Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Linguistics
Courses of Instruction
Linguistics (LING)
The terms indicated are expected but are not guaranteed. For the courses offered during any given term, consult the Schedule of Classes.
LING 110Lg In a Word (4, FaSp) Words as a gateway to the human mind. How words are stored, comprehended and retrieved. How words are constructed. Words and concepts. Words and social constructs. The processing and the acquisition of words in normal and atypical children and adults.
LING 115g Language, Society, and Culture (4, FaSp) Discourse patterns among diverse social groups in institutional and interpersonal settings; interrelationships among language practices and gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity; social structures and cultural values as reflected in language policies and practices.
LING 125 Hindi I (4, Fa) Introduction to current Hindi. Oral practice, listening and reading comprehension; grammar necessary for simple spoken and written expression. Lecture, classroom drill, laboratory practice.
LING 155 Hindi II (4, Sp) Continuation of LING 125. Reading of simple Hindi prose, practice in pronunciation, the grammar essential for reading comprehension and writing. Lecture, classroom drill and laboratory practice. Prerequisite: LING 125.
LING 210 Introduction to Linguistics (4) Empirical study of the sounds and structures of human language; syntax and semantics; language change; linguistic universals.
LING 255 Hindi III (4, Fa) Continuation of LING 155; intensive work in listening comprehension, oral communication, reading and writing short essays; introduction of readings and periodicals related to Hindi culture and civilization. Prerequisite: LING 155.
LING 265x Hindi IV (4, Sp) Reading of modern Hindi authors, review of grammar, composition, oral conversation, and collateral reading. Prerequisite: LING 255.
LING 275Lg Language and Mind (4, FaSp) Language within cognitive science: speech physiology and acoustics, language acquisition, reading, language disorders, perception and mental representation of words, linguistic diversity and computer analysis of speech.
LING 285Lg Human Language and Technology (4) Study of human linguistic competence and technologies that simulate it. Grammar, parsing, text generation; semantics, pragmatics, sense disambiguation; phonetics, speech synthesis, speech recognition.
LING 295g The Ancient Near East: Culture, Archaeology, Texts (4) An investigation of the peoples of the ancient Near East, focusing upon the writings which they produced, their languages and scripts, and their archaeological remains. Concurrent enrollment: MDA 140.
LING 301 Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology (4, Fa) A survey of topics in phonetics and phonology. (Duplicates credit in former LING 401a.) Prerequisite: LING 210.
LING 302 Introduction to Syntax and Semantics (4, Fa) A survey of topics in syntax and semantics. (Duplicates credit in former LING 402a.) Prerequisite: LING 210.
LING 374 Language and Society in East Asia (4) (Enroll in EALC 374)
LING 375 Sociolinguistics (4) Linguistic and cultural pluralism in the U.S.; distributional and structural characteristics of selected urban and minority dialects; the relationship between dialects and “media standard.” Prerequisite: LING 210.
LING 380 Languages of the World (4) Introduction to the world’s linguistic diversity; number of languages spoken and where; grammatical structure and social function of selected languages.
LING 390 Special Problems (1–4) Supervised, individual studies. No more than one registration permitted. Enrollment by petition only.
LING 401 Advanced Phonology (4) Advanced study of topics in phonology. (Duplicates credit in former LING 401b.) Prerequisite: LING 301.
LING 402 Advanced Syntax (4, Sp) Advanced study of topics in syntax. (Duplicates credit in former LING 402b.) Prerequisite: LING 210, LING 302.
LING 403 Advanced Semantics (4) Topics in the theory of meaning in natural language (Duplicates credit in former LING 201.) Prerequisite: LING 302.
LING 405 Child Language Acquisition (4) Universal characteristics of child language; stages of acquisition of phonology, syntax, semantics; processes and dimensions of development; psychological mechanisms; communicative styles. (Duplicates credit in former LING 395.)
LING 406 Psycholinguistics (4) Experimental and theoretical aspects of how spoken and written language is produced and understood, learned during childhood, and affected by brain damage. Prerequisite: LING 210 or PSYC 100.
LING 407 Atypical Language (4) Analysis of atypical language and language pathologies throughout the lifespan and their relevance to current linguistic and cognitive science theory. Prerequisite: LING 210 or PSYC 100.
LING 409 Linguistic Structure of English (3) An overview of the syntactic, semantic, pragmatic structures of English as they relate to the theoretical literature on language acquisition.
LING 410 Second Language Acquisition (4) Theories of second language acquisition in children and adults; comparison of first and second language acquisition including psychological, social, and individual factors. (Duplicates credit in former LING 396.) Prerequisite: LING 210.
LING 411x Linguistics and Education (4) Practical classroom approaches to children’s language; relationships between writing, reading, and speaking; social and regional dialects; traditional, structural, and generative-transformational grammars. Not available for major or minor credit.
LING 412 Linguistic Interpretation of the Law (4) Principles of semantics; analysis of speech acts including informing, promising, threatening, warning; linguistic analysis of consumer contracts and advertisements; readability studies.
LING 415 Phonetics (4) Familiarization with the articulation and transcription of speech sounds. Also vocal tract anatomy, acoustics, speech technology, non-English sounds, perception. Includes laboratory exercises.
LING 422 Language Contact and Language Acquisition (4, Sp) The emergence of new languages, known as Creoles, in socio-historical situations where linguistic input is degraded and insufficient to support the ordinary language acquisition process.
LING 433 Children’s Learning and Cognitive Development (4) (Enroll in PSYC 433)
LING 450 New Horizons in Forensic Speaker Identification (4) Overview of methods used to identify voices on the basis of their characteristic speech patterns.
LING 465 Philosophy of Language (4) (Enroll in PHIL 465)
LING 466 Word and Phrase Origins (4) Introduction to historical-comparative word study; history of ideas concerning language relationships; types of semantic change; hidden metaphors in English word-stock.
LING 480 Linguistic Structures (4) Analysis of grammatical structures of an individual language.
LING 485 Field Methodology (4) Elicitation techniques and methodological principles; recording and analysis of phonological, syntactic, and semantic structures; practical approaches to procedures used in urban, rural, and “primitive” settings.
LING 490x Directed Research (1–8, max 12, FaSpSm) Individual research and readings. Not available for graduate credit.
LING 497 Honors Thesis (4, FaSp) Writing of the honors thesis. Registration is restricted to honors students.
LING 499 Special Topics (2–4, max 8) Investigation of selected topics in linguistics.
LING 501ab Experimental Methods in Linguistics (3-3) a: Univariate and bivariate statistical methods with applications to linguistic research; introduction to statistical computer packages. b: The application of advanced multivariate statistical methods to linguistic research. (Duplicates credit in former LING 601.) Prerequisite: LING 501a.
LING 505abc Seminar in Linguistics (1-1-1) a: Exploration of the professional world of linguistics for first semester graduate students. b: Preparation and presentation of M.A./Ph.D. screening papers; discussion of student research. c: Colloquium for presentation and discussion of student research paper. Graded CR/NC.
LING 512 Linguistic Variation and Language Changes (3, Fa) Linguistic relationships among various correlates of variation: social, psychological, and chronological. Focus on dialectical, registral, and historical variation; the constraints of production and perception in different modes and situations.
LING 513 Spanish Morphology and Phonology (3, FaSp) (Enroll in SPAN 513)
LING 514 Spanish Syntax (3, FaSp) (Enroll in SPAN 514)
LING 515 Spanish Grammar in Discourse (3, FaSp) (Enroll in SPAN 515)
LING 527 Second Language Acquisition (3, Sp) Concepts and issues in theoretical approaches to the study of non-primary language acquisition; e.g., linguistic and processing universals, language transfer, language learnability, fossilization.
LING 530 Generative Syntax (3) Introduction to syntax; transformational-generative syntax.
LING 531ab Phonology (a: 3, Fa; b: 3, Sp) Traditional views of phonology; generative phonology; current developments in phonological research and theory.
LING 532 Current Issues in Syntactic Theory (3) Original literature, focusing whenever possible on issues in comparative syntax and their implications for universal grammar. Course complements LING 530.
LING 533 Language Universals and Typology (3) Introduction to language universals and typology.
LING 534 Logic and the Theory of Meaning (3) An introduction to logic in preparation for advanced work in semantics and linguistic theory.
LING 535 Syntax and Grammatical Theory (3, Sp) Principles and comparison of modern theories of grammar with special reference to syntax.
LING 536 Semantics (3, Sp) Current linguistic approaches to the semantics of natural language; analysis of concepts of meaning and reference.
LING 537 Advanced Syntax (3, max 9) Topics in advanced formal syntax; current literature leading to open questions in research; survey of important and controversial issues of current theoretical relevance.
LING 538 Selected Topics in Romance Syntax (3, max 9, Sp) Overview of selected topics in Romance Syntax within a comparative perspective and their contribution towards the understanding of a general theory of grammar.
LING 539 Japanese/Korean Syntax and Theoretical Implications (3, max 9) Critical discussion of selected papers and dissertations on Japanese/Korean syntax and consideration of their theoretical implications.
LING 540 Field Methods in Linguistics (3, max 6, Sp) Recording and analysis of a living language as employed by a native speaker of that language.
LING 541 Field Methods in Second Language Acquisition (3) Research design and methodology; data collection, coding, and analysis; ethical considerations.
LING 542 Historical Linguistics (3, 2 years, Sp) Principles of language change; the comparative method; structural and social factors in language change.
LING 546 Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (3) Analysis of the phonological, morphological, and syntactic structures of Proto-Indo-European, and its development in the various branches of Indo-European.
LING 547 Morphology (3, max 12, FaSpSm) Introduction to morphology: words versus sentences, the grammar of words, the various notions of “lexicon,” the architecture of the phonological component. This course is in preparation for advanced work in linguistic theory.
LING 548 Lexical Semantics (3, Sp) Languages group meaning elements together in different ways to form words. Consideration of how to identify these elements and how speakers map them into lexico-syntactic units.
LING 550 Advanced English Linguistics (3) The analysis of problems in the grammatical description and history of English.
LING 555 Comparative Germanic Linguistics (3) Nature and relationship of changes that led to the differentiation of the individual Germanic languages.
LING 557 Structure of the Chinese Language (4) (Enroll in EALC 557)
LING 561 Topics and Issues in East Asian Linguistics (4, max 12) (Enroll in EALC 561)
LING 573 Sociolinguistics (3) Theoretical approaches to language in social context; discourse analysis, ethnography of communication, variation theory.
LING 574 Advanced Sociolinguistics (3, max 9) Current issues in sociolinguistic theory.
LING 576 Psycholinguistics (3) Theories of acquisition; sentence and discourse processing; language and thought.
LING 579 Child Language Development (3, Sp) Acquisition of grammatical, discourse, and conversational competence; strategies and structures.
LING 580 General Phonetics (3, Sp) Familiarization with articulation, transcription, production, and acoustic analysis of the speech sounds found in the world’s languages. Also speech technology, perception, and disorders. Includes laboratory exercises.
LING 581 Topics in Advanced Phonology (3, max 9) Topics in advanced formal phonology; theoretical issues in the interface of phonology with other areas of linguistics; literature study on themes of current theoretical relevance. Recommended preparation: LING 531ab.
LING 582 Experimental Phonetics (3, FaSp) Source-filter theory, acoustic correlates of speech sounds, vocal tract and auditory physiology, coarticulation and motor coordination, speech technology including synthesis and recognition, experimental design and statistics, and speech perception. Prerequisite: LING 580.
LING 585 Computational Linguistics (3) Using hands-on and research techniques, study of the role of linguistic knowledge and the procedures that implement it in computational systems that process natural language.
LING 586 Advanced Psycholinguistics (3, max 9) Current issues in psycholinguistic theory.
LING 590 Directed Research (1–12, FaSpSm) Research leading to the master’s degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.
LING 593x Practicum in Teaching the Liberal Arts: Linguistics (2, FaSp) Practical principles for the long-term development of effective teaching within college disciplines. Graded CR/NC. Open only to doctoral students.
LING 595 Directed Readings (1–4, FaSpSm) Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department.
LING 599 Special Topics (2–4, max 8, FaSpSm) Research trends as reflected primarily in the current periodical literature.
LING 602 Seminar in Experimental Methods in Linguistics (3) Topics in quantitative methods in linguistics research, e.g., covariance structure analysis, multi-dimensional scaling, log linear model, meta-analysis.
LING 610 Seminar in Linguistic Theory (3, max 12, Sp)
LING 615 Seminar in Linguistics Structures (3, max 12, 2 years, Fa) Analysis of the synchronic or diachronic phonology, morphology, and syntax of individual languages.
LING 627 Seminar in Second Language Acquisition (3, max 12, FaSp) Readings in second language acquisition as the framework for a discussion and research-oriented seminar.
LING 631 Seminar in Phonological Theory (3, max 12, Fa)
LING 632 Seminar in Phonetics (3, max 12, FaSp) Readings in phonetic theory and current research as the framework for a discussion-oriented class. Prerequisite: LING 580.
LING 635 Seminar in Syntax (3, max 12, FaSp)
LING 636 Seminar in Semantics (3, max 12, Fa)
LING 645 Seminar in Language Change (3, max 12, Sp)
LING 675 Seminar in Sociolinguistics (3, max 12, Sp)
LING 676 Seminar in Psycholinguistics (3, max 12, Sp)
LING 790 Research (1–12, FaSpSm) Research leading to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.
LING 794abcdz Doctoral Dissertation (2-2-2-2-0, FaSpSm) Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.