Mar 29, 2024  
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2020-21 
    
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2020-21 [Archived Catalog]

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LING 2700 - The Nature of Language


A broad look at the nature of language. The focus is on human language in general: characteristics, acquisition, meaning, social use, and tendencies for change in language. Language is an everyday experience for all of us. We use language to convey our most basic needs and to express our most profound hopes. We rarely give a second thought to this tool whose use generally comes to us so effortlessly. This course will help you understand and appreciate the complexity and sophistication that underlies this system we depend on so much.

Credit Hours: 3
General Education Code: 2SS
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Grades: Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
Learning Outcomes:
  • Students will appreciate how meaning is expressed and changes due to social, regional, and historical factors.
  • Students will be able to understand and explain the systematic, creative, yet rule-governed nature of human language.
  • Students will be able to understand and explain the tendency of all languages to change or die out.
  • Students will understand the difference between a scientific understanding of linguistic data and societies’ values and judgments regarding languages/dialects.
  • Students will understand the difference between acquisition and learning and how this applies to language and other human knowledge bases.



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