Foundations of Linguistics
Course Convenor: Bob Tsukada Bright
Course Code: LING 1007
Core course for BA Hons TESOL/English Language Teaching and elective for several other programmes.
The word 'linguistics' can appear daunting, but the reality is that the study of language and communication is fascinating and has relevance to almost any field of enquiry. What (if anything) is wrong with the following sentences; "The Bank of England museum was located in the centre of London, which was slightly difficult to find?" Is it acceptable for your friend to say, "Tonight I'm going to see a film with Tom Cruise"? Why is it that when the word is on the tip of our tongues we remember its beginning and end, but not it middle (the 'bath tub effect' as Aitchison (2003) has called it)?
The course is divided into two parts. The first part will be an introduction to topics such as language and society, pragmatics (i.e. what people mean when they say things - why someone might say, "the cat hasn't been fed" rather than "you haven't fed the cat!") and discourse analysis. The second part covers morphology - the structure of words, as well as looking at grammar and syntax. Assessment is both by coursework and examination and includes a presentation.