Language
English
Main themes
The aim of this course is to familiarise students with the scientific approach to language and to highlight the types of question that can be answered by this approach, through an understanding of how human language works (its particularities, constraints, etc.). In particular, the course will address the following themes:
- The specificity of human language compared to other communication systems;
- The different levels of linguistic analysis (phonetics and phonology, morphology and lexicon, syntax);
- The origins of language and language diversity.
- The characteristics of a scientific approach to languages
- The rationale and specific features of different linguistic theories...
Content
- Week 1 - Introduction to Linguistics: why do (almost) all human beings have a language, and what makes human language different from animal communication systems?
- Week 2 - The study of sound: Phonology and Phonetics: In this module we will delve into what appear to be the smallest building blocks of spoken language: 'sounds'.
- Week 3 - The study of words and sentences: Morphology and Syntax: In this module we will discuss words and sentences.
- Week 4 - The study of meaning: Pragmatics and Semantics: This module deals with a topic which many of you find very interesting: meaning. How do we determine what a word means? To what extent does our language influence our thinking?
- Week 5 - Language in the Brain: This module features all of the well-known parts of the current MOOC.
- Week 6 - Language in the Society: In the previous modules we have dissected the structure of languages, but now we will study language in its real context: how does language change? How do people use language to be polite?
Teaching methods
In order to gain the credits associated to this course, students will:
- follow at their own pace the MOOC available at https://www.coursera.org/learn/human-language
- by the end of the term, send a short report on their learning achievements, identifying, for each chapter of the MOOC, (a) 3 concepts they've learned and for which they will propose a definition and explain why they consider them as important for the understanding of language (b) an concrete example / observation of language use they've found particularly illuminating or thought-provoking.
Evaluation methods
Course evaluation will be based on the report sent by the students at the latest during the last week of courses (S13)
Online resources
The various course materials (course slideshows, exercises, etc.) are available on the course website on the Moodle platform.
Faculty or entity