Department of Linguistics

LING 30002. Cognitive Models. 100 Units.

A foundational principle of cognitive science is that the workings of cognitive systems--whether biological, mechanical, or digital--can be productively represented by the operation of formal computational models. This course provides a survey of popular modeling frameworks (such as Bayesian rational agents, connectionist networks, dynamical systems, etc.), as well as the cognitive phenomena that these models have been used to simulate. We will discuss the theoretical commitments of these models, assess strengths and weaknesses of each framework for addressing different types of cognitive questions, and analyze the implications of these models' successes and failures for our understanding of the mind.

Instructor(s): Thorburn, Craig     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): DATA 20002, COGS 20002, LING 20002, PSYC 22002

LING 30100. Intro To Linguistics-1. 100 Units.

TBD

Equivalent Course(s): LING 20100, ANTH 27001, ANTH 37001, SOSC 21700

LING 30101. Phonological Analysis I. 100 Units.

This course introduces cross-linguistic phonological phenomena and methods of analysis through an indepth examination of fundamental notions that transcend differences between theoretical approaches: contrast, neutralization, natural classes, distinctive features, and basic non-linear phonological processes (e.g., assimilation, harmony, dissimilation).

Instructor(s): Jacob Phillips     Terms Offered: Winter

LING 30150. Language and Communication. 100 Units.

This course can also be taken by students who are not majoring in Linguistics but are interested in learning something about the uniqueness of human language, spoken or signed. It covers a selection from the following topics: What is the position of spoken language in the usually multimodal forms of communication among humans? In what ways does spoken language differ from signed language? What features make spoken and signed language linguistic? What features distinguish linguistic means of communication from animal communication? How do humans communicate with animals? From an evolutionary point of view, how can we account for the fact that spoken language is the dominant mode of communication in all human communities around the world? Why cannot animals really communicate linguistically? What do the terms language "acquisition" and "transmission" really mean? What factors account for differences between "language acquisition" by children and by adults? Are children really perfect language learners? What factors bring about language evolution, including language speciation and the emergence of new language varieties? How did language evolve in mankind? This is a general education course without any prerequisites. It provides a necessary foundation to those working on language at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Instructor(s): Salikoko Mufwene     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 20150, LING 20150, COGS 22002, EDSO 20150, EDSO 30150, CHDV 30150

LING 30201. Syntactic Analysis I. 100 Units.

This course is an advanced survey of topics in graduate syntax examining current syntactic theory through detailed analysis of a range of phenomena and readings from the primary research literature.

Instructor(s): Andy Murphy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate student standing. Undergraduates with a grade of A or A- in Intro to Syntax may petition the instructor for admission

LING 30202. Syntactic Analysis - II. 100 Units.

This course is a continuation of Syntax I. The emphasis will be on A'-movement and ellipsis operations within the framework of Principles and Parameters and the Minimalist Program. Although we will examine different types of movement and ellipsis constructions, as well as their interactions, the objective will be to understand to what extent we can develop a general theory of syntax. The course will have a strong cross-linguistic aspect to it, examining data from Irish, Austronesian languages, Mayan languages, Wolof, Russian, Romance, Germanic, and others. The topics will include wh-movement in questions, relative clauses, and other constructions, islands and other constraints on movement, sentence fragments (sluicing, split questions), VP-ellipsis, and gapping.

Instructor(s): Karlos Arregi     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): LING 30201

LING 30301. Semantics and Pragmatics I. 100 Units.

This is the first in a two-course sequence designed to provide a foundation in the scientific study of all aspects of linguistic meaning. The first quarter focuses primarily on pragmatics: those aspects of meaning that arise from the way that speakers put language to use, rather than through the formal properties of the linguistic system itself, which is the domain of semantics. However, a central goal of the course will be to begin to develop an understanding of the relation between pragmatics and semantics, by exploring empirical phenomena in which contextual and conventional aspects of meaning interact in complex but regular and well-defined ways, and by learning analytical techniques that allow us to tease these two aspects of linguistics meaning apart.

Instructor(s): Itamar Francez     Terms Offered: Winter

LING 30302. Semantics and Pragmatics II. 100 Units.

This is the second in a two-course sequence designed to provide a foundation in the scientific study of all aspects of linguistic meaning. The second quarter focuses on the syntax-semantics interface and cross-linguistic semantics. The class will introduce in detail a theory of the way in which the meaning of complex linguistic expressions is formed compositionally from the meaning of constituent parts, and the interaction of semantic and syntactic composition. This theory will form the basis for exploring some empirical questions about the systematicity of cross-linguistic variation in the encoding of meaning.

Instructor(s): Chris Kennedy     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): LING 30301

LING 30310. Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. 100 Units.

This course familiarizes students with what it means to study meaning and use in natural language. By "meaning" we refer to the (for the most part, logical) content of words, constituents, and sentences (semantics), and by "use" we intend to capture how this content is implemented in discourse and what kinds of additional dimensions of meaning may then arise (pragmatics). Some of the core empirical phenomena that have to do with meaning are introduced: lexical (i.e., word) meaning, reference, quantification, logical inferencing, presupposition, implicature, context sensitivity, cross-linguistic variation, speech acts. Main course goals are not only to familiarize students with the basic topics in semantics and pragmatics but also to help them develop basic skills in semantic analysis and argumentation.

Instructor(s): Lucas Fagen     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): LING 20001
Equivalent Course(s): COGS 22004, COGS 32004, LING 20301

LING 30311. Introduction to Experimental Methods. 100 Units.

This course will cover basic topics in experiment design, data collection, and statistical analysis. To demonstrate different design and methodological considerations, we will look at data sets from different research methods including self-paced reading, acceptability judgment, production, etc. In addition, we will cover statistical methods including t-tests, ANOVAs, linear/logistic regressions and mixed-effect models. Students will gain hands-on experience using R as a data analysis tool. This course is meant to prepare students for more advanced data analytic courses in the future. Previous experience in R is not required.

Instructor(s): Monica Do     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 20311

LING 30312. Semantics-Pragmatics: Modality and Uncertainty. 100 Units.

Building on the logical tradition of possible world semantics, we will explore in this class the rich and diverse empirical domain of modality in language, offering an ambitious theory of linguistic modality as indicative of uncertainty. We cover a wide variety of languages ranging from English, Greek, Italian, German and French to Native American and Asian languages (Japanese, Korean). We study modal expressions such as modal verbs, adverbs, particles and mood (subjunctive, indicative, optative) - alongside evidentials, questions, and imperatives in order to enable a deeper and broader understanding of modality. We introduce a new analysis of linguistic necessity as conveying evidential bias and discuss the relation between epistemic modality and evidentiality. We also study deontic modality, and the relationship between questions and modals through the concepts of nonveridical equilibrium, reflection, and evidential bias. Laying out the formal semantic tools step- by-step, we will combine descriptive adequacy with analytical rigor. This class should be of interest to students from linguistics, philosophy, psychology, typology, and communication theory.

Instructor(s): Anastasia Giannakidou     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 20312

LING 30320. Introduction to Comparative Semitics. 100 Units.

This course examines the lexical, phonological, and morphological traits shared by the members of the Semitic language family. We also explore the historical relationships among these languages and the possibility of reconstructing features of the parent speech community.

Instructor(s): R. Hasselbach-Andee     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Knowledge of two Semitic languages or one Semitic language and Historical Linguistics.
Equivalent Course(s): NELG 20301, LING 20320, NELG 30301

LING 30401. Psycholinguistics: Language Processing. 100 Units.

This is an advanced introduction to the field of psycholinguistics. We will do an in-depth overview of both the empirical findings and the methodologies used on various topics in language comprehension/production, including areas of speech perception, lexical processing, syntactic parsing, and semantic/pragmatic processing. Models at both the computational and the mechanistic levels will also be examined.

Instructor(s): Ming Xiang     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 30401

LING 31200. Language in Culture II. 100 Units.

This course is designed for students interested in the intersection of linguistic anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, and social theory. Over the term, we will focus on topics such as: artifice, charisma, media/mediation, receptivity, reflexivity, sense/sensorium, scale, and translation. Our approach will be primarily, if not exclusively, ethnographic, reading several full-length monographs together. This will allow us to discern authors' methodological decisions and sensibilities, including how they empirically build, elaborate and challenge social and semiotic theory

Instructor(s): E. Summerson Carr
Prerequisite(s): Language in Culture II
Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 47002, ANTH 37202, CHDV 37202

LING 31300. Historical Linguistics. 100 Units.

The majority of modern linguistic analysis looks at language as a static system, which L1 learners acquire based on the data they are exposed to in early childhood, without access to its history. Learners are unconcerned with why their language is the way it is, or how it got that way; they only need to know its structure and extrapolate which rules will produce the correct outputs. Understanding this linguistic competence is the task that occupies most working linguists. In this course, however, we will explore how language systems get into the state they're in when learners encounter them, with their idiosyncrasies and irregularities. Historical linguistics gives us, among other things, the power to explain synchronic irregularities. In doing so, we will discover patterns of regularity in how grammars change over time across different languages. For instance, the English verb forms was and is have an s where their plural counterparts were and are have an r. To the L1 learner and the synchronic linguist, the question is: "How is this system learnable and what rules will correctly (re)produce it?" But as historical linguists we will inquire further: "How did the distribution of these forms come about in the first place? Does some former regularity underlie it? If so, what rule accounts for it?" We will find that synchronic irregularity tends to emerge from the operation of regular principles, some of which work to obscure rules that had once been part of speakers' grammars.

Instructor(s): Zeineb Sellami     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Intro to Linguistics and Intro to Phonetics and Phonology or Graduate student status
Equivalent Course(s): LING 21300, ANTH 47300

LING 31330. Aphasia and Linguistic Theory. 100 Units.

The brain is an incredibly complex organ, responsible for many elaborate functions. Even after centuries of research and the development of advanced imaging technology, we are just beginning to understand how it is able to perform those functions, and how they are impacted by brain injury. This course will investigate how language is produced and comprehended, and how those processes are impacted by a brain injury or neurodegenerative disorder. We will be drawing connections between current linguistic theory, psycho- and neuro-linguistic models, and clinical data from acquired language disorders. We will also be discussing the 'gaps' in the field, including who and what might be left out of the discussion.

Instructor(s): Alex Krauska     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): COGS 22504, LING 21330

LING 31720. Sociophonetics. 100 Units.

Variation is a ubiquitous feature of speech, yet much of the variation observed is non-random. This class will examine this type of structured heterogeneity (Weinreich et al., 1968) from the point of view of sociophonetics. We will focus on the interrelationships between phonetic/phonological form and social factors such as speaking style and the background of the speaker, with a particular interest in explaining the origins and transmission of linguistic change. Our goals will be to (a) acquire the phonetic and phonological foundation necessary to conduct sociophonetic research through practical exercises; (b) survey new sociolinguistic research that addresses issues in phonetic and phonological theories and (c) locate and explain phonetic variation in its social context while drawing on current approaches to the relationship between language and society.

Instructor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 21720, COGS 22006, LING 21720

LING 31730. Perceptual Models of Speech. 100 Units.

When hearing speech, humans rapidly and robustly map from a continuous acoustic signal to an abstract representation of the sounds of their language. This class will explore models of this acoustic-phonetic perceptual mapping by drawing from a variety of methodologies and perspectives. We will discuss the merits and issues of linguistic, computational, and neuroscientific approaches and draw connections between these disciplines. A background in neuroscience or computational modeling is not required.

Instructor(s): Thorburn, Craig     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PSYC 21730, LING 21730, COGS 22502

LING 32000. Language and ideology in Modern Greek. 100 Units.

Within the general area of language and ideology this course addresses issues that relate to Modern Greek dialects and the history of diglossia in the geographical area of Modern Greece. Standardization, language purification and several attempts of language planning of various success in the history of Greek are discussed and compared to other representative examples in the relevant literature, as well as various types of language oppression, which are attested in the history of Greek-speaking communities. The role of Atticism (the artificial mimicking of Classical Greek) in developing and sustaining high (H) forms of the language until today is examined in relation to social inequalities and (un)equal access to education. A brief history of the language and its writing systems are included, in relation also to the role of religious institutions and in particular the role of the Greek Orthodox Church in the issues under discussion. Students will be encouraged to draw parallels to cases of diglossia and language planning in other cultures and other speech communities. Participation and distinction in this course does not require previous knowledge of any stage or variety of Greek.

Instructor(s): Katerina Chatzopoulou     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): MOGK 22000, LING 22000, MOGK 32000

LING 32550. Speech Play and Verbal Art. 100 Units.

Course Description TBA

Instructor(s): Tulio Bermúdez     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 22550, LING 22550, LACS 32550

LING 32750. Laboratory Phonology. 100 Units.

This course is intended to provide a foundation for students to pursue the quantitative study of phonology in the context of human interaction, and of speech and perception in the context of language. Specifically, this course focuses on how to design, conduct, and analyze a phonological experiment. We will approach laboratory phonology from the perspectives of both the speaker and the listener, with each perspective constituting roughly half the course. In the process, we will gain and practice skills in experimental phonetic and psycholinguistic work, while testing aspects of current phonological theory.

Instructor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 22750

LING 32800. Advanced Computational Linguistics. 100 Units.

This course provides an in-depth study of advanced topics at the intersection of computation and language, oriented toward linguists and cognitive scientists. The class will focus on both scientific and engineering perspectives - the use of computational modeling to address advanced scientific questions in linguistics and cognitive science, as well as the design of computational systems to solve engineering problems. Topics will include machine translation, parsing, automatic speech recognition, transformer models, and large language models (LLMs), where we will focus on the implementation of these techniques. Students will work towards formulating research questions that can be addressed with complex computational methodology. Students will learn how to generate scripts and implement advanced computational techniques from scratch. Prior knowledge of Python is required.

Instructor(s): Craig Thorburn     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): COGS 22016, LING 22800

LING 32860. The Linguistics of Large Language Models. 100 Units.

Large Language Models are becoming increasingly prevalent in all aspects of our lives. But what is their place in linguistics? What linguistic phenomena do they exhibit and not exhibit? And what does this even tell us? In this class, we will address the use of LLMs in linguistics and related fields - both their limitations and advantages. This will include a discussion of the models that LLMs are founded on, how they can be probed for linguistic representations, and used as linguistic or psycholinguistic subjects. Ultimately, we will attempt to answer the question of the usefulness of these models and the ways they could be used as tools for linguistic research.

Instructor(s): Thorburn, Craig     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LING 22860, COGS 22503

LING 32890. Computational Models of Speech. 100 Units.

TBD.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LING 22890

LING 33700. Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Language Development. 100 Units.

This discussion-based course covers cross-linguistic evidence concerning similarities and dissimilarities in how children learn language across diverse language communities. Each year will revolve around a central topic. This year we will focus on the acquisition of phonology.

Instructor(s): M. Tice     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 33700, LING 23701, CHDV 23700, PSYC 33720, PSYC 23720, COGS 22009

LING 33920. The Language of Deception and Humor. 100 Units.

In this course we will examine the language of deception and humor from a variety of perspectives: historical, developmental, neurological, and cross-cultural and in a variety of contexts: fiction, advertising, politics, courtship, and everyday conversation. We will focus on the (linguistic) knowledge and skills that underlie the use of humor and deception and on what sorts of things they are used to communicate.

Instructor(s): Jason Riggle     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26030, LING 23920, COGS 22010

LING 34016. The Life and Death of a Language: Endangered Greek in Anatolia. 100 Units.

Modality, negation, and polarity are phenomena that have been closely intertwined throughout the millennia-long history of Greek. Although the precise nature of their interaction-and the way this interaction is reflected in syntax-has evolved over time, the relationship among them has remained both strong and stable. This course offers a broad historical overview of these developments while concentrating on specific changes, including the use of modal verbs as negative polarity items, the emergence of new negators and the restructuring of the nonveridical domain, the grammaticalization of modality, and the various ways in which belief is encoded through subjunctive forms. To deepen our understanding of the syntax-semantics interface and the mechanisms of language change, we draw on relevant data from Pontic Greek, particularly the Romeyka variety spoken in the Black Sea region today. This variety not only exemplifies the strong interaction among modality, negation, and polarity, but also diverges in important ways from mainland Greek varieties. The overarching aim of the course is to equip students with a solid understanding of how modality is structured crosslinguistically and how it evolves over time. No prior knowledge of Greek is required.

Instructor(s): Giannakidou, Anastasia and Sitaridou, Ioanna     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): MOGK 34016, LING 24016, MOGK 24016

LING 34610. Voices. 100 Units.

What does it mean to say that someone sounds Gay? What does it mean to say that somebody sounds Black? Or to say that someone sounds 'educated,' 'southern,' 'woke,' 'like the kids these days,' or 'not from around here,' and so on. In answering these questions, we'll examine the specific linguistic properties that get used (often unconsciously) to encode social signals and the ways that those same properties are perceived (also often unconsciously) to inform our social judgments. At the same time, we'll examine the rhetoric and terminology used in media and everyday conversation to characterize other people's dialects and voices along with all the ways this usually diverges from linguistic reality. Each week, we'll cover one 'voice' (e.g. accent, dialect, social group, etc.) and read about its linguistic characteristics along with the ways those characteristics influence our social judgements. We'll also examine the ways that particular voice is portrayed, discussed, or criticized in popular media. Students will write short essays (500-800 words) each week and grades will be based on those essays as well as participation in class and canvas discussion threads.

Instructor(s): Riggle, Jason     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LING 24610

LING 34650. African American Language. 100 Units.

In this course, we explore how African American speech is defined and what it suggests about the relationship between race and language. Specifically, we explore the dialect's earliest linguistic descriptions, trace its historical development, interrogate its significance in entertainment and pop culture, and evaluate language attitudes and their implications in the education and courtroom settings. By the end of the course, you will recognize and describe dialectal patterns, as well as be able to challenge linguistic prejudice against the variety and its speakers.

Instructor(s): Sharese King     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LING 24650

LING 35680. Ideologies of the Hebrew Language. 100 Units.

TBD.

Instructor(s): Itamar Francez     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LING 25680

LING 36002. Language in Society. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to sociolinguistics, the study of language in its social context. We will look at variation at all levels of language and how this variation constructs and is constructed by identity and culture, including relationships between language and social class, language and gender, and language and ethnicity. We will also discuss language attitudes and ideologies, as well as some of the educational, political, and social repercussions of language variation and standardization.

Instructor(s): 2022-2023: Sharese King 2023-2024: Lenore Grenoble     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): LING 20001
Equivalent Course(s): LING 26002

LING 36050. Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Citizenship in the United States. 100 Units.

This course is intended to help students make sense of the current discourse on diversity and inclusion/exclusion from a historical perspective. They will be trained to read critically the evolution of political discourse on citizenship in the United States since the American Revolution. They will learn to detect the role of shifting interpretations of race and ethnicity, after that of European nationality, in determining who is (not) a (full) citizen. For instance, who counted as "American" in the early stages of the Republic? Why were Native Americans and (descendants of) forced immigrants from Africa excluded at the outset? How did English become the unofficial language of American citizenship and inclusion? What factors favored its rise and drove to extinction the competing European national languages?

Instructor(s): Salikoko Mufwene     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 26050, CHDV 26050, CHDV 36055, RDIN 36050, LING 26050

LING 36201. Language in Culture in the Technological Age. 100 Units.

How are contemporary global communication technologies and the rapid rise of large-scale generative communicative models transforming how we use and understand language? This interdisciplinary seminar course explores the intersections of these technological advancements with the semiotic and discursive analysis of communication in sociocultural life-a methodology developed within linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics since the 1980s. We will investigate topics such as how digital and AI-driven environments interact and mediate communication, power dynamics, and institutional structures; how contemporary communicative technology reshapes discursive practices and, in turn, is influenced by them; how political economy underpins and shapes emerging forms of communicative labor; and how diverse communities negotiate, adapt, or re-create their linguistic practices in response to various existing and emerging forms of globalized media. Particularly, we will explore the application of theories and concepts from linguistic anthropology, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics to analyze and reflect on recent textual and discursive materials arising from generative AI and new forms of human-machine interaction. Readings and materials will be drawn from linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, cognitive science, computer science, the history of science, and Science Studies. Graduate students and 3rd and 4th-year undergraduates; consent required for others.

Instructor(s): Eugene Yu Ji     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 26201, COGS 26201, ANTH 36201, ANTH 26202, COGS 36201

LING 36501. Slavic literary languages: formation and development. 100 Units.

This course is a general introduction to the external histories of the Slavic literary languages. It outlines their rise and development with special reference to the contemporary cultural and ideological contexts, such as the processes of ethnic identity formation in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. The essential linguistic information is also provided and patterns of emergence of a standard language are discussed. No prerequisites.

Instructor(s): Yaroslav Gorbachov     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): REES 36500, HIST 24011, LING 26501, REES 26500

LING 36520. Mind, Brain and Meaning. 100 Units.

What is the relationship between physical processes in the brain and body and the processes of thought and consciousness that constitute our mental life? Philosophers and others have puzzled over this question for millennia. Many have concluded it to be intractable. In recent decades, the field of cognitive science--encompassing philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and other disciplines--has proposed a new form of answer. The driving idea is that the interaction of the mental and the physical may be understood via a third level of analysis: that of the computational. This course offers a critical introduction to the elements of this approach, and surveys some of the alternative models and theories that fall within it. Readings are drawn from a range of historical and contemporary sources in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. (B) (II)

Instructor(s): Melinh Lai; Zach Lebowski     Terms Offered: Autumn Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EDSO 30001, LING 26520, COGS 30001, PHIL 36520, PSYC 36520, SIGN 26520, PSYC 26520, EDSO 20001, COGS 20001, PHIL 26520

LING 36601. Intro to Python and R for Linguists. 100 Units.

In this class we will cover computational techniques for collecting linguistic data. We will also cover various methods for using algorithms to analyze that data and some basic computational theory to understand the complexity and efficiency of our algorithms. We will use the programming language Python and focus on real-world applications to gain experience in gathering, manipulating, and analyzing data from sources such as field-work, corpora, or experiments. No previous knowledge of programming is required.

Instructor(s): Riggle, Jason.     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LING 26601

LING 36602. Programming for Linguists. 100 Units.

In this class, we will cover computational techniques for collecting linguistic data. We will also cover various methods for using algorithms to analyze that data and some basic computational theory to understand the complexity and efficiency of our algorithms. We will use the programming language Python and focus on real-world applications to gain experience in gathering, manipulating, and analyzing data from sources such as fieldwork, corpora, or experiments. No previous knowledge of programming is required. This is not recommended for students that already have extensive experience in Python.

Instructor(s): Thorburn, Craig     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): COGS 21501, LING 26602

LING 36810. Bilingualism and Heritage Languages. 100 Units.

TBD.

Instructor(s): Anastasia Giannakidou, Zoe Gavriilidou     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): COGS 22011, LING 26810

LING 37010. Introduction to Psycholinguistics. 100 Units.

This is a survey course in the psychology of language. We will focus on issues related to language comprehension, language production, and language acquisition. The course will also train students on how to read primary literature and conduct original research studies.

Instructor(s): Lai, Melinh (Spring)     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 27010, PSYC 27010, COGS 22013, COGS 32013

LING 38345. Language, Education, and Development in Africa. 100 Units.

With more than a quarter of the languages of humanity, the linguistic diversity of Africa represents a richness in terms of world heritage and linguistic description, but also a challenge for trans-community communication and for the integration of small minorities in larger national communities. Additionally, the persistent use of former colonial languages in most official functions may constitute an impediment, with regard to productive communication between educated elites and ordinary community members and the involvement of the latter in national development. The present course addresses these different issues in a descriptive perspective and through open discussions about potential resolutions in terms of language valorization and language planning. At the end of the course, the students will be able to classify African languages of wider communication in their respective families and identify key features of the latter; identify and discuss potential issues and / or advantages relating to the use of those languages in connection with endogenous development of African communities.

Instructor(s): F. Mpiranya     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): This is a general introductory course with no specific prerequisites.
Equivalent Course(s): LING 28345

LING 38370. African Languages. 100 Units.

One-third of world languages are spoken in Africa, making it an interesting site for studying linguistic diversity and language evolution. This course presents the classification of different African language families and explains their historical development and interactions. It also presents the most characteristic features of African languages, focusing on those that are common in Africa but uncommon among other world languages. Additionally, the course addresses the issue of language dynamics in relation to socioeconomic development in Africa. Using living audio and written material, students will familiarize themselves with at least one major language selected from the Niger-Congo family, the most prevalent family in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a general introduction course with no specific prerequisites.

Instructor(s): Fidele Mpiranya     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 28370

LING 38620. Computational Linguistics. 100 Units.

This course is a mixed level introduction to topics at the intersection of computation and language. We will study computational linguistics from both scientific and engineering angles: the use of computational modeling to address scientific questions in linguistics and cognitive science, as well as the design of computational systems to solve engineering problems in natural language processing (NLP). The course will combine analysis and discussion of these approaches with training in the programming and mathematical foundations necessary to put these methods into practice. The course is designed to accommodate students both with and without prior programming experience. Our goal is for all students to leave the course able to engage with and critically evaluate research in cognitive/linguistic modeling and NLP, and to be able to implement intermediate-level computational models for novel computational linguistics research.

Instructor(s): Thorburn, Craig     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LING 28620, COGS 22015

LING 38640. LLM in Linguistic Research. 100 Units.

The goal of this course is to explore ways of using large language models for linguistics research. We will begin by building a solid understanding of how large language models work, and then take a close look at existing examples work in linguistics and closely related fields that has made innovative use of LLMs as research tools. Finally, we will develop our own (possibly collaborative) project (or projects) to gain practical experience using LLMs in our work. The topic area(s) of the project(s) will be determined based on the interests of the students in the class.

Instructor(s): Chris Kennedy     Terms Offered: Spring

LING 38750. Undergraduate Field Methods. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to linguistic fieldwork with hands-on experience through the study of Sindhi, an under-studied Indo-Aryan language spoken in Pakistan and India. Using methods such as structured elicitations, text collection, and data presentation, we'll explore its grammar-phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. By working with a consultant, we'll gather data, apply linguistic theories, and test hypotheses, sharpening our skills while highlighting the importance of language documentation for research and cultural preservation. This course also satisfies the non-Indo-European language requirement for linguistics majors.

Instructor(s): Omer Eren     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 28750

LING 38951. The Development of Communicative Competence. 100 Units.

This course examines the emergence of communicative skills in humans. We will focus on how children glean information about language structure and language use from their home environments. We will also discuss the proposed cognitive and evolutionary roots of communicative behaviors, with a focus on current gaps in our knowledge and possible pathways forward. The course will consider these issues from multiple perspectives including linguistics, psychology, and linguistic anthropology. We will also briefly cover a range of methods associated with these different areas of study. It is expected that, by the end of the course, you should be able to think and write critically about how human communication and human language are intertwined in both adults and children.

Instructor(s): M. Casillas     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Subject area: UG: B, C; Grad: 2
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 38950, EDSO 38950, PSYC 38960

LING 39001. Contemporary Topics in Cognitive Science. 100 Units.

This course will survey multiple areas of modern research currently being conducted across the subfields of cognitive science. Each week we will discuss a new topic of contemporary cognitive science research and participate in a lecture from a researcher in that field. Students should expect to complete weekly readings of scholarly articles and other primary literature, which we will then further contextualize with the other topics in the course and the broader visions of modern cognitive science research.

Instructor(s): Melinh Lai     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): COGS 20001 and COGS 20002
Note(s): Priority registration will be given to third-year students who are majoring in cognitive science.
Equivalent Course(s): LING 29001, COGS 29001, COGS 39001

LING 39286. Biological and Cultural Evolution. 100 Units.

This course draws on readings in and case studies of language evolution, biological evolution, cognitive development and scaffolding, processes of socialization and formation of groups and institutions, and the history and philosophy of science and technology. We seek primarily to elaborate theory to understand and model processes of cultural evolution, while exploring analogies, differences, and relations to biological evolution. This has been a highly contentious area, and we examine why. We seek to evaluate what such a theory could reasonably cover and what it cannot.

Instructor(s): W. Wimsatt, S. Mufwene     Terms Offered: Not offered in 2026-2027
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing or consent of instructor required; core background in evolution and genetics strongly recommended.
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 23930, PHIL 22500, CHSS 37900, BPRO 23900, NCDV 27400, HIPS 23900, LING 11100, ANTH 28615, ANTH 38615, PHIL 32500, CHDV 33930

LING 39404. Multilingualism and Multilingual Education. 100 Units.

This course focuses on current approaches to multilingualism and multilingual education from psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and educational perspectives. Topics to cover include multilingualism and minority languages, the effect of bilingualism on the acquisition of additional languages, definitions and typologies of multilingual education. The course includes different theoretical and research perspectives in the study of multilingual competence and evaluation of multilingual programs in education, such as translanguaging or the study of the linguistic landscape. The course pays specific attention to the analysis of different research methodologies and to the role of minority languages in education and in society.

Instructor(s): Jasone Cenoz     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 29404, BASQ 29423, BASQ 39423

LING 39406. Seminar: Formal Diachronic Semantics (in Hebrew and other languages) 100 Units.

The course seeks to bring together two sub-disciplines within linguistics: historical linguistics and formal semantics. Both of these sub-disciplines have evolved from distant intellectual fields: the first comes from the philological world, while the second has its origins in the world of mathematical logic. Recently, there has been a rapprochement between these fields dealing mostly with the study of changes of meaning, grammaticalization and reanalysis. This course aimes to examine the research paradigms that attempt to integrate them and explore new methodologies for building bridges between them. The course will focus on examples from Hebrew, but there is no requirment of Hebrew, and studies and examples from many other languages will be provided as well.

Instructor(s): Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LING 29406

LING 40301. Field Methods I. 100 Units.

The field methods course is a two-quarter course, taken by graduate students and advanced undergraduates. (Students may elect to take the course more than once.) This course is devoted to the elicitation, transcription, organization, and analysis of linguistic data from a native speaker of a language not commonly studied. Students will also gain practical experience in the use of fieldwork equipment. Language chosen may vary from year to year.

Instructor(s): Natalia Bermudez     Terms Offered: Autumn

LING 40302. Field Methods II. 100 Units.

The field methods course is a two-quarter course, taken by graduate students and advanced undergraduates. (Students may elect to take the course more than once.) This course is devoted to the elicitation, transcription, organization, and analysis of linguistic data from a native speaker of a language not commonly studied. Students will also gain practical experience in the use of fieldwork equipment. Language chosen may vary from year to year.

Instructor(s): Jessica Kantarovich     Terms Offered: Winter

LING 40310. Experimental Methods. 100 Units.

This course will cover the basic methods for experimental studies, including experimental design, data collection and statistical analysis. To demonstrate different design and analysis tools, we will look at data set from different types of studies, including self-paced reading, acceptability judgment, eye tracking, ERP, etc. Students will also gain hands-on experience on different paradigms.

Instructor(s): Monica Do     Terms Offered: Autumn

LING 40312. Advanced Experimental Methods for Linguistics Research. 100 Units.

The Advanced Experimental Methods class provides comprehensive training on specific experimental paradigms/methods in language science research. In the current quarter we will focus on the EEG methods. Students will develop practical skills by carrying out a project, learning about the experimental design, data collection and data analysis procedures. In addition to the methodology training, we will also read and discuss how EEG is applied to address theoretical and empirical questions in the domain of language and cognition. Prior to this class, students should have taken the graduate level Experimental Methods class or the equivalent.

Instructor(s): Ming Xiang     Terms Offered: Winter

LING 41920. The Evolution of Language. 100 Units.

This course is designed to review critically some of the literature on the phylogenetic emergence of Language, in order to determine which questions have been central to the subject matter, which ones have recurred the most, and to what extent the answers to these are now better informed. The class will also review new questions such as the following: What is the probable time of the emergence of modern language(s)? Should we speak of the emergence of Language or of languages, in the plural?

Instructor(s): Salikoko Mufwene     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 41920, CHDV 21920, ANTH 47305, CHSS 41920, COGS 22007, PSYC 41920, LING 21920, EVOL 41920

LING 42000. Seminar: Semantics/Pragmatics. 100 Units.

Course Description TBA

Instructor(s): Chris Kennedy, Ming Xiang     Terms Offered: Spring

LING 42001. Seminar: Computational Psycholinguistics. 100 Units.

TBD.

Instructor(s): Ettinger, Allyson; Xiang, Ming.     Terms Offered: Winter

LING 42002. Semantics-Pragmatics: Modality and Uncertainty. 100 Units.

Building on the logical tradition of possible world semantics, we will explore in this class the rich and diverse empirical domain of modality in language, offering an ambitious theory of linguistic modality as indicative of uncertainty. We cover a wide variety of languages ranging from English, Greek, Italian, German and French to Native American and Asian languages (Japanese, Korean). We study modal expressions such as modal verbs, adverbs, particles and mood (subjunctive, indicative, optative) - alongside evidentials, questions, and imperatives in order to enable a deeper and broader understanding of modality. We introduce a new analysis of linguistic necessity as conveying evidential bias and discuss the relation between epistemic modality and evidentiality. We also study deontic modality, and the relationship between questions and modals through the concepts of nonveridical equilibrium, reflection, and evidential bias. Laying out the formal semantic tools step- by-step, we will combine descriptive adequacy with analytical rigor. This class should be of interest to students from linguistics, philosophy, psychology, typology, and communication theory.

Instructor(s): Giannakidou, Anastasia     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 22002

LING 42100. Seminar: Semantics: Formal Discourse Models. 100 Units.

Alternative-sensitive particles cross-linguistically This class will examine expressions whose semantic contribution is argued to be sensitive to contextually given or compositionally derived alternatives of some sort (including so-called "questions under discussion" or "issues"), and to induce complex at-issue and non-at issue meanings in context. A fascinating aspect of crosslinguistic variation in interpretation is how different languages express the range of such alternative-based meanings. For example, some of the meanings available to the English expressions 'even', 'still' and 'yet' is covered in Hebrew by one additive expression, and the meanings available to English `until' are split between different expressions, some obviously temporal and some not, in other languages (like German, Ngamo, Hebrew or Greek). We will look at classic and more recent work on a select set of such expressions and the analyses they have been given, with two parallel goals in mind: First, to try and discover / uncover patterns in the crosslinguistic semantic distribution of alternative-sensitive expressions. Second, to see what the analysis of alternative sensitivity tells us about how to tease apart and articulate the lexical, the compositional, the contextual, and the pragmatic.

Instructor(s): Itamar Francez     Terms Offered: Spring

LING 43326. Love / Music: Reflections from Greece and the Mediterranean. 100 Units.

This co-taught, in-person seminar will take up the philosophical, social, and political problem of how love relates to music as both experience and idea with a focus on Greece and the wider Mediterranean. Whether staged and performed, publicly shared, or privately consumed, love and music pervade time and place, shaping diverse genres, engaging different media, and articulating numerous domains of human life and the public sphere. Yet the mediation of love experiences through music remains radically undertheorized. The seminar "Love/ Music" will think about what the love/ music nexus demands as an object of ethnographic and historical study and as a theoretical entity. The course has a binary scope, being both theoretical and hands-on ethnographic (including historical ethnography). Thus its syllabus includes sessions addressing seminal theoretical readings alongside sessions structured as "ethnographic workshops" variously addressing the problematic of the "love / music relation."

Instructor(s): Dafni Tragaki, University of Thessaly Martha Feldman, University of Chicag     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This seminar will meet twice weekly for five weeks on Mondays 1:30-4:20 and Thursdays 2:00-4:50 from April 20 until May 18. A tenth session held on Thurs. May 21 will be devoted to student presentations. Students are required to attend all sessions in person. Additionally, on Friday, May 15, students will participate in a workshop of the multi-year international project “Love / Music: Problematics of a Relationship.” The workshop, held under the sub-rubric of “Methodologies from across Disciplinary and Practice-based Terrains” and hosted by the Franke Institute for the Humanities, will focus on how different disciplines, diverse in their methods for dealing with love, have been approaching the love /music nexus as a disciplinary issue, and might reconsider it in empirical and theoretical terms.
Equivalent Course(s): TAPS 43326, MUSI 43326

LING 44200. Advanced course in Sound Change with a focus on Basque. 100 Units.

This graduate seminar is intended for students with a background in phonetics and (historical) phonology and an interest in either sound change or the sound patterns of Basque. In this seminar, we will discuss many of the linguistic aspects relevant to theories of sound change with a focus on the Basque language (with occasional case studies from other endangered languages such as Ribagorzan Aragonese or Lakota). Key topics will include phonetically-based sound change, synchronic variation as the seed of change, the role of contact, the advantages of studying change from different perspectives, typologically rare sound changes, and the importance of the precise phonetic documentation of endangered languages for sound change typology and linguistic theory overall.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Ander Egurtzegi (tenured researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research - CNRS) is a historical laboratory phonologist who specializes in phonetically-based sound change, typologically rare sound patterns, and the reconstruction of Proto-Basque. He pursues an interdisciplinary approach to the study of sound change at the intersection between historical linguistics, theoretical phonology, experimental phonetics, phonological typology, philology, sociolinguistics, and contact linguistics. His work can be accessed at https://egurtzegi.github.io/
Equivalent Course(s): BASQ 44225

LING 44400. Lexical Functional Grammar. 100 Units.

This course is an overview of the syntactic framework of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a constraint-based, non-transformational approach particularly well suited to typologically diverse languages and to computational implementation. Topics covered include nonconfigurationality, treatments of passive, applicative and other relation-changing rules, control, long-distance dependencies, anaphora, and logophoricity.

Instructor(s): Amy Dahlstrom     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): For undergraduates: having taken LING 20201 Introduction to Syntax is recommended.
Equivalent Course(s): LING 24400

LING 46000. Syntax Seminar. 100 Units.

Discourse at the Edge: Cross-linguistically, clauses exhibit systematic organisation, with a verbal core that is dominated by higher tense/aspect/mood layer, which is, in turn, dominated by what is traditionally referred to as the C-domain, where information relating the clause in question to the discourse of utterance is encoded/introduced. In this class, I will lead an investigation of the C-domain in particular, focussing on proposals which have sought to illuminate the inner workings of the left periphery, such as the Cartographic enterprise (cf. Rizzi 1997), as well as Wiltschko's (2014) Universal Spine Hypothesis. Some other topics that will also be discussed include Speas and Tenny's (2003) proposal that there are dedicated Speech Act and Sentience Projections which collectively form what they identify as the Sentience Domain, Deal's (2020) related proposal that there are semantically active operators which are syntactically present in the C-domain that can affect the interpretation of elements lower in the clause, as well as how these proposals may interact with other contemporary syntactic proposals such as Anti-Locality (cf. Erlewine 2016).

Instructor(s): Si-Kai Lee     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Graduate student in Linguistics of consent of instructor

LING 46001. Seminar: Causative Language. 100 Units.

Causation stands at the heart of all sciences, and as such, philosophers, linguists, and cognitive scientists explore the exact nature of this concept as they seek to understand how causal structures are represented in the human cognitive systems. This course aims to understand what causative constructions are, what they assert, what they presupposed and to what extent they differ one from the other. In addition, it will explore how the semantics of these linguistic expressions are related to the way we model our causal knowledge of the world. In this context we will explore the uniqueness of the linguistic inquiry about causation and how it corresponds with studies on causation in philosophy and in cognitive sciences. In the course we will also consider typological studies, with focus on causative constructions in English and in Hebrew.

Instructor(s): Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal     Terms Offered: Autumn

LING 46002. Seminar: Contact Induced Change and Language Shift. 100 Units.

TBD.

Instructor(s): Grenoble, Lenore.     Terms Offered: Autumn

LING 46003. Seminar: Computational Psycholinguistics. 100 Units.

TBA.

Instructor(s): Allyson Ettinger, Ming Xiang     Terms Offered: Winter

LING 46020. Contact Syntax Seminar. 100 Units.

This course will examine topics in generative syntax pertaining to purported linguistic universals, with a view towards cross-examining such claims against evidence deriving from contact languages, with a particular focus on Singlish.

Instructor(s): Si Kai Lee     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): LING 30201

LING 48640. LLM in Linguistic Research. 100 Units.

The goal of this course is to explore ways of using large language models for linguistics research. We will begin by building a solid understanding of how large language models work and then take a close look at existing examples work in linguistics and closely related fields that has made innovative use of LLMs as research tools. Finally, we will develop our own (possibly collaborative) project (or projects) to gain practical experience using LLMs in our work. The topic area(s) of the project(s) will be determined based on the interests of the students in the class.

Instructor(s): Chris Kennedy     Terms Offered: Spring

LING 50510. Seminar: Psycholinguistics. 100 Units.

Please visit the Linguistics website for course topic and description.

Instructor(s): Monica Do     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course has a different topic each quarter it is offered.

LING 52400. Seminar: Phonology. 100 Units.

In this seminar, we will explore aspects of speech perception and production, focusing on learning in both children and adults. Additional readings will focus on the importance of contextual information (both linguistic and social) in understanding speech perception and production.

Instructor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 22460

LING 52420. Topics in Sign Language Linguistics. 100 Units.

This seminar will include readings from recent work on the morphosyntactic and phonological structure of sign languages. Discussion will focus on how the distribution of key structures and constraints can be employed to reveal systematic variation in a wide range of contexts. Language emergence, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and language typology are among the contexts that will be addressed. 3 credits. Pre-requisites: One course in phonology and one course in syntax, or permission of the instructor.

Instructor(s): Brentari, Diane     Terms Offered: Autumn