The scientific study of language, emphasizing such topics as the organization of grammar, language in space and time, and the relationship between the study of language and other disciplines.

Study of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and culture of a less-taught language. Possible offerings include Finnish, Hungarian, and other non-Indo-European languages. The topic for spring 2026 will be:

Grammatical Structure of Georgian

An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of situated language use, with an emphasis on natural, spontaneous dialogue. Students will interpret recordings and transcripts of naturally occurring conversation to identify key discourse events and linguistic features of interactional import. Focus will be placed on how linguistic resources are mobilized both to regulate the flow of information and to implement social actions, and how these practices vary across communities and cultures.

Forensic Linguistics

This course will be offered during the Summer 2024 semester.

This course will only be offered at the Undergraduate level.

Forensic linguistics is fundamentally how the science of language interfaces with the law. The term forensic linguistics has meant many things from consulting the courts on interpretation of statutory laws to the analysis of evidence to capture serial killers. This course serves as a survey of the field and will introduce students into the world of the forensic linguist as a scientist, an analyst, and an expert witness. Students will get hands-on experience analyzing acoustic and textual data from past cases and providing expert witness testimony. 

Goals and objects: Introduce students to the field of forensic linguistics and give a broad survey of linguistic techniques with a focus on practical application with a case study approach.

CRN 70647   MTWRF 12:00-2:00

The synchronic and diachronic grammar of an older Indo-European language. Possible offerings include Avestan, Hittite, Lithuanian, or topics such as Indo-European phonology, morphology, or syntax.

For the Spring 2026 semester, this course will focus on Hittite:

Known to be Indo-European since 1915, the Hittite language of central Anatolia represents a later stage of a branch of the family that may have broken away from the original proto-speech community up to a thousand years earlier than any of its other branches. This class will study the grammar of Hittite in and will involve readings in Hittite texts in transliteration. At the end of the course students will be able to read transliterated Hittite texts.

The study of language as a cultural and social phenomenon. Topics include language and meaning, language and world view, language and social behavior, and language and social issues.

An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of situated language use, with an emphasis on natural, spontaneous dialogue. Students will interpret recordings and transcripts of naturally occurring conversation to identify key discourse events and linguistic features of interactional import. Focus will be placed on how linguistic resources are mobilized both to regulate the flow of information and to implement social actions, and how these practices vary across communities and cultures.

Traditional methods of historical linguistics are reviewed, with examples from several different language families. Various kinds of possible phonological and syntactic changes are investigated in relation to modern linguistic theory.

Continued studies in both the synchronic and diachronic grammar of classical Sanskrit.

The phonology, morphology, and syntax of the classical Sanskrit language, emphasizing the position of Sanskrit within the Indo-European language family and its importance for Indo-European linguistics.

Formal semantics for sentential and first-order predicate logic, including both soundness and completeness results for first-order logic. Additional topics may include Goedel's incompleteness results, the Skolem-Lowenheim theorem, or possible world semantics for modal logics.