English 25

Other Readings and Media

Pinker, S: The Language Instinct, Words and Rules, and possibly The Stuff of Thought; various printed problem sets

Description

This course examines the English language as a particular instance of the general phenomenon of human language. We will consider aspects of its phonology (sound structure), morphology (word structure), syntax (sentence structure) and semantics (linguistic meaning), as well as some pragmatics (contextual meaning) and usage issues. No previous background in linguistics is required.