Return to Languages … | Courses Index
[1] Courses in Linguistics (LING)
1310 LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY Satisfies UCA Core, Diversity-Social Science requirement. Language, Culture, and Society provides students with a general understanding of human linguistic behavior and cognition. Students will explore language origins, diversity, mechanism for change, and the similarities and differences of speech across social groups, as well as compare their own linguistic culture to that of another. Lecture.
2320 INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS This course is required for the linguistics major and minor; the Writing major General Writing Track and General Writing minor; and is an elective in the Creative Writing major and minor and the Writing major Professional Writing track. This course also satisfies the linguistics foundation course for all Modern Languages majors. This course will cover a variety of topics useful to any language-related course of study. Areas covered include sound structure, word structure, and sentence structure; meaning and function of language; language and culture; language and thought; linguistic variation; history of writing systems; and language acquisition. Prerequisite: WRTG 1320.
2350 WORLD LANGUAGES A required course for the Linguistics major and minor, and an elective for the Anthropology minor. This course also satisfies the linguistics foundation course for all Modern Languages majors. Fulfills a Critical Inquiry Humanities requirement in the UCA Core. This course provides an introduction to the world’s languages from geographical, historical, social, and psychological perspectives. Emphasis is on the diversity of the world’s languages as well as their underlying unity. Lecture, discussion.
3310 ISSUES IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE A required course for linguistics majors in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages track (Track Two) and an elective for linguistics minors. This course introduces students to the field of applied linguistics, primarily teaching English to speakers of other languages, by exploring the educational contexts in which English is taught and learned. Emphasis is on TESOL as a profession and the role of linguistic and cultural variation in the ESL curriculum. The course is designed for students who want to teach English abroad or to tutor language learners in the U.S. Prerequisite: LING 2320.
3315 SEMANTICS A required course for the Linguistics major and minor, and an elective for Writing majors and minors and Creative Writing majors and minors. This course examines meaning in language–how we know what words and sentences mean. At the word level, students will examine such ideas as sense, connotation and extension. At the sentence level, students will examine propositions, truth conditions, scope, entailment and implicature. Metaphor, representation, speech acts and conversation will also be discussed. Discussion, lecture, essays, project. Prerequisite: WRTG 1320.
3325 SOCIOLINGUISTICS A required course for the Linguistics major and minor; and an elective for the Writing major and minor, the Creative Writing major and minor, and the African and African-American Studies major and minor, and the Anthropology major. This course examines the connections between language and society and language and culture, including such factors as region, gender, age, race, sexual orientation, and social standing; language varieties, registers and speech communities. Discussion, lecture, short essays and a student project. Prerequisite: WRTG 1320. [UD UCA Core: D]
4V80 DIRECTED STUDY IN LINGUISTICS (Variable credit: 1-3 credit hours.) This course provides the opportunity for advanced study in specific topics in Linguistics. Designed for students with Junior or Senior standing who have declared the Linguistics major or minor. The course will cover specific topics not currently offered in the curriculum. The professor will design the content of the course with student input as appropriate, establishing goals and a timeline, setting a reading list, and presenting guidelines for research and a final project. Students gain an in-depth knowledge of a subfield of linguistics, research methodology, specific researcher, language family, linguistic area, or other subject matter as deemed appropriate.
4V90 EXEMPLARY STUDIES IN LINGUISTICS (Variable credit: 1-3 credit hours.) This course satisfies a requirement for graduation from Exemplary Studies Undergraduate Scholars Program and for graduation with honors from the major department. The student will enroll in the course in order to prepare for submission, no later than the last day of instruction for the semester in which the student will graduate, an honor thesis (a research paper, project, performance, or presentation) of twenty to thirty pages demonstrating original, reasoned research. Discussion, writing, and group work. Prerequisite: Acceptance in the Linguistics Exemplary Studies Program.
4320 GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH A required course for the Linguistics major, Track Two (TESOL) and an elective in Track Four (General Linguistics). This course is also an elective in the Linguistics minor. This course focuses on the scientific study of grammar, including lexical categories, phrases, relative clauses, participles, grammatical relations and non-canonical sentences. Students will analyze the intricate set of principles and rules of English that determine possible sentences and disallow impossible sentences. Lecture, discussion. Prerequisite: LING 2320 or ENGL 3315.
4330 EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS This course is required for the Linguistics majors, Track Two (TESOL) and an elective for Linguistics majors. Track Four (General Linguistics). This course is also an elective in the Linguistics minor and the Writing major, General Track, and the General Writing minor. The course investigates issues of language and education, particularly of language policy and management, literacy development and linguistically responsive education. Students will examine the research tools of linguistics and other social science disciplines as they relate to language and education. Discussion, lecture. Prerequisite: WRTG 1320. [UD UCA Core: C]
4345 ANALYTICAL METHODS OF MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX A required course for Linguistics majors and an elective for the Linguistics minor and the Writing major, General Track, and the General Writing minor. Students will be introduced to the major aspects of morphological and syntactic analysis, the history of grammatical study, and both formal and functional approaches to grammatical analysis. Students will learn the key concepts and terminology associated with grammatical description and apply them to the analysis of problem sets presented from a wide range of the world’s languages. Lecture, discussion. Prerequisite: LING 2320 or permission of instructor. [UD UCA Core: Z]
4350 PHONOLOGY A required course for the Linguistics major and an elective for the Linguistics minor, and the Writing major, General Track, and the General Writing minor. This course introduces students to phonological analysis, including the basics of phonetics and the skills needed to analyze phonological data. Discussion, lecture, workshop. Prerequisite: LING 2320 or permission of instructor.
4355 SPECIAL TOPICS IN LINGUISTICS An elective for the Linguistics major and minor, and the Writing major, General Track, and the General Writing minor. This course will provide students with a more concentrated focus on specific areas or sub-genres within linguistic anthropology. Content varies according to interest and expertise of instructor. Course may be repeated up to three times for credit. Lecture, discussion. Prerequisite: LING 2320 or permission of instructor.
4360 HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE CHANGE An elective course for the Linguistics major and minor, and the Writing major, General Track, and the General Writing minor. Students will learn the basic principles of language change, the nature and development of language families and the methods of comparative and internal reconstruction. Language change at the level of phonology, morphology, and syntax will be discussed from a typologically informed perspective. Students will apply basic methodologies used in reconstructing the history and development of languages from proto-languages and to write solutions to data-rich problem sets in clear, descriptive prose. Lecture, discussion. Prerequisite: LING 2320.
4370 FIELD METHODS IN LINGUISTICS An elective course for the Linguistics major and minor, and the Writing major, General Track, and the General Writing minor. Students will explore the sound patterns and grammatical structure of an unfamiliar language by working directly with a native speaker. Students will learn and apply techniques in recording, transcription, and analysis used by professional linguists to document lesser-known languages that typically do not have a written tradition. Ethical issues in working with language consultants and responsibilities to the speech community will also figure prominently in this course. Students will also learn techniques for processing data, preparing for sessions with the language consultant, and writing research findings in clear, descriptive prose. Lecture, discussion. Prerequisite: LING 2320. [UD UCA Core: I, R]