ATS1339 - Linguistic structure and language diversity

Overview

There are 7,000+ living languages in the world, each of which have their own structures, communities of users and cultures. In this unit we explore this diversity. Drawing on data from English and a range of other languages, we investigate the grammatical life of words — how they are built (morphology), how they are used to form larger units (syntax), and how this knowledge can be applied to experiences both inside and outside the education setting. As part of this, we explore issues around intercultural communication, multilingualism and multilingual societies, as well as areas such as language and globalisation and language endangerment. We also consider the role of cognitive and cultural constraints in shaping language forms and the processes by which languages develop and change.

Offerings

S2-01-CLAYTON-ON-CAMPUS

Contacts

Chief Examiner(s)

Associate Professor Alice Gaby

Unit Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Alice Gaby

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you should be able to:

identify the structural building blocks of human language;

apply the analytical tools acquired in the unit to examine the structure of sentences in a range of languages;

describe how cognitive and cultural factors affect language structures and their interpretation;

discuss the major linguistic, ideological, sociocultural and pedagogical implications of the global spread of English;

discuss the applications for knowledge gained in the unit in applied fields, such as language acquisition and forensic linguistics.

Teaching approach

Active learning

Assessment summary

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment

1 - Quiz/Quizzes

2 - Analytical exercise

3 - Essay

4 - Exercise/s

Scheduled and non-scheduled teaching activities

Lectures

Tutorials

Workload requirements

Workload

Learning resources

Required resources

Availability in areas of study

Linguistics and English language