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This course introduces students to the study of the English language, its words, sounds and sentences. It also introduces the conceptual and analytical tools which linguists use to understand how languages are constructed.
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 English works as a system for connecting speech sounds with meaning. 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 it have to master if it is 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 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 are words structured into phrases, clauses and sentences, and you will learn how we combine words in different ways to generate new and complex meanings.
By the end of the course, students will: 1. be able to understand the basic technical terms used by linguists to describe the various systems of which languages are composed: sounds, morphemes and words, phrases and clauses, and meaning. 2. be able to transcribe in broad phonetics a section of written English, 3. be able to understand how to analyse the structure of words into syllables and morphemes, 4. be able to understand how to analyse the structure of sentences into their grammatical constituents.
ENGL123, ENLA101
Kevin Watson and Heidi Quinn
4 Quizzes with ongoing due dates, via Learn, weighted at 10%Class test 1 on Thursday 28 March, weighted at 15%Class test 2 on Monday 27 May, weighted at 15%Coursework due by Thursday 30 May, weighted at 30%Final examination, date to be confirmed, weighted at 30%
An Introduction to English Language: Word, Sound and Sentence; Kuiper, Koenraad , Allan, W. Scott ; 3rd edition; Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Library portalThe course outline is available on LEARN (only for students enrolled in this course). LEARN
Domestic fee $644.00
International fee $2,800.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if less than 1 person applies to enrol.
For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .