Language System Analysis

Graduate

This course is a broad introduction to the analytic study of human languages. It surveys language systems such as: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. It explains how those systems interact with each other synchronically in discourse and diachronically in creating language families. Students have an opportunity to examine the universal features of all languages and their relationship to linguistic variety. Topics in historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics are explored. Various writing systems used in world languages are also discussed.