Linguistics Courses

LING 001 and LING 100 are offered every semester. For a listing of Linguistics courses being offered this semester, check the Registrar's Schedule of Courses . Other LING courses are listed below.

Click here for the Linguistics Independent Study Form

Note: There may be courses in other departments (French, Spanish, German, Speech Communications, etc) which contain linguistic content but are not listed here. This list only contains courses in the linguistics program.

• LING 001 (GS) THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE (3)
  • A non-technical introduction to the study of human language, and its role in human interaction. The course is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the core theoretical areas of linguistics: syntax (sentence structure) semantics (meaning), phonology (sound), and morphology (word structure. The second part of the course utilizes the insights of the first half to gain insight into the workings of language use (pragmatics), language variation (sociolinguistics), language change (historical linguistics), and first and second language acquisition (psycholinguistics).
  • Students who have successfully completed LING 100 may not enroll in LING 001. This course satisfies 3 credits of the social and behavioral sciences (GS) component of general education.
• LING 097 SPECIAL TOPICS (1 - 9)
• LING 100 FOUNDATIONS OF LINGUISTICS (3)
  • Systematic study of linguistic structures in a variety of the world's languages; an overview of language, and its organization. The objective of this course is to introduce the undergraduate student to the field of linguistics - the scientific study of language. Linguists seek to uncover the subconscious principles and parameters which govern our knowledge of language. The course also explores how the insights of research in theoretical linguistics can be brought to bear on fields such as language acquisition, speech pathology, and cultural studies.
• LING 102 (GH) INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS (3)
  • The nature of language change. Kinds and causes of change, variation and diffusion of changes among speakers, differentiation of dialects and languages, classification of historical relationships among languages, the reconstruction of proto-languages and parallels with genetic evolutionary theory.
• LING 197 SPECIAL TOPICS (1 - 9)
  • Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.
• LING 199 (DF) FOREIGN STUDIES (1 -12)
• LING 294 RESEARCH PROJECT (1 -12)
  • Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individualor small-group basis.
• LING 297 SPECIAL TOPICS (1 - 9)
  • Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.
• LING 299 (DF) FOREIGN STUDIES (1 -12)
  • LING 395 INTERNSHIP (1 -18) Supervised off-campus, non-group instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required. Prerequisite: prior approval of proposed assignment by instructor.
• LING 397 SPECIAL TOPICS (1 - 9)
  • Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
• LING 399 (DF) FOREIGN STUDIES (1 -12)
• LING 402 SYNTAX I (3)
  • Grammatical constructions, primarily those of English, and their consequences for a general theory of language. Practical experience in forming and testing linguistic hypotheses and constructing rule systems for natural languages.
• LING 401 INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTIC THEORY (3)
  • Introduction to phonological theory and analysis based on evidence from a variety of languages. Topics include phonological representations including features, syllables, metrical structure; phonological processes including assimilation and dissimilation; and phonological typology and universals.
• LING 404 PHONOLOGY I (3)
  • Consideration of techniques and problems involved in description of phonological components of transformational grammars. Emphasis on general principles. Prerequisite: LING 100.
• LING 446 FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (3)
  • Psycholinguistic study of how children learn their first language. Processes of language acquisition in early childhood; stages in development. Practical experience in data collection.
• LING 447 BILINGUALISM (3)
  • Explores the sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic consequences of bilingualism; topics include languages in contact, interference, attrition, bilingual memory and bilingual grammars.
• LING 448 SOCIOLINGUISTICS (3)
  • Linguistic and social psychological bases for language choice. Accounts of language variation and related larger constructs such as speech community, communicative competence, dialect, and language change.
• LING 449 SEMANTICS (3) Prerequisite: LING 402
  • Meaning in natural language. Topics include elementary set theory; propositional logic, predicate logic and their relation to semantic analysis; model theoretic characterizations of meaning and semantic properties of various English constructions.
• LING 493 FIELD METHODS (3)
  • The methods by which linguists gather raw linguistic data about a language and analyze its phonological structure. Working with a speaker of a language not previously studied by class participants, including the instructor, students develop a description of its phonology, and utilize methodologies for obtaining, storing, and manipulating data.
• LING 494 RESEARCH PROJECT (1 -12)
  • Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individualor small-group basis.
• LING 496 INDEPENDENT STUDIES (1 -18)
  • Creative projects, including research and design, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
• LING 497 SPECIAL TOPICS (1 - 9)
  • Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.
• LING 499 (DF) FOREIGN STUDIES (1 -12)
• LING 500 SYNTAX II (3)
  • The focus in this course is on phrase structure, movement, functional categories, features, the nature of economy conditions, and parametric differences among languages. More general issues of the architecture of the grammar and the nature of crosslinguistic variation.
• LING 502 HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS (3)
  • Topics in the theory of language change. A topics-based course which investigates in-depth such areas as grammaticalization, typological influences on language change, language classification, and others.
• LING 504 PHONOLOGY II (3)
  • Issues in phonological theory. Current controversies and trends of research in phonology, including the phonology-morphology interface and rule-based vs. constraint-based approaches.
• LING 545 MORPHOLOGY (3)
  • This course investigates the world’s languages from the perspective of the strategies they use in the formation of words. Has practical goal of learning how to segment words into meaningful parts, but proceeds to a consideration of typology, and grammaticalization.
• LING 548 SOCIOLINGUISTICS (3)
  • The general theme in this course is the nature of spoken style and register choice. New kinds of variables that play a role in style, the structure of style, and the role of style in the construction of meaning in variation. Strengths and weaknesses of the principal methods of data collection in sociolinguistics. Project-based.
• LING 570 THE HISTORY OF MODERN LINGUISTICS (3)
  • A survey of trends and developments in the history of modern linguistics. The course begins with a review of American structuralism and the transition to transformational grammar in the 1950’s. Investigates modern theoretical developments, including Chomskyan and non-Chomskyan theoretical modela.
• LING 596 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES (1-9)
  • Creative projects which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
• LING 597 SPECIAL TOPICS (1-9)
  • Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

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