The Indo-European language family: the various early Indo-European dialects, their grammatical structures, and the evolution of those structures from the proto-language.

A special topic not otherwise offered in the English curriculum. Topics and instructors vary from semester to semester.

An introduction to the formal analysis of sentential meaning, from a linguist's perspective. After first isolating a truth-conditional notion of literal meaning, we will use techniques from logic to describe how the meanings of sentences are built from those of their parts.

The positions of Greek and Latin within the Indo-European language family with special attention to the phonological evolution of both Greek and Latin from Proto-Indo-European.

This is a course in the Old English language; the goal is for students to learn how to pronounce, read, and translate Old English prose and, near the end of the semester, Old English poetry. In some respects, the course is similar to any a course in any modern foreign language, with vocabulary quizzes, grammar tests, and translation exercises.  Students who have had courses in a more highly-inflected language like Latin or German, or an introductory linguistics course such as LING 2100 (or more advanced courses in historical linguistics and/or other old Germanic languages) will have an advantage over those who have not; but for those without any advanced formal linguistic or historical linguistic background – or whose familiarity with grammatical categories and linguistic terminology is moribund – the first few lessons will include general comments on phonology and phonetics, the morphology of noun declensions and verb conjugations, and the syntax of OE sentences. The last weeks of the semester are spent on translation of more lengthy passages of OE prose and some poetry.   

Detailed study of specific phonological theories and the phonetics/phonology interface, building on knowledge acquired in the introductory phonetics and phonology course.

This course will introduce students to some basic concepts of language study and to the history and present status of the English language. With plenty of ground to cover, it will be intensive. We will examine texts to illustrate changes. Sound recordings will be played in class to illustrate different varieties of English. At the end of the course, students will have gained perspective with which to evaluate common questions regarding language and linguistics in the modern world.

Independent study and research under the direction of individual faculty members.

Provides an understanding of the linguistic processes and cultural factors determining the evolution of German as a codified standard language from the Reformation to the present.

The classification and distribution of languages of the world and a survey of linguistic structures as exemplified by selected languages.