Interdisciplinary Applications of Linguistic Concepts

Goals

The main objective of the class is to foster students’ interest in language and cognition by emphasizing the intellectual richness and opportunities that arise from interdisciplinary approaches. Many people across fields have a keen interest in language and its impact on cognition. Many of the approaches developed in adjacent disciplines are directly relevant to questions traditionally asked in linguistics classes. Likewise, some of the results from within linguistics bear on questions asked outside of linguistics. “Linguistics” doesn’t belong just to “linguists”, and I want the class to serve as an illustration of the benefits of establishing dialog across fields. Many of the examples I will use in class revolves around the topic of language evolution, because it provides a question that captures many people’s imagination, and the data points available to approach this topic empirically are, by necessity, quite different from “languages”, since languages don’t fossilize. This is perfect opportunity to build bridges across fields.

The class will be highly interactive, and the depth in which the topics will be  will in part by determined by students’ participation, interests and responses.

 

Teaching blocks

1. The place of human language in human cognition: What can language tell us about what makes us human?

2. Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution: in the absence of "linguistic fossils", how can we formulate testable hypotheses, and go about testing them?

3. Examination of a couple of relevant studies in detail, serving as concrete examples of progress that can be made across disciplines.

 

Assessment

As the course develops, specific readings based on students’ interests will be mentioned. Students will be asked to give 3 short summary presentations of selected readings (10% of grade). Overall class participation will also be rewarded (10% of grade).

Students will be asked to present 2 written assignments (due January 31, 2025): a 5-page reflection of some of the core lessons derived from the class (20% of grade), and a 10-page outline of an experiment proposal, providing a clear research question, the methodology to be adopted to address it, the advantages and limitations of the approach, and a selected bibliography listing relevant works (60% of grade).

Re-evaluation: Students having obtained a final grade between 3 and 4.9 can be re-evaluated on their written assignment. The maximum grade that can be obtained is 5.

 

Examination-based assessment

Under exceptional and justified circumstances, a single examination (100% of the grade) can be offered. Requirement: 15-page essay based on an empirical work on a topic to be agreed with the instructor.

Re-evaluation of this assessment can only be considered for students having failed with grades ranging from 3 to 4.9. The maximum final grade could only be 5.

 

Bibliography

BOECKX, C., 2009. Language in cognition : uncovering mental structures and the rules behind them. Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405158824. 

BOECKX, C., 2021. Reflections on language evolution : From minimalism to pluralism. s.l : Language Science Press. ISBN 3-96110-328-3.  

FITCH, W.T., 2010. The Evolution of language. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521859936. 

HURFORD, J.R., 2014. The Origins of language : a slim guide. New York, NY : Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198701668. 

MITCHELL, K.J., 2018. Innate : How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-18499-2. DOI 10.1515/9780691184999.