Introduction to Linguistics

Linguistics Summer Work 2024

Could "goodbye" just as easily have been a greeting, given its original meaning? Why or why not?

Now, for your first assignment: To get you thinking like a "language scientist", doing one of the activities below would benefit you to get perspective as we begin in August.

Choose one of the seven options (or do all of them!), take notes on the more important or interesting points of the video or article, and be prepared to share your perspectives during the first class.

Your perspective should attempt to explain “how” or “why”.

Summer Work Options (Choose at least one):

• Watch The birth of a word, a TED Talk documenting a baby's production of a word throughout one year.
• Read an overview of the many dialects of English across the United States.
• Read Mother Tongue, an essay about growing up bilingual in a monolingual society.
• Read about a hyperglot, an article about a carpenter who has always been fascinated by languages.
• Watch How AI is learning what it means to be human, a TED Talk connecting the philosophy of language with the practice of learning human language and civilization.
• Watch Examining the Glaswegian Accent, a short video from the BBC series "Class Wars".
• Listen to this podcast of Curious Nashville about Tennessee pronunciations of place names! Consider-- How does borrowing a word or name from another language affect a language? How does accent/dialect create social dynamics? What is the importance of saying a name with accurate pronunciation?

If you have questions, just come see me!