Friday, January 17, 2014

STUDY GUIDE: HBET 1103 Introduction to General Linguistics

COURSE INTRODUCTION 
Synopsis 
This course introduces the student to the more accessible parts of contemporary linguistic theory, and to some of the methods used to analyse language. It covers the ‘core’ areas of language, including speech sounds (phonetics and phonology), grammar (morphology and syntax) and meaning (semantics and pragmatics). The course also includes interdisciplinary studies in sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, language acquisition, and the biological foundations of language. 

Aims
The general aims of the course are to provide students with:
1. The basic tools required to handle language data, and
2. The basic knowledge and expertise to discuss language issues in the
following areas:

  • The basic orientations, concerns and concepts in linguistics; 
  • The classification of speech sounds; 
  • The main types of morpheme; 
  • The syntactic structure of sentences; 
  • Different types of meaning, including literal and non-literal meaning;
  • Social variation in language; 
  • The relationship between language and thought; 
  • Milestones in first language acquisition; and 
  • Animal communication systems. 


Outcomes
By the completion of this course, it is expected that learners will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate an understanding on how language is analysed at different levels; 
  2. Attempt their own annotation and analysis, e.g. make a phonetic transcription or draw a tree diagram to represent the syntax of a sentence; and 
  3. Discuss language issues with confidence in their own expertise. 

Set Textbook 
  • McGregor, William B. (2009). Linguistics: An introduction. London: Continuum.
Additional References 
  • Behrens, Susan J. et al. (2010). Language in the real world: An introduction to linguistics. New York: Routledge.
  • Collins, Beverley et al. (2008). Practical phonetics and phonology (2nd ed.). London; New York: Routledge.
  • Holmes, J. (2008). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Harlow, England: Pearson. 
  • Steinberg, D. et al. (2006). An Introduction to psycholinguistics (2nd ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson. 
  • Tomlinson, Brian, ed. (2007). Language acquisition and development: Studies of learners of first and other languages. London: Continuum.
ASSESSMENT
Components
1. Assignment – 30% 
2. Final Examination – 70% (3 hours) 
  • Part A: Answer all 5 short-answer questions. 
  • Part B: Answer 3 of 5 essay-type questions. 
  • Part C: Answer 1 of 2 essay-type questions. 


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