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2011-12 Undergraduate Index A-Z
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Linguistics [clear]
| Title | Offering | Standing | Credits | Credits | When | F | W | S | Su | Description | Preparatory | Faculty | Days | Multiple Standings | Start Quarters | Open Quarters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Richard McKinnon
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | F 11 Fall | Humans are born with a wealth of information about how the world is structured, ready to develop that knowledge through experience with the environment. In this course, we'll investigate what babies know from birth and how that knowledge unfolds into mature systems such as vision, language, morality, and character. We will compare theories that emphasize the contribution of innate knowledge with those that emphasize the role of the environment. | Richard McKinnon | Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall | ||||
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Rachel Hastings
Signature Required:
Fall
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Contract | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 4 | 04 | Day | F 11 Fall | Individual study offers students the opportunity to develop self-direction, to learn how to manage a personal project, and/or to learn how to learn technical material outside of the classroom. Students interested in a self-directed project or course of study in Mathematics or theoretical Linguistics are invited to present a proposal to Rachel Hastings.Students will need to have background appropriate to their goals and be able to work very independently. Contracts in upper-division mathematics or in areas of linguistic theory such as syntax, semantics, or phonetics will be considered. Group contracts are encouraged. | Rachel Hastings | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall | |||||
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Diego de Acosta
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 11 Fall | W 12Winter | This two-quarter program explores the fascinating world of languages. What do you know when you know a language? How do you get that knowledge? Are there properties that all languages share? How do languages change over time? Why are half of the world's languages now under threat of extinction? How are communities held together or torn apart by the languages they speak? How does the way we classify the world through words circumscribe our relationships with others? We will consider these questions and others through the lens of linguistics. Topics to be examined include: phonetics and phonology, language change, the history of English and English dialects, language and gender, orality and literacy, wordplay, and swearing. We will look at well-known languages and lesser-known languages and discover why they matter in our lives today. Through the course of the program students will learn a variety of conceptual and empirical techniques, from analyzing speech sounds to interpreting the rationale behind current language policy. This program will be an intensive examination of topics requiring a significant amount of reading as well as regular problem sets and essays. You will be expected to spend at least 40 hours per week on the program. | linguistics, communication, and education. | Diego de Acosta | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall | |||
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Diego de Acosta
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 12Spring | What do you know when you know a language, and how do you get that knowledge? Are there properties that all languages share? How do languages change over time? Why are half of the world’s languages now under threat of extinction? How are communities held together or torn apart by the languages they speak?This one-quarter program explores the fascinating world of languages through the lens of linguistics. Topics for the quarter include: the structure of languages (phonology, morphology, and syntax); the history of English and English dialects; language attitudes and language policy in monolingual and multilingual communities; and methods for documenting languages. We will look at well-known languages and lesser-known languages and discover why they matter in our lives today. Through the course of the program, we will develop a variety of conceptual and empirical techniques, from analyzing speech sounds to interpreting the rationale behind current language legislation. This program will be an intensive examination of topics requiring a significant amount of reading as well as regular problem sets and essays. Students who took in fall-winter may not enroll in this program. | Diego de Acosta | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | |||||
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Grace Huerta
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Program | JR–SRJunior - Senior | 8 | 08 | Evening | F 11 Fall | W 12Winter | In this program, we will explore the role of family and community in language acquisition and identity formation among English language learners (ELLs). We will examine how such factors as history, political climate, school policies, and curriculum impact the education of language learners from adults to students in grades K-12. We will also examine curricular designs and implementation of theory to instructional practices relevant to the Washington state English language and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Language) standards. These ELL concepts will be analyzed through readings, group collaboration, workshops, lectures, multimedia, and seminars. Students will lead discussions, complete reflective writing activities, conduct teaching demonstrations, and complete a community ethnography project. Writing and research workshops will also be a focus of this program. In the fall, the program will survey the history of second language education in the United States while introducing the central issues in language acquisition research. We will also discuss how knowledge of English language learners' lived experiences and community can inform school policies, curriculum, and instruction. In the winter, the program will focus on the study of language as a system with an emphasis on linguistic, literacy, and content-area instructional strategies. Among the topics addressed will be English phonology, morphology, and syntax as well as implications for teaching the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. We will also examine teaching strategies for the instruction of academic language and content. | education, linguistics, teaching English | Grace Huerta | Mon Wed | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | Fall Winter | ||
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Richard McKinnon
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | W 12Winter | Humans often claim distinction as unique among the animals of the world. This course examines this hypothesis from the perspective of communication. What are the parameters that describe communication systems of all species? What does it mean when bees dance, frogs croak, and humans speak? What kinds of messages do members of various species communicate to each other? Is human language qualitatively different from other forms of animal communication? If so, how did it evolve to be so different and what does that mean about humans as a species? We will employ the tools of linguistics, psychology, ethology, and anthropology to find answers to these questions. | Richard McKinnon | Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Winter | Winter | ||||
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Kevin Francis, David Paulsen and Rachel Hastings
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 12Spring | What does our ability to speak and understand language reveal about the human mind? How much of our knowledge of language can be attributed to an innate language capacity and how much is dependent on individual experience? How are children able to develop a detailed and abstract understanding of their native language at a very young age? And how did human language evolve in the first place? In this program we will study theories of cognition, brain structure, and consciousness as they relate to the complex phenomena of language evolution, acquisition and use.We will explore diverse kinds of evidence that shed light on the evolution of language, including recent work in evolutionary biology, animal behavior, neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience, and the evolutionary genetics of language. To understand the nature of linguistic processing we will look at the structure of language and ask what capacities must be present within human cognition in order for us to produce and understand human languages. We will study the ideas of Noam Chomsky and others who argue for a "universal grammar" as an explanation of rapid language acquisition and similarity among languages. We will also examine the parallels between human language and communication in other animals. Finally, we will reflect on the strategies adopted by scientists to reconstruct events in the deep past.Program activities will include seminar, lectures and workshops. We will devote significant time to providing background material in linguistics, evolutionary biology, and cognitive neuroscience that pertains to the evolution of language. We will read scientific and philosophical material that addresses fundamental questions about consciousness, the relationship between mind and brain, and the relation between cognition and the human capacity for language. As part of this program, students should expect to participate actively in seminar, write several essays, and complete a final research project. | biology, cognitive science, linguistics, philosophy and psychology. | Kevin Francis David Paulsen Rachel Hastings | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | ||||
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Richard McKinnon
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | S 12Spring | Languages are not static systems, but exhibit a life cycle just as living organisms do. They are brought into being through pidginization and creolization, grow and change as their function changes and they attain status, and they disappear (presently at an alarming rate). In this course, we'll examine these stages in some detail, acquiring a tool set along the way that will allow participants to understand the cultural, economic, and linguistic factors involved and to appreciate the policy issues in play. | Richard McKinnon | Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | Spring | ||||
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Richard McKinnon
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | Su 12Summer Full | Do you work intimately with language every day but would like to have a better understanding of the nuts and bolts? This course will take you under the hood and give you the foundation you'll need to learn, teach, or create language. We'll also look at the process of reading and its relationship to spoken language. | Richard McKinnon | Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Summer | Summer |
