This course is intended as a very broad introduction to the academic
discipline of studying language.  Besides techniques used by
mainstream linguists concerned with grammatical descriptions, we
will also examine a range of linguistically interesting research,
some of which is done by scholars outside of linguistics.  Aspects
of language to be explored include phonetics, phonology, semantics,
historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics,
psycholinguistics, animal communication, neurolinguistics (including
language disorders), first and second language acquisition, among
others.  The class will discuss the fundamental nature of language
and the assumptions which various researchers bring to the study of
language.  Discussion sessions will focus on concepts introduced
during the lectures and on linguistics exercises of various types.