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LING B101 Introduction to Linguistics

Fall 2025

An introductory survey of linguistics as a field. This course examines the core areas of linguistic structure (morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics), pragmatics, and language variation in relation to language change. The course provides rudimentary training in the analysis of language data, and focuses on the variety of human language structures and on the question of universal properties of language.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

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LING B105 Language and Place

Not offered 2025-26

This project-based course focuses on hands-on research in a small group setting in order to collaboratively come to understand the relationship between a place and the languages of that place. In Spring 2022 the course will be part of a 360 and will focus on Nicaragua. Through seeking to understand the languages of Nicaragua, their histories and social dynamics, students will also learn basics of linguistics, especially historical linguistics and sociolinguistics. Spanish language a plus, though not required.

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LING B113 Introduction to Syntax

Fall 2025

Introduces the investigation of sentence structures in human language, emphasizing insights from linguists over the past 40 years. The class will develop increasingly complex theory starting with basic assumptions and seeing where they lead. Students will gain a clearer understanding of grammar, develop and refine skills of analysis, writing, and argumentation. We will focus on English, occasionally using other languages to look at ways human languages are similar and how they differ.

Course does not meet an Approach

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

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LING B114 Introduction to Semantics

Not offered 2025-26

This course is designed to introduce you to the formal study of meaning in language: semantics. We will discuss elements of word meaning, formal logic, generative semantics, and pragmatics, slowly building our theory as we incorporate new linguistic phenomena from multiple human languages. No linguistic or logic background is assumed, but we will be using tools from set theory, model theory, and syntax in order to construct semantic analyses.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Scientific Investigation (SI)

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LING B125 Sociolinguistics: Language, Culture, and Society

Fall 2025

This is an introductory survey course focusing on the interaction between language, culture and society. We will explore how these three aspects fit together so we can begin to understand how language shapes and is shaped by the world we live in. Students will be introduced to quantitative and qualitative approaches to linguistic analysis through a focus on spoken languages as they are used in the real world. Some topics we will cover: multilingual speech, language and power, raciolinguistics, linguistic ideologies, research ethics, and the interaction of language and social systems such as race, gender and class.

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

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LING B399 Senior Thesis Seminar

This seminar exposes students to linguistic research methods and guides them through the conceptualization of a topic, the research, and the writing of a senior thesis. All linguistics majors must write their senior thesis in this seminar or Ling S100 or S195.

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ANTH B246 The Everyday Life of Language: Field Research in Linguistic Anthropology

Not offered 2025-26

This course provides hands-on experience in linguistic anthropological methods of data collection and analysis. We will explore various methods employed by linguistic anthropologists, including: ethnographic observation of language use in context; audio-recording of spoken discourse; working with a linguistic corpus; online research methods; conducting linguistic and ethnographic interviews; and learning how to create a transcript to use as the basis for ethnographic analysis. This is a Praxis 1 course. For the praxis component of the course, in the first half of the semester, the class will work with a high school language arts teacher to design a lesson and project for a high school language arts class that incorporates linguistic-anthropological concepts and student-driven research on language. The purpose of this is to move beyond the prescriptivist approach to language commonly taken at the high school level, toward a more descriptive, ethnographic approach that learns from young people's creativity and agency as speakers of language. In the second half of the semester, the class will work collaboratively on a research project that we develop as a class. Class time will be used to discuss the results of student work, read and discuss relevant literature in linguistic anthropology, synthesize insights that develop from bringing different ethnographic contexts together; and work collaboratively on a way of presenting the findings.

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ANTH B281 The Power in Language: Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

Spring 2026

Ongoing debates over free expression, hate speech, and changing norms of public and political discourse have heightened our awareness of language and its power. This course provides an introduction to the conceptual tools of linguistic anthropology, which can help us understand the role language plays in constructing identities, creating social and political hierarchies, and shaping understandings and experiences of the world. The course begins by considering the relationship between language and race, gender, and socioeconomic inequality in the US context. Then, using ethnographic materials from a variety of cultural contexts, it explores three theoretical perspectives that are central to linguistic anthropology: -Language, power, and the linguistic market: how different languages and ways of speaking get associated with particular social groups and become valued or devalued; -linguistic ideologies and semiotic processes: how language as a system of signs becomes meaningful, to whom, and in what ways; -performance and poetics: what kinds of acts are possible in and through linguistic expression; and how the non-referential (sonic, poetic) aspects of language matter in constructing meaning.

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC)

Counts Toward: Linguistics.

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CMSC B325 Computational Linguistics

Not offered 2025-26

Introduction to computational models of understanding and processing human languages. How elements of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence can be combined to help computers process human language and to help linguists understand language through computer models. Topics covered: syntax, semantics, pragmatics, generation and knowledge representation techniques. Prerequisite: CMSC B151 , or CMSC H106 or CMSC H107, and CMSC B231 or CMSC H231 or MATH B231 or MATH H231, or permission of instructor.

Counts Toward: Computational Methods; Linguistics; Neuroscience; Philosophy.

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SPAN B216 Introducción a la lingüística hispánica

Not offered 2025-26

A survey of the field of Hispanic linguistics. We will explore the sounds and sound patterns of Spanish (phonetics and phonology), how words are formed (morphology), the structure and interpretation of sentences (syntax and semantics), language use (pragmatics), the history and dialects of the Spanish language, and second language acquisition. Prerequisite: SPAN B120 or permission of the instructor. Critical Interpretation (CI)

Critical Interpretation (CI)

Counts Toward: Linguistics.

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