CODE | LLT1012 | ||||||||||||
TITLE | Introduction to Linguistics 2 | ||||||||||||
UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
ECTS CREDITS | 6 | ||||||||||||
DEPARTMENT | Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology | ||||||||||||
DESCRIPTION | Introduction to Linguistics 2 follows on from Introduction to Linguistics 1 by furthering the introduction of concepts and terminology for studying language at levels of structure not considered in it. Special attention will be given to the interfaces between the different areas of linguistics with a view to consolidating the knowledge acquired in the previous semester. Sound:Phonetics and phonology Phonetics views speech as one possible medium of transmission for language. This part of the study-unit provides the basis for studying sound as used in the sound systems of the languages of the world. Focus is on describing the different components involved in speech production from the perspective of articulatory phonetics and introducing the principles necessary to distinguish between different sounds used in human languages, distinctions which are captured in transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet. In turn, phonology looks at speech from the point of view of the way sounds are organised in repeated patterns in ways which contribute, both to the creation of meaning, and to giving an identity to different languages and language varieties. The description of sound structure provided moves beyond looking at individual sounds and the way these combine into syllables and words. It further examines longer stretches of speech such as utterances, and of the role of prosodic features such as stress and intonation in creating meaningful distinctions. Against this backdrop, students will be enabled to both distinguish between phonetics and phonology and appreciate how knowledge of phonetics informs the study of phonology and vice-versa. Attention will also be given to the interfacing with the other levels of language introduced in the course of the two Introduction to Linguistics study-units. Grammar:Morphology and syntax Morphology deals with the formation of words. This part of the study unit introduces the fundamental concepts of morphology (word, morpheme and affix), before moving on to consolidate this basic knowledge by discussing and analysing morphological data from various languages. In turn, syntax deals with the structure of phrases and clauses. In turn, syntax deals with the structure of phrases and clauses. Whilst linking syntax with morphology, this part of the study-unit delineates the domain of syntax by (i) discussing the fundamental concepts involved (phrase structure, syntactic rules), (ii) describing and analysing syntactic phenomena (case, agreement), and (iii) highlighting the relation between grammar and other levels of language, namely, phonology and semantics. Meaning: Semantics and pragmatics When we informally think about linguistic meaning, we tend to confuse the meaning that is encoded in natural language expressions and sentences, with that which is communicated in context. The aim of this part of the study-unit is to isolate those aspects of meaning that are language-internal, and hence immune to contextual intrusions. Over and above semantic analysis, language is typically used to communicate meaning in context. This part of the study-unit aims at exposing students to mainstream theorising about linguistic pragmatics and familiarise them with the analysis of meaning during verbal communication. After laying the foundations by distinguishing utterance meaning from literal or sentence meaning, it will proceed to cover the notions of deixis, implicature and presupposition, Speech Act Theory, Gricean pragmatics as well as other areas of interest in the field, should the need arise. Study-Unit Aims: - to continue to familiarise students with the scientific study of language in a coherent and systematic way, all the while introducing them to more important concepts and terminology necessary for the study of language, both at the formal and at the functional levels; - to continue exposing students to the study of the linguistic structure of different languages; - to continue encouraging students to appreciate underlying principles which make language the complex and interesting phenomenon that it is; - to continue providing students with a solid foundation consisting of the concepts, tools and terminology needed in the different core areas of linguistics which they will be able to build on in more advanced study-units. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to the study of languages; - identify some of the special features of human language at different linguistic levels; - describe the basic features of speech sounds, sound systems, word and sentence structure and to observe how meaning is encoded in different systems and communicated in context. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - recognise many of the sounds of the IPA and the parameters along which sounds can vary and describe them using the appropriate terminology and symbols; - produce simple phonetic transcriptions of short stretches of speech, including by analysing syllable structure and identifying and marking stress and rhythm distinctions and provide (interlinear) transcriptions of the intonation of simple utterances; - apply their knowledge of basic notions in morphology and syntax to analyse and understand real language data from a wide variety of languages; - describe the structure of words, phrases and clauses in languages from different types and belonging to different language families; - engage in semantic analysis of words and sentences; - engage in pragmatic analysis of utterances and speech acts; - apply the knowledge acquired in to other fields of inquiry within linguistics, such as language acquisition or natural language processing. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Introduction to Linguistics 2 follows on from Introduction to Linguistics 1 by furthering the introduction of concepts and terminology for studying language at levels of structure not considered in it. Special attention will be given to the interfaces between the different areas of linguistics with a view to consolidating the knowledge acquired in the previous semester. Sound:Phonetics and phonology Phonetics views speech as one possible medium of transmission for language. This part of the study-unit provides the basis for studying sound as used in the sound systems of the languages of the world. Focus is on describing the different components involved in speech production from the perspective of articulatory phonetics and introducing the principles necessary to distinguish between different sounds used in human languages, distinctions which are captured in transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet. In turn, phonology looks at speech from the point of view of the way sounds are organised in repeated patterns in ways which contribute, both to the creation of meaning, and to giving an identity to different languages and language varieties. The description of sound structure provided moves beyond looking at individual sounds and the way these combine into syllables and words. It further examines longer stretches of speech such as utterances, and of the role of prosodic features such as stress and intonation in creating meaningful distinctions. Against this backdrop, students will be enabled to both distinguish between phonetics and phonology and appreciate how knowledge of phonetics informs the study of phonology and vice-versa. Attention will also be given to the interfacing with the other levels of language introduced in the course of the two Introduction to Linguistics study-units. Grammar:Morphology and syntax Morphology deals with the formation of words. This part of the study unit introduces the fundamental concepts of morphology (word, morpheme and affix), before moving on to consolidate this basic knowledge by discussing and analysing morphological data from various languages. In turn, syntax deals with the structure of phrases and clauses. In turn, syntax deals with the structure of phrases and clauses. Whilst linking syntax with morphology, this part of the study-unit delineates the domain of syntax by (i) discussing the fundamental concepts involved (phrase structure, syntactic rules), (ii) describing and analysing syntactic phenomena (case, agreement), and (iii) highlighting the relation between grammar and other levels of language, namely, phonology and semantics. Meaning: Semantics and pragmatics When we informally think about linguistic meaning, we tend to confuse the meaning that is encoded in natural language expressions and sentences, with that which is communicated in context. The aim of this part of the study-unit is to isolate those aspects of meaning that are language-internal, and hence immune to contextual intrusions. Over and above semantic analysis, language is typically used to communicate meaning in context. This part of the study-unit aims at exposing students to mainstream theorising about linguistic pragmatics and familiarise them with the analysis of meaning during verbal communication. After laying the foundations by distinguishing utterance meaning from literal or sentence meaning, it will proceed to cover the notions of deixis, implicature and presupposition, Speech Act Theory, Gricean pragmatics as well as other areas of interest in the field, should the need arise. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit has the following main aims: - to continue to familiarise students with the scientific study of language in a coherent and systematic way, all the while introducing them to more important concepts and terminology necessary for the study of language, both at the formal and at the functional levels; - to continue exposing students to the study of the linguistic structure of different languages; - to continue encouraging students to appreciate underlying principles which make language the complex and interesting phenomenon that it is; - to continue providing students with a solid foundation consisting of the concepts, tools and terminology needed in the different core areas of linguistics which they will be able to build on in more advanced study-units. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the two Introduction to Linguistics study-units the student will be able to: - distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive approaches to the study of languages; - identify some of the special features of human language at different linguistic levels; - describe the basic features of speech sounds, sound systems, word and sentence structure and to observe how meaning is encoded in different systems and communicated in context. 2. Skills: By the end of the two Introduction to Linguistics study-units the student will be able to: - recognise many of the sounds of the IPA and the parameters along which sounds can vary and describe them using the appropriate terminology and symbols; - produce simple phonetic transcriptions of short stretches of speech, including by analysing syllable structure and identifying and marking stress and rhythm distinctions and provide (interlinear) transcriptions of the intonation of simple utterances; - apply their knowledge of basic notions in morphology and syntax to analyse and understand real language data from a wide variety of languages; - describe the structure of words, phrases and clauses in languages from different types and belonging to different language families; - engage in semantic analysis of words and sentences; - engage in pragmatic analysis of utterances and speech acts; - apply the knowledge acquired in to other fields of inquiry within linguistics, such as language acquisition or natural language processing. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main text-books will be identified and announced in the course of the study-unit. Specific readings will be assigned for each area on a topic-by-topic basis. General readings: - Aitchison, J. (2008). The articulate mammal: An introduction to psycholinguistics (5th edition). London/New York: Routledge. - Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2019). For the love of language: An introduction to linguistics (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Crystal, D. (2008). Dictionary of linguistics and phonetics (6th edition). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. - O'Grady, W., J. Archibald, M. Aronoff & J. Rees-Miller. (2017). Contemporary linguistics: An introduction (7th edition). London: Macmillan. - Pinker, S. (1995). The language instinct. London: Penguin. For the area of Sound: - Ashby, P. (2011). Understanding phonetics. London & New York. Routledge. - Ashby, M. & Maidment, J. (2005). Introducing phonetic science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Ball, M. J. & Muller, N. (2005). Phonetics for communication disorders. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. - Kennedy, R. (2017). Phonology: A coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Ladefoged, P., & Johnson, K. (2014). A course in phonetics (7th edition). Belmont CA: Wadsworth Publishing. - Zsiga, E. C. (2013). The sounds of language. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. For the area of Grammar: - Aronoff, M., & Fudeman, K. (2010). What is morphology? (2nd edition). Oxford: Blackwell. - Bauer, L. (1988). Introducing linguistic morphology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. - Booij, G. E. (2007). The grammar of words: An introduction to linguistic morphology (2nd edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Haspelmath, M. & Simms, A. D. (2013). Understanding morphology (2nd edition). London: Hodder Education. - Larson, R. K. (2010) Grammar as science. Massachusetts, London: MIT Press. - Lieber, R. (2010) Introducing morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Moravcsik, E. A. (2006) An Introduction to syntax. Fundamentals of syntactic analysis. London: Bloomsbury. - Sportiche, D., Koopman, H., & Stabler, E. (2014) An introduction to syntactic analysis and theory. Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell. - Tallerman, M. (2019). Understanding syntax (3rd edition). London: Taylor and Francis, Hodder Education. For the area of Meaning: - Cruse, A. (2000). Meaning in language: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Grundy, P. (2000). Doing pragmatics. London: Edward Arnold. - Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Hurford, J.R., Heasley, B. & Smith, M.B. (2007). Semantics: A coursebook (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Kroeger, P. (2019). Analyzing meaning: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics (2nd edition). Berlin: Language Science Press. - Leech, G. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman. - Levinson, S.C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Loebner, S.C. (2002). Understanding semantics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Lyons, J. (1995). Linguistic semantics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Saeed, J. (2003). Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. |
||||||||||||
ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Study-unit: LLT1011 or equivalent | ||||||||||||
STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||||||
LECTURER/S | Jessica Nieder Ray Fabri Alexandra Vella |
||||||||||||
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |