Understanding Human Language

Catalog description

The course explores the multifaceted nature of human language and seeks to answer fundamental and intriguing questions of modern linguistics: How does language separate us from the animal world? Where does language live in the brain? How did language begin and what role did genes play in the origin of language? How did language contribute to the arrival of culture and society? Why do all languages contain swear words? What happens when a language dies? How are natural languages different from artificial languages? What role does language play in the design of human-machine interaction? Why does human language continue to withstand the challenge of artificial intelligence (AI)? The course also traces the journey of English from its meager beginnings to the status of the first global language. The course assumes no prior knowledge of linguistics and would be interesting to any student who is curious about how language works and how it makes us human.