120105 VO Introduction to the Study of Language 1 (2011S)

This lecture course forms the first part of a one-year introductory program that aims at providing first-year students of English with an overview of the major areas of linguistic knowledge. In the first semester, we study ways of describing and transcribing the sounds and sound system of English (phonetics/phonology). We then consider how language varies in relation to different social and geographical factors and how this variation may be described (sociolinguistics). We examine how language functions in communication and how humans use language to create meaning in interaction (pragmatics, discourse analysis). Finally, we analyze the ways in which language is processed in the mind (psycholinguistics).