Year-long

Unit(s) of Assessment	Weighting Towards Module Mark( %)
Coursework: Oral presentation	5%
Coursework: 2,000 word essay (write up of oral presentation)	20%
Exam: There will be a 150-minute examination at the end of the second semester	75%

This module, which assumes no prior knowledge of languages other than English, is intended to give students an insight into the diversity of human communicative systems to be found throughout the world. In order to understand how human communication works we need to examine the variety of systems to be found, some of which differ drastically from what we know and what we might expect.

• to study the defining characteristics of our major mode of communication, namely human languages

   

• to introduce students to data from linguistic systems which differ radically from those with which they are familiar

   

• to provide students with an understanding of how linguistic systems differ

   

Knowledge and Understanding:

• a sound understanding of the different modalities of language (spoken, written, signed)
• an appreciation of the diversity of linguistic systems
• a sound understanding of the place of human languages within the range of communicative systems, human and other

   

Skills:

• The ability to formulate, defend and sustain arguments in both written and oral form on complex issues
• The ability to appreciate how communication is constrained by linguistic systems
• The ability to carry out independent research for essays on assigned topics

Week 1

What is Language?

Linguistic Diversity

Hockett’s Design Features

Week 2

What is Language (cont.)?

Language vs. Dialect

Week 3

Sign Languages

Sign languages vs. spoken languages

Week 4

Sign Languages (cont.)

Structure of British Sign Language

Week 5

Language Classification

Genetic

Areal

Typological

Week 6

Language Classification (cont.)

World’s major language families

Week 7

Lingua Francas

Development of a lingua franca

English as a lingua franca

Week 8

Language Status

Official languages

Major languages

Minor languages

ISO codes

Week 9

Multilingualism

Large scale -vs- small scale

Notion of proficiency

Week 10

Methods in sociolinguistics

corpora

recording

spontaneous speech

Week 11

Methods in sociolinguistics (cont.)

traditional stories

ritualised language

elicitation

Christmas Vacation

Week 12

Revision

Week 13

Exams

Week 14

Exams

Week 15

Reading week preparing materials for semester 2 modules

Week 1 (Semester 2)

Writing Systems

Alphabetic

Consonantal (Abjads)

Syllabic (Syllabaries)

Alphasyllabic (Abugidas)

Logographic

Mixed

Week 2 (Semester 2)

Writing Systems (cont.)

Their history

Their extra-linguistic significance

Week 3 (Semester 2)

Number

Grammatical Number systems

Week 4 (Semester 2)

Grammatical Gender

Languages with gender

Languages without gender

Role in syntax/agreement

Week 5 (Semester 2)

Technological implications

unicode

Week 6 (Semester 2)

Language and time

Tense

Temporal deixis

Week 7 (Semester 2)

Spatial Categorization

Intrinsic frames of reference

Relative frames of reference

Absolute frames of reference

Whorfianism and spatial categorization

Week 8 (Semester 2)

Colour Categorization

Relativism vs. universalism

Week 9 (Semester 2)

Morphological typology

Easter Vacation

Week 10 (Semester 2)

Review and revision of semester 1 with question and answer session

Week 11 (Semester 2)

Review and revision of semester 2 with question and answer session

Week 12

Revision

Weeks 13

Exams/Assessment

Weeks 14

Exams/Assessment

Weeks 15

Exams/Assessment

Assessment deadlines

Oral Presentations: Throughout the module

Essay: To be handed in on the Wednesday of week 2 following the students’ presentation.

Exam: Weeks 13-15 of Semester 2. Exact date TBC. .

Sessions will consist of a formal lecture on a topic for which the students will have completed an assigned reading in advance, and will also take the form of group and whole class discussion based around written stimuli (short texts, questions ) provided by the instructor. Students will give oral presentations, which will be spread out over the two semesters.

Essential Reading

Crystal , David (1997) The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Expected Purchase)

Recommended Reading

Aitchison, Jean. 1989. The articulate mammal: an introduction to psycholinguistics. London : Unwin Hyman. [3rd Edition]

Aliprand, Joan et al. eds. (2003) The Unicode Standard Version 4.0. Boston : Addison-Wesley.

Berlin , Brent and Paul Kay (1999) Basic color terms: their universality and evolution. Stanford, Calif. : CSLI.

Cheney, Dorothy L. and Robert Seyfarth. 1996. Function and intention in the calls of non-human primates. In Evolution of Social Behaviour Patterns in Primates and Man, ed. by W.G.Runciman, John Maynard-Smith, and R.I.M. Dunbar, 59–76. (Proceedings of the British Academy 88.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Comrie, Bernard (1985) Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Comrie, Bernard ed. (1989) The World's major languages.Reprinted with revisions and additions. London : Routledge.

Comrie, Bernard ed. (1989) The World's major languages. Reprinted with revisions and additions. London : Routledge.

Corbett, Greville G. (2000) Number. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Corbett, Greville G. (1991) Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright (eds). (1996) The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press.

Edwards, John (1994). Multilingualism. London : Routledge.

Haspelmath et al. 2005 .  The world atlas of language structures.  Oxford : Oxford University Press. [also available online at http://wals.info/ ]

Karmiloff, Kyra and Karmiloff-Smith, Annette (2001) Pathways to Language: From Fetus to Adolescent. Harvard University Press.

Levinson, Stephen (2003) Space in Language and Cognition. Cambridge University Press.
Sutton-Spence, Rachel and Bencie Woll (1999) The linguistics of British sign language. Cambridge: Cambdirge University Press.