GISDepartment of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies

The aim of this course is to provide students with an essential understanding of linguistics, with examples drawn from the English language; the course begins by outlining diachronic, synchronic and contrastive perspectives, while illustrating the history and regional diversity of English. As an introduction to 200/300 level linguistics-related courses, subsequent lectures are dedicated to surveying phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax, followed by semantics. The last part of the course deals with language typology and universals, and refers to some of the key topics in sociolinguistics.

By the end of the course, students will:
(1) have an understanding of linguistics as a scientific study, distinguished from language learning for practical purposes,
(2) understand key terminology, concepts and theories in the major fields of linguistics, and
(3) acquire basic research skills needed in more advanced linguistics courses.

Will be able to gain “DP 1”, “DP 2”, “DP 3”, and “DP 4”.

英語 / English

This course is a combination of lectures and discussions about pre-assigned topics. The lectures are delivered using PowerPoint slides and Internet sources. Students have to address review and application questions given in advance. Attendance at the first class is mandatory. Submitted assignments and tests are reviewed in detail and commented on in the following week's lecture. Please note that the teaching approach may vary according to which threat level we are at: at level 1, 70% of this course will be held on campus, though at level 2, 50% will be held on campus.

あり / Yes

なし / No

授業形態/methods of teaching：対面/face to face

※各回の授業形態は予定です。教員の指示に従ってください。

1[オンライン/online]：Introduction I

(1) Outlining the course content and instructional methodologies
(2) What is a language?
(3) What is linguistics?
(4) General linguistics and English linguistics

2[対面/face to face]：Introduction II

(1) The world’s major languages
(2) History of English
(3) Numbers of L1 and L2 English speakers
(4) Regional variations of English

3[対面/face to face]：Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistics I

(1) Diachronic linguistics
(2) Synchronic linguistics

4[対面/face to face]：Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistics II

(1) Comparative linguistics
(2) The Indo-European language family
(3) Contrastive linguistics

5[対面/face to face]：Phonetics and Phonology I

(1) Subfields of linguistics
(2) Phonetics
(3) Phonology
(4) Phoneme & allophones
(5) Phonetic and phonemic transcriptions

6[対面/face to face]：Phonetics and Phonology II
Mid-semester Examination

(1) Suprasegmentals
(2) Mid-semester exam

7[対面/face to face]：Morphology I

(1) Morpheme and allomorphs
(2) Declension and conjugation
(3) Patterns of inflection

8[対面/face to face]：Morphology II

Word formation

9[対面/face to face]：Syntax I

(1) Sentence
(2) Phrase
(3) Clause
(4) Tense, aspect, mood, and voice
(5) Agreement

10[対面/face to face]：Syntax II

(1) Grammatical structure
(2) Theme and rheme
(3) Given and new information

11[対面/face to face]：Syntax III

(1) Generative grammar
(2) Phrase structure rules
(3) Tree diagrams

12[対面/face to face]：Semantics

(1) What is meaning?
(2) Seven types of meaning
(3) Pragmatics

13[対面/face to face]：Linguistic Universals and Relativity

(1) Linguistic universals
(2) Typology
(3) Linguistic relativity

14[対面/face to face]：Introduction to Sociolinguistics and ELF
Review and Final Examination

(1) What is sociolinguistics?
(2) Examples of the interaction between linguistic and social variables
(3) Standard and non-standard English
(4) ELF (English as a lingua franca)
(5) Language attitudes
(6) Review and final exam

Students are required to read the handouts beforehand so that they can actively participate in discussions. They may also need to consult chapter references or search for relevant online materials to answer pre-assigned questions satisfactorily. Preparatory study and review time for this class are 2 hours each.

No textbooks are used. All handouts are posted on the course website while additional materials will be provided in the classroom.

Detailed references and suggestions for further reading are listed on each chapter handout. The following books will be helpful as a general introduction.

Fasold, R. W., & Connor-Linton, J. (Eds.). (2014). An introduction to language and linguistics (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yule, G. (2020). The study of language (7th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Evaluation will be based on in-class quizzes and take-home tasks (20%), a mid-semester exam (40%) and a final exam (40%). More than two unexcused absences will result in failure of the course.

Not applicable.

The handouts are downloadable in PDF format.

No prerequisite is required.