120129 VO Introduction to the Study of Language 1 (2009S)

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