• 2009-2010 Courses:
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Fall 2009

• LING 110: Introduction to Linguistics

  The capacity to acquire and use natural languages such as English is surely one of the more remarkable features of human nature. In this course, we explore several aspects of this ability. Topics include the sound systems of natural languages principles that regulate word order (and what these reveal about the nature of the mind), the course of language acquisition in children, and some of what is known about how knowledge of language is realized in the human brain. No prerequisite. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010 -- M. Flynn, C. Fortin

• LING 115: Introduction to the Theory of Syntax

  This course is organized to enable the student to actively participate in the construction of a rather elaborate theory of the nature of human cognitive capacity to acquire and use natural languages. In particular, we concentrate on one aspect of that capacity: the unconscious acquisition of a grammar that enables a speaker of a language to produce and recognize sentences that have not been previously encountered. In the first part of the course, we concentrate on gathering notation and terminology intended to allow an explicit and manageable description. In the second part, we depend on written and oral student contributions in a cooperative enterprise of theory construction. No prerequisite. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009, Winter 2010 -- C. Fortin, C. Ussery

• LING 265: Language and Brain

  Topics include: the history of the field, agrammatism, fluent aphasia, acquired dyslexias, the role of the non-dominant hemisphere, bilingualism, and subcortical structures. Prerequisite: Linguistics 110. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009 -- M. Flynn

• LING 325: Syntax of an Unfamiliar Language

  In this course we examine, with the help of a native speaker consultant, the syntax of a language deliberately chosen for its being unfamiliar to all the participants. Our goals will be to construct a coherent and theoretically respectable account of principles of the grammar of this language, and to understand what our account reveals about the structure of human language generally. Each student will investigate some aspect of the syntax of the language in depth, culminating in a class presentation and research report. Prerequisite: Linguistics 216. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009 -- C. Fortin

• LING 399: Senior Thesis

  3; S/CR/NC; Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; offered Fall 2009 -- M. Flynn

Winter 2010

• LING 110: Introduction to Linguistics

  The capacity to acquire and use natural languages such as English is surely one of the more remarkable features of human nature. In this course, we explore several aspects of this ability. Topics include the sound systems of natural languages principles that regulate word order (and what these reveal about the nature of the mind), the course of language acquisition in children, and some of what is known about how knowledge of language is realized in the human brain. No prerequisite. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010 -- M. Flynn, C. Fortin

• LING 115: Introduction to the Theory of Syntax

  This course is organized to enable the student to actively participate in the construction of a rather elaborate theory of the nature of human cognitive capacity to acquire and use natural languages. In particular, we concentrate on one aspect of that capacity: the unconscious acquisition of a grammar that enables a speaker of a language to produce and recognize sentences that have not been previously encountered. In the first part of the course, we concentrate on gathering notation and terminology intended to allow an explicit and manageable description. In the second part, we depend on written and oral student contributions in a cooperative enterprise of theory construction. No prerequisite. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009, Winter 2010 -- C. Fortin, C. Ussery

• LING 217: Phonetics and Phonology

  Although no two utterances are ever exactly the same, we humans don't function like tape recorders; we overlook distinctions to which mechanical recording devices are sensitive, and we "hear" contrasts which are objectively not there. What we (think we) hear is determined by the sound system of the language we speak. This course examines the sound systems of human languages, focusing on how speech sounds are produced and perceived, and how these units come to be organized into a systematic network in the minds of speakers of languages. Prerequisite: Linguistics 110. 6; Social Sciences; offered Winter 2010 -- C. Ussery

• LING 270: Language, Speech, and Evolution

  Languages can be thought of as abstract devices that link signals and messages. For the signal part, the vast majority of human languages use speech. Speech production and speech perception are both very complicated, probably unique to human beings, and "tuned" to each other in interesting ways. In this course we will have a close look at the relevant mechanisms, with the goal of approaching the question of how this remarkable system could have arisen in our species. Prerequisite: Linguistics 110 or 115 or permission of the instructor. 6; Social Sciences; offered Winter 2010 -- M. Flynn

Spring 2010

• LING 110: Introduction to Linguistics

  The capacity to acquire and use natural languages such as English is surely one of the more remarkable features of human nature. In this course, we explore several aspects of this ability. Topics include the sound systems of natural languages principles that regulate word order (and what these reveal about the nature of the mind), the course of language acquisition in children, and some of what is known about how knowledge of language is realized in the human brain. No prerequisite. 6; Social Sciences; offered Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010 -- M. Flynn, C. Fortin

• LING 216: Morpho-Syntax

  Morphology is the study of the principles that regulate the construction of words in natural languages. Syntax examines the structure of sentences. The goal of this course is to help the participants become skilled managers of both theories. Prerequisite: Linguistics 115. 6; Social Sciences; offered Spring 2010 -- C. Fortin