Sounds of Language & Meaning

Catalog description

Sounds of Language and Their Meaning (3) This course introduces the study of sound and its meaning in human language. It examines phonetics and phonology, the areas of linguistics that address how speech sounds are made, used, heard, and mentally organized, and their connections to language in social identity and society more broadly. The course covers essential aspects of how people speak, both in terms of the physical production of the sounds of speech, and in terms of different languages and dialects. Students explore what the sounds of language mean: how sounds convey both communicative meaning (such as the difference between pen and pin in English, or caro and carro in Spanish) and social meaning related to identity and stereotypes. Students learn the basic properties and classification of speech sounds and gain an introduction to sociolinguistic diversity, with extensions into related areas such as language learning and how languages change over time. Crosslist: LING-401.