The English Language

Description

This course is designed to introduce you to the study of LINGUISTICS, particularly the linguistics of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE.  The aim of the course is to show you how the English language works. Throughout the course, we will be guided by the following over-arching question: when a baby learns English as its first language, what aspects of the linguistic system does he or she have to master in order to have a successful conversation? To answer this question, we start with single speech sounds, and then think about how they are combined to make words. Then we consider how words combine to make phrases, and finally we examine the structure of whole sentences.

In the first half of the course, we focus on how English speech is pronounced. How do we move our speech articulators when we produce sounds? How is a Kiwi accent similar to and different from accents from elsewhere? What linguistic tools do you need to analyse accent variation properly? In the second half of the course, we focus on the structure of English sentences. As well as practicing how to identify different words types (nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc), you will examine how words are structured into phrases, clauses and sentences, and you will learn how we combine words in different ways to generate new and complex meanings.

You do not need to have any previous experience of Linguistics to enrol in this course.

This course is a prerequisite for 200 level Linguistics courses, so is an important foundation for more advanced linguistics work.

The course will be of particular benefit to anyone who:
1. has an interest in studying further courses in Linguistics
2. wants to enhance their understanding of how the English language works
3. has an interest in foreign language teaching
4. has an interest in teaching English
5. has an interest in speech and language therapy