Language of Sign and Gesture

3 Hours

Explores how language, a faculty that arises in the brain, is expressed by the body, both for spoken languages (via the vocal tract) and for signed languages (via the hands and face). Also includes an examination of how language, a special cognitive faculty unique to humans, intersects and overlaps with other communication systems, with a focus on gesture, the nonlinguistic communicative systems used by humans and some nonhuman species. Linguistics 312 (Topic: Language in the Body) and 312E may not both be counted. Three lecture hours a week for one semester.