard for the German language. Crosslisted: German 260.
LINGUIST
261S: Walther or Keul
Second Language
Acquisition, Theory and Practice
This course is designed to provide an
introduction to the theory and practice of the teaching and learning of
foreign languages. The objective is twofold: 1) to introduce
student to the fields of second language acquisition theory and foreign
language pedagogy as academic disciplines which are increasingly interdisciplinary
in nature, and 2) to give practical guidelines for the teaching of language,
literature, and culture.
The course examines how
teaching practice has always implied certain assumptions we have with
regard to the nature of language and the nature of learning. The
focus will be both theoretical (with an emphasis on recent and current
research in language acquisition) and practical (emphasizing the goals
and methods of communicative language teaching and proficiency-oriented
instruction). Emphasis on the interrelationship of theory and practice
will enable the student to make informed choices in future careers as
teachers, both with regard to the analysis, evaluation and selection
of materials and with regard to teaching approaches and techniques. Crosslisted: German 261S.
LINGUIST
268S: Andrews
Brain and Language
Focus on cognitive processes
and brain mechanisms involved in language comprehension and production.
Psycholinguistic models and how these models may be implemented in
the brain. Crosslisted: Psychology 268s.
LINGUIST
299 & 299S:
Special Topics in Linguistics
Advanced level of special
topics courses appropriate for junior/seniors and graduate students.
