Explore human languages, piece apart their puzzles, and participate in experiments! This class will be an in-depth hands-on introduction to Linguistics, the scientific study of human languages. Each week we will solve language-related puzzles and create in-class experiments. The discoveries we will make will lead to insights about what sounds languages can be made of, how sounds are put together to form meaning, how languages are structured, and how they are acquired. The main goal is for you, the students, to discover through hands-on experience the many aspects of the scientific study of language. We will discuss several sub-fields of linguistics, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, using not only English but a variety of other languages to spark our debates. Come expecting to learn, to decipher, and to question what you already know about language.

This is an introductory course into the science of linguistics, the study of the rules of language. We will talk about how we create speech sounds and how words and sentences are put together. You will also learn about the differences between languages and some of the social consequences these differences can have.