Languages of the World

4.0 credits

This introductory level course is designed for students who have no background in linguistics, with some new topics for students who do. The course addresses the basic question "What is Language?" from a broad variety of perspectives including linguistics, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, language and culture, and language documentation and revitalization. We will consider questions such as: What elements are found in all human languages? What elements are common versus those which are rare across the world's languages? Are they systematically organized or random? Are some languages/dialects "better" than others? What is the relationship between lifestyles, languages, and cultures?