Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Some of the main features of the human language faculty make it unique in the biologicalworld and in the study of cognition. Language is universally found no matter how primitive a people or their society, it is easily and effortlessly acquired by children though not by adults trying to learn a second or third language, it is endlessly creative and productive and such production and comprehension appear automatic and effortless. In this course we ​will develop​ the idea of a language instinct by surveying the structure of human languages (or the mental grammars) beginning with speech sounds (phonetics), how they pattern (phonology), how words and sentences are constructed (morphology and syntax) and how meaning is made (semantics). We will also briefly look at the​ following:
(a) the historical changes that occur in languages and language families,
(b) how children and adults acquire languages,
(c) the neuro​-​biological evidence for language and
(d) the evolutionary and sociological dimensions of language including language typology.
The course​ ​ emphasizes analytical reasoning and application of concepts and students will learn to work with data drawn from a variety of languages.