Take on the World: An Introduction to Linguistics

Catalog description

The only constant in a person’s life, whether awake or in a dream state, is language; in fact, it is everything, everywhere, all at once. The process of acquiring language begins even before birth, and by mid-childhood, most have developed a first language without having to work at it. It is natural; humans are hard-wired to acquire language. Throughout life, language influences thought, impacts identity development, and affects people’s behaviors, and learning a second or later language can fundamentally change those thoughts and behaviors. Linguistics, the scientific study of language, focuses on the rules that explain the discrete sounds of language, the combination of those sounds into words, the arrangement of words into sentences, and the meaning derived from those sentences in use. This introduction to Linguistics course is a fascinating first foray into building an understanding of language.