Skip to main content

Linguistics

LING 4302 (DBU) Principles of Articulatory and Acoustic Phonetics

AL4302 (DIU)

Using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), students will be able to identify, pronounce, and transcribe sounds and suprasegmentals in natural human speech and describe the mechanisms by which a speaker produces these sounds.  Students will also be introduced to basic techniques of acoustic analysis.

Requisites: None

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

LING 4303 (DBU) Principles of Phonological Analysis 

AL4303 (DIU)

This course provides practice in recognizing the difference between phonetic (etic) and phonological (emic) data through numerous practical exercises. Theoretical topics of focus include the use of distinctive features, natural classes, phonetic plausibility, complementary distribution, free variation, contrast in identical/analogous environments, phonological processes, common conditioning environments, typological universals, tone analysis, and morphophonemics. This is an ideal course for field-workers preparing to help develop or revise an orthography for any language.

Requisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

LING 4350 (DBU) Language and Society

AA4350 (DIU)

This course considers the relationship between language and society. The main purpose of the course is to help students understand the multilingual nature of the world's societies. Subjects covered include factors influencing the choice of language varieties, factors influencing language maintenance and shift, and factors affecting language change and variation. An important aspect of the course is the application of these principles to a specific multilingual community.

Requisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.

LING 4370 (DBU) Cultural Anthropology

AL4370 (DIU)

This course is an undergraduate introductory cultural anthropology course designed to acquaint students with major concepts of anthropology and cross-cultural work. It introduces students to well- known names in anthropological theory, and a variety of research methods for collecting ethnographic data. The course is centered around the Ethnographic Project, which involves several sub-projects through which each student is to carry out first person research in a cross-cultural context. On campus students should find a context within the Dallas-Fort Worth area. SL students should find a context near where they are residing. Students should NOT attempt to carry this project out via reflection on past experiences, over a phone, or via a computer app. Students may discuss this with the professor. This research will employ multiple methodologies and involve at least six visits outside class hours, culminating in a core values paper and in-class presentation.

Requisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring.

LING 4410 (DBU) Principles of Grammatical Analysis

AL4410 (DIU)

This course introduces students to techniques for analyzing and describing basic morphological and syntactic issues in natural languages. By working through numerous practical exercises from a large variety of languages, students gain confidence in their ability to determine word classes and allomorphy and to deal with inflectional and derivational morphology. Students also learn to analyze different types of phrases, clauses, and sentences. This course serves as a prerequisite for several graduate linguistics courses.

Requisites: None.

Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer.