Learning Goals
Students will:
- Understand existing language data and theories based on these fundamental properties of language:
- Language is a complex system with formal, cognitive, social, and physical aspects.
- Languages of the world exhibit deep commonalities and, simultaneously, systematic variation (structured typological variation).
- Each language exhibits systematic variation within and across its speakers.
- Language manifests these properties at multiple interacting levels of structure (sounds, words, sentences, discourses).
- Use the scientific method in order to understand language:
- Apply an existing theory to novel data;
- Develop novel hypotheses;
- Design and execute empirical studies to inform theory.
- Communicate understanding of language data and linguistic theories in written and oral form
- Situate the scientific study of language within its broader intellectual context