LING 303. Human Language: Defining Our Biological Identity (3)

Prerequisite: Completion of the lower division writing requirement. This course addresses two areas at once: the nature of human language and how linguistics and its practitioners study it. It provides students with opportunities to systematically examine and analyze aspects of human language, of which–as we all are–they have been largely unaware. From learning, applying, and questioning the methodologies underlying these analyses, students develop critical insight regarding the framework and mechanisms of scientific study, as they look at the subfields of linguistic inquiry that crucially engage with these. Importantly, students will come away not only with knowledge from the science of language but also with an appreciation of the central role of scientific inquiry, and developing skills for recognizing and formulating fruitful questions. (Available for General Education, B5 Scientific Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning.) (WI)