LING 220: Study of Language

This course is designed to explore the knowledge and use of human language.  We will investigate properties of the language system, addressing both the complex internal structure of the various levels of language (i.e. how sounds combine to form words and word combine to form sentences) and the apparent ease with which we all process language. At every level we will ask: What is it you unconsciously know that allows you to use language? We will also address the use of language in a social context, including: language variation and attitudes about language. 

Syllabus

LING/PSYC 370: Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics is the study of how humans acquire, produce, and comprehend language. In this course we will cover fundamentals of researchers in this domain. We will explore evidence from interdisciplinary basic research that aims to answer questions about language acquisition, processing and comprehension. We will examine the methods and procedures used to carry out psycholinguistic research. The course will cover different theories and models of language processing and acquisition; spanning both classic as well as more recent experimental evidence in support of these models.

Syllabus

LING 442: Experimental Psycholinguistics 

In this course, students learn how to design, conduct, analyze, and present experiments on the acquisition and processing of human language. We will first identify a research topic of common interest, which will become the focus of the course. We will then conduct a replication of a published experiment on our research topic to gain hands-on experience in experiment design, data collection, and data analysis. Students will then design and conduct an original experiment that extends the replication study in a novel direction.

LING/PSYC 100: What can we learn from babies? 

This course covers some of the major findings in Psychology and Linguistics on early infant cognition. We will discuss methods for researching infant cognition, and the advantages and challenges of working with this population. We will investigate areas of infant cognition including perception, number, social cognition and language. We will focus on summarizing, assessing and integrating findings from these domains and discuss what these findings tell us about human cognition more broadly. We will gather information from a variety of sources—including primary sources as well as mainstream media sources. Students will have the opportunity to practice synthesizing information across these sources and presenting this information to their peers.

Syllabus

LING/PSYC 358: First Language Acquisition 

This course examines language acquisition in infancy and early childhood, asking about the nature of children’s linguistic representations and how they acquire these representations. The coursework relies heavily on the evaluation of existing research through which we will learn about the methods and results leading to current models of language acquisition. Students will also think about how primary research findings in language acquisition are applicable to several real-world domains.

Syllabus

LING/PSYC 430: Language & Social Cognition

This course examines the connection between one’s ability to attribute thoughts and intentions to others (so-called “theory of mind”) and language. Both linguistic and mindreading abilities seem to share similar profiles of acquisition: important linguistic and mindreading milestones occur around the same time in the course of development; delays in one correlate with delays in the other; both abilities seem to be uniquely human. Why should theory of mind and language develop together? Could language be instrumental in developing a theory of mind? In turn, is theory of mind instrumental in acquiring language?

Syllabus