English Grammar/Linguistics

Catalog description

Description and analysis of English grammar, its smallest parts up through how those parts are expressed as meaningful discourse. Instruction in how to understand and discuss the English language effectively. Studies the dynamics (formal, historical, social) of language as a particularly human form of communication. Investigates what language is and how it works, how language changes and varies over time and place, and how language is used in social contexts. Students will learn major linguistic categories of phonology (sounds), morphology (words), syntax (sentences), and semantics (meaning), and ask questions about rules and standards of usage, as well as issues of style and politics as they pertain to English language use. Graduate students must write a substantial paper developing in greater detail one of the topics covered in the course. Prerequisite for EN 610 : admission to MLS program or consent.