1:00p-2:15p TR (65) 3 cr.
PREREQUISITE: G205 OR L103
The aim of the course is to examine methods of linguistic analysis and
issues of language
usage that have the most consequence in daily life, and particularly
those methods and
issues that are most useful for teachers to be familiar with. Thus
there will be some
attention to alternative ways of analyzing the sounds, syntax,
pragmatics, vocabulary, and
morphology of English, but the particular focus of the course will be
on social and regional
varieties of English and the issues that language variation raise for
teachers. There will
also be some attention to patterns in children’s acquisition of
language and in language
change, entailing some study of the history of the English language.
There will be three
examinations and a small project applying linguistic knowledge to a
pedagogical situation.
Required texts:
Pinker, The Language Instinct
Hudson, Essential Introductory Linguistics