American Sign Language is the language of the deaf in the United States and much of Canada. It is a full-fledged autonomous language, unrelated to English or other spoken languages. This introductory course teaches the student basic vocabulary and grammatical structure, as well as aspects of deaf culture.
MWF 9:30 – 10:20 am, 10:30 – 11:20 am
ASLG 10100
This course is an independent study under the guidance of a faculty advisor, indicated by the section number. Please consult with the faculty member in question before enrolling.
Departmental approval.
This course deals with a variety of topics specific to Linguistic Pedagogy.
TH 3:30 – 4:50 pm
The course aims to guide students on their research in a structured way and to present professionalization information crucial to success in the field. The course is organized largely around working on the research paper, with the goal of making it a conference-presentable and journal-publishable work. Topics covered include abstracts, publishing, handouts, presentation skills, course design, creating and maintaining a CV, cover letters, webpages, and in general everything that is required for you to successfully compete for jobs in linguistics.
W 12:00 – 1:50 pm
The Iberian Peninsula is host to a number of languages. These include not only Spanish and European Portuguese, the dominant languages in Spain and Portugal, respectively, but also minoritized languages such as Galician, Basque, Catalan, and others. This class will investigate the morphosyntax of minoritized Iberian languages, drawing comparisons with the dominant languages in the area (Spanish, Portuguese, and French), which have exerted enormous influence on the minoritized languages due to centuries of contact. The focus will be the morphosyntax of these languages, but we also aim to better understand the complex social, historical, and political forces that have shaped them, as well as the way they continue to be affected by these forces and their long and sometimes fraught relationship with the dominant languages.
This course introduces cross-linguistic phonological phenomena and methods of analysis through an indepth examination of fundamental notions that transcend differences between theoretical approaches: contrast, neutralization, natural classes, distinctive features, and basic non-linear phonological processes (e.g., assimilation, harmony, dissimilation).
TTH 2:00 – 3:20 pm
Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.
Consent of instructor and linguistics undergraduate adviser.
TTH 3:30 – 4:50 pm
This introductory course aims to foster an appreciation for the Potawatomi
(Bodw ́ewadmimwen) language, history, and culture as understood through a
linguistic and culturally relevant mode. We will become familiar with the rich
structures of the language through exposure to traditional stories (yadsokanen)
and personal narratives (yathmownen). This will be achieved through an engag-
ing mix of readings, linguistic analyses, classroom discussion, and instruction.
In particular, course texts focus on the histories of displacement, sovereignty,
and governmental relations as well as the use of humor to cope with tragedy
and a shifting cultural identity.
Potawatomi, or Bodw ́ewadmik, are one of the original inhabitants of the land
on which the University of Chicago occupies, and we (the exclusive we, unless
students in the class are also Potawatomi) now have tribal governmental centers
and reservations in Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan as a
result of Indian removal. As an Algonquian language, Potawatomi is under-
studied and endangered, but this course offers students the ability to familiarize
themselves with the language of this land. Students will not be fluent following
this course, but will possess a newfound appreciation for the diversity of lin-
guistic expression and this community of the Great Lakes region. By the end of
this course, students will understand the foundations of Potawatomi phonology,
morphosyntax, pragmatics, and discourse and will be prepared to develop new
analyses of Potawatomi. This course fulfills the non-Indo-European language re-
quirement for linguistics majors. No previous courses in linguistics are required
though the introductory course is recommended
This course is a graduate-level introduction to topics at the intersection of computation and language. We will study computational linguistics from both scientific and engineering angles: the use of computational modeling to address scientific questions in linguistics and cognitive science, as well as the design of computational systems to solve engineering problems in natural language processing (NLP). The course will combine analysis and discussion of these approaches with training in the programming and mathematical foundations necessary to put these methods into practice. The course is designed to accommodate students both with and without prior programming experience. Our goal is for all students to leave the course able to engage with and critically evaluate research in cognitive/linguistic modeling and NLP, and to be able to implement intermediate-level computational models for novel computational linguistics research.
TTH 11:00 am – 12:20 pm
Computational Linguistics I or permission of instructor.
Spoken in ten countries of Eastern and Central Africa, Swahili has more speakers than any other language in the Bantu family, a group of more than 400 languages most prevalent in sub-equatorial Africa. Based on Swahili Grammar and Workbook, this course helps the students master key areas of the Swahili language in a fast yet enjoyable pace. Topics include sound and intonation patterns, noun class agreements, verb moods, and sentence structures. Additionally, this course provides important listening and expressive reading skills. For advanced students, historical interpretations are offered for exceptional patterns observed in Swahili, in relation with other Bantu languages. This is a general introduction course with no specific prerequisites.
