Introduction to Linguistics: The Science of Human Language

(4 Credits)

This is an introductory survey course to linguistics – the science of language. During this semester, we will address humans’ language competence (e.g., is our language ability a learned behavior or rather an instinct? What do native speakers of a specific language implicitly know about word structure, sentence structure, sentence meaning, pronunciation? Etc.) and humans language performance in social context (e.g., why and how does language evolve in a society? How does language reflect our identity? Etc.). This course will approach these issues by incorporating theoretical and experimental works from (neuro)psychological, philosophical, mathematical/computational, and sociological/cultural perspectives. The course aims to help students understand multiple facets of language ability (a crucial cognitive function that defines who we are as humans – both in terms of intelligent individuals and a social species) and appreciate linguistic diversity. It will also show how linguists work towards a better scientific understanding of our language ability. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: CORE STS; Neural Science Electives.