Class Schedule

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Spring 2018 Topics and Seminar Class Descriptions

LING 334/534 Language and Gender (ONLINE)

This online course provides an introduction to major research in language and gender. Students will explore how the research has evolved over the past several decades from early sociolinguistic research through more recent research embedded in social constructionist theoretical perspectives. Students will address a variety of questions about how language is used across-genders and in constructing gender, such as:

• Are there differences in language use that reflect gender differences?
• If so, how can these differences be interpreted?
• Do other disciplines, such as biology or sociology, inform or explain cross-gender language differences?
• How does language used by individuals, institutions, and the media reinforce gender differences?

In seeking answers to these questions, students will obtain skills in critiquing research and identifying gaps in the literature, and in articulating questions about language and gender from their own philosophical viewpoint.

Classes will revolve around discussion of the course text and other articles; a group project involving field research and basic linguistic analysis; student debates; and other in-class activities.

LING 490/590 Production and Perception Of Prosody in L2 Speech

This class will study prosody (primarily intonation and rhythm) with an emphasis on its role in the speech of non-native (L2) language users. The first part of the semester will introduce approaches to analyzing prosody, especially in English. We will then read research on L2 speakers’ production of prosody, and L2 listeners’ perception of prosody, as well as L1 listeners’ perception of prosody as produced by L2 speakers. A variety of L1-L2 language combinations will be addressed. 

In addition to reading and class discussion, students will do practical exercises in intonational analysis, and design and report on small research projects.

LING 490/590 Signed Language Phonology

This course will introduce students to the study of signed language phonology. Prior to 1960’s, scholars viewed signs as holistic forms, which they argued that a sign form could not be analyzed to sublexical units. Over the years, numerous linguists have refuted the belief that signed languages have no phonology with extensive theoretical and descriptive studies on signed language phonology. However, the discussion on signed language phonology continues to be poorly understood due to different factors including modality-specific articulatory and perceptual structures of signs. In the course, students will learn both traditional and cognitive approaches in phonological analyses of signed languages. Students will examine problematic issues involved with descriptive and psycholinguistics studies on signed languages, which will lead students to study how different theories shape our understanding of signed language phonology, phonological structures and processes. Readings and discussions will involve theoretical and descriptive aspects in analyzing signed language phonology.

Fall 2018 Topics and Seminar Class Descriptions

LING 519 Cognitive Linguistics

Cognitive Linguistics grew out of the work of researchers in the 1970s who were interested in the relation of language and mind. ¶ Rather than explaining linguistic patterns by means of a priori structural properties and cognitive capacities specific to language, cognitive linguists claim that language is based solely on general cognitive and perceptual abilities. ¶ The basic claims of cognitive linguistics are that cognition is embodied, grammar is meaningful, and linguistic structures at all levels are emergent. 

The objectives of this course are to (1) introduce the field of cognitive linguistics, (2) survey the basic concepts of cognitive linguistics, such as construal, force dynamics, metaphor, and metonymy, (3) review cognitive linguistic theories such as cognitive grammar, metaphor theory, and mental spaces, (4) explore the application of cognitive linguistics to several related fields. ¶ Readings will come from cognitive linguistic analyses of spoken languages, signed languages, and gesture.

57403 LING 490 004 (ONLINE) T: Method in Language Research

The overall goal of this seminar is to provide students conducting language research with the opportunity to prepare a fully developed research proposal. Students will be involved in planning and designing their own research projects, informed by previous research and their own research questions. The steps taken in developing student proposals are aimed at solidifying an understanding of how;

• philosophical orientation determines research design.
• scientists develop research questions or hypotheses to guide their research.
• researchers select appropriate data collection methods to answer their questions or test hypotheses. 

 In addition, students will develop specific skills relevant to becoming competent researchers, including:

• selecting a research topic (throughout the course, students will review research methods and approaches used to explore and describe language and human interaction as a means of supporting them in developing their proposals*).
• conducting an exhaustive literature review on the chosen topic.
• developing a research proposal to respond to gaps in the research. 

*Over the course of the semester, they will critique research articles; explore research ethics and human subjects considerations; and review different approaches to data collection and analysis. 

57404 LING 590 004 (ONLINE) T: Methods in Language Research

The overall goal of this seminar is to provide students conducting language research with the opportunity to prepare a fully developed research proposal. Students will be involved in planning and designing their own research projects, informed by previous research and their own research questions. The steps taken in developing student proposals are aimed at solidifying an understanding of how:

• philosophical orientation determines research design.
• scientists develop research questions or hypotheses to guide their research.
• researchers select appropriate data collection methods to answer their questions or test hypotheses. 

In addition, students will develop specific skills relevant to becoming competent researchers, including:

• selecting a research topic (throughout the course, students will review research methods and approaches used to explore and describe language and human interaction as a means of supporting them in developing their proposals*).
• conducting an exhaustive literature review on the chosen topic.
• developing a research proposal to respond to gaps in the research.

*Over the course of the semester, they will critique research articles; explore research ethics and human subjects considerations; and review different approaches to data collection and analysis.

Ling 554.002 (HYBRID) Pragmatics

This course will introduce students to the study of pragmatics, which focuses on speaker utterance as the unit of analysis. Students will focus on contextualized meaning, concentrating on those aspects of meaning that cannot be predicted by linguistic knowledge alone. Readings and discussions will focus on speaker and hearer interpretation of meaning, contexual meaning, extra-linguistic communication, and relative distance in analyzing face-to-face interaction . Students will also examine how social and cultural presuppositions impact the management of rapport in spoken interaction.