The Science of Language: An Introduction

Human language in all its natural complexity is an enduringly rich object of scientific study. Understanding the structural depth of language and the range of possible variation across languages is key to understanding the human mind and is increasingly relevant to cross-disciplinary discoveries in academia and innovations in technology. This course is an introduction to linguistics as a scientific discipline and it offers a comprehensive overview of the core components of language that make it an intelligent tool for human communication. By laying out the fascinating inner workings of sound, structure, and meaning, this course explores how these components interact with each other and the general cognitive sciences to make communication effortless, rational, and versatile. Students who are interested in natural language processing and/or language and the brain can expect to learn the basics of language that form the foundation for language-related fields.