Courses by semester
Courses for
Complete Cornell University course descriptions are in the Courses of Study .
Course ID | Title | Offered |
---|---|---|
ASL1101 |
American Sign Language I
Students with no previous background in American Sign Language (ASL) will be introduced to basic conversational techniques in ASL, including both expressive and receptive skills. Basic grammar and vocabulary will be covered, including explanations of the fundamental parts of a sign, proper use of fingerspelling, and the significance of non-manual features. Instruction will be supplemented with videos, allowing students to begin exploring the visual literature of the Deaf community in the United States. Readings and class discussions will acquaint students with American Deaf culture, history and education, and the historical development of ASL.
|
Fall, Spring, Summer. |
ASL2201 |
Intermediate American Sign Language I
This intermediate level course will focus on rigorous development and expansion of ASL vocabulary, non-manual signals, and grammar features through communicative activities. Students will develop ASL presentations to increase communicative fluency. The course provides continued development and discussion related to intercultural competence, ASL literature, ASL linguistics and American Deaf culture/community.
Full details for ASL 2201 - Intermediate American Sign Language I |
Fall. |
LING1100 |
FWS: Language, Thought, and Reality
In this course the students learn the skill of writing at the university level. Instructors offer themes for their courses within their own special areas of expertise.
Full details for LING 1100 - FWS: Language, Thought, and Reality |
Fall. |
LING1101 |
Introduction to Linguistics
Overview of the science of language, especially its theoretical underpinnings, methods, and major findings. Areas covered include: the relation between sound and meaning in human languages, social variation in language, language change over time, universals of language, and the mental representation of linguistic knowledge. Students are introduced to a wide variety of language phenomena, drawn not only from languages resembling English, but also from many that appear to be quite unlike English, such as those native to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the South Pacific.
|
Fall, Spring. |
LING1131 |
Elementary Sanskrit I
An introduction to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar. Designed to enable the student to read classical and epic Sanskrit as soon as possible.
|
Fall. |
LING2223 |
Language and the Law
This course addresses topics including origins of legal language, linguistics in the courtroom, plagiarism, and language rights. It introduces areas of linguistics such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics which explicate a wide range of legal matters where both spoken and written language come to fore.
|
Fall. |
LING2251 |
Intermediate Sanskrit I
Readings from simple Sanskrit poetry: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
|
Fall. |
LING2261 |
Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics
An introduction to the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Proto-Indo-European and the chief historical developments of the daughter languages.
Full details for LING 2261 - Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics |
Fall. |
LING3303 |
Introduction to Syntax and Semantics
This course explores both syntax (how words and phrases are combined into sentences) and semantics (how the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences are interpreted). The course aims to give students to the ability to address questions regarding syntactic and semantic properties of languages in a rigorous and informed fashion. Topics covered include phrase structure, grammatical relations, transformations, semantic composition, modification, quantification, and the syntax/semantics interface. Emphasis throughout the course is placed on forming and testing hypotheses.
Full details for LING 3303 - Introduction to Syntax and Semantics |
Fall. |
LING3315 |
Old Norse I
Old Norse is a collective term for the earliest North Germanic literary languages: Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian, Old Danish, and Old Swedish. The richly documented Old Icelandic is the center of attention, and the purpose is twofold: the students gain knowledge of an ancient North Germanic language, important from a linguistic point of view, and gain access to the medieval Icelandic (and Scandinavian) literature. The structure of Old Norse (Old Icelandic), phonology, and morphology, with reading of selections from the Prose-Edda, a 13th-century narrative based on the Eddaic poetry.
|
Fall. |
LING3321 |
History of Romance Languages I
The Romance languages are the lasting imprint of all that happened to the Latin language as it moved through time, territories, and people of many ethnicities. While the Latin of antiquity retained its prestige in high culture, the natural untutored usage of ordinary people was always free to go its own way. This course covers the following topics, selected to create a panoramic view: Formation of the general Romance seven-vowel system from Latin. Early and widespread sound changes in popular Latin. Finding and interpreting evidence for trends in popular Latin pronunciation. The comparative method and its limitations. Essential later sound changes, some of which ceate a whole new order of consonants unknown to Latin but conspicuous in Romance. Nouns and adjectives from Latin to Romance. Formation of the present indicative: the competing forces of sound change and analogical adjustment. A brief overview of Portuguese. Variants of the seven-vowel system. Salient features of Romanian. Factors that helped shape the vocabulary of Romance. Medieval diglossia. Emergence of Romance vernaculars newly recognized by their speakers as languages distinct from Latin and from each other. Close analysis of the oldest surviving document written unmistakably in Romance (842 C. E.).
|
Fall. |
LING3324 |
Cayuga Language and Culture
An introduction to the language and culture of the Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ) people. Basic language instruction provided in an immersive learning environment, focusing on the relationship of language and culture to plants and growing.
|
Fall. |
LING3390 |
Independent Study in Linguistics
Independent study of linguistics topics not covered in regular curriculum for undergrads.
Full details for LING 3390 - Independent Study in Linguistics |
Fall, Spring. |
LING4401 |
Phonology I
Provides an introduction to phonological theory. The empirical basis, theoretical approaches, and relevant literature are explored through extensive data analysis and critical reading.
|
Fall. |
LING4403 |
Syntax I
An advanced introduction to syntactic theory within the principles and parameters/minimalist frameworks. Topics include phrase structure, argument structure (unaccusative verbs, unergative verbs, double object constructions), principles of word order, and the binding theory.
|
Fall. |
LING4419 |
Phonetics I
This course provides advanced instruction in phonetic analysis and experimental methodology. Students learn about various theories of speech perception, production, and cognitive representation. This provides a background in which students develop an original research project. The goals of this course are for students to gain a conceptual understanding of phonetic analyses and to acquire practical experience in using phonetic analyses to explore cognitive dimensions of speech.
|
Fall. |
LING4421 |
Semantics I
Introduces methods for theorizing about meaning within generative grammar. These techniques allow the creation of grammars that pair syntactic structures with meanings. Students look at several empirical areas in detail, among them complementation (combining heads with their arguments), modification, conjunction, definite descriptions, relative clauses, traces, bound pronouns, and quantification. An introduction to logical and mathematical concepts used in linguistic semantics (e.g., set theory, functions and their types, and the lambda notation for naming linguistic meanings) is included in the course.
|
Fall. |
LING4423 |
Morphology
Addresses the basic issues in the study of words and their structures. Provides an introduction to different types of morphological structures with examples from a wide range of languages.
|
Fall. |
LING4430 |
Korean Linguistics
Intensive examination of the syntax and phonology of a non-Indo-European language with the objective of testing principles of current linguistic theory.
|
Fall. |
LING4434 |
Computational Linguistics II
An in-depth exploration of modern computational linguistic techniques. A continuation of LING 4424 - Computational Linguistics. Whereas LING 4424 covers foundational techniques in symbolic computational modeling, this course will cover a wider range of applications as well as coverage of neural network methods. We will survey a range of neural network techniques that are widely used in computational linguistics and natural language processing as well as a number of techniques that can be used to probe the linguistic information and language processing strategies encoded in computational models. We will examine ways of mapping this linguistic information both to linguistic theory as well as to measures of human processing (e.g., neuroimaging data and human behavioral responses).
|
Fall. |
LING4455 |
Greek Dialects
The features and genetic relationships of the major dialects of ancient Greek, supplemented by the reading and analysis of representative epigraphical and literary texts.
|
Fall. |
LING4474 |
Natural Language Processing
This course constitutes an introduction to natural language processing (NLP), the goal of which is to enable computers to use human languages as input, output, or both. NLP is at the heart of many of today's most exciting technological achievements, including machine translation, automatic conversational assistants and Internet search. Possible topics include methods for handling underlying linguistic phenomena (e.g., syntactic analysis, word sense disambiguation and discourse analysis) and vital emerging applications (e.g., machine translation, sentiment analysis, summarization and information extraction).
|
Fall. |
LING4491 |
Honors Research Workshop I
This course provides structure and guidance to students doing an honors thesis in linguistics. The course consists of biweekly meeting of all honors thesis writers with the course instructor. Students will prepare presentations and written materials including topic, background, outline, methodology for honors project for class presentation and discussion. The course also covers aspects of linguistics research methodology.
|
Fall. |
LING4493 |
Honors Thesis Research
Directed honors thesis research for students working on an honors thesis, taken with the student's honors thesis chair or other committee member.
|
Fall. |
LING4712 |
Topics in the Philosophy of Language
An investigation of varying topics in the philosophy of language including reference, meaning, the relationship between language and thought, communication, modality, logic and pragmatics.
Full details for LING 4712 - Topics in the Philosophy of Language |
Fall. |
LING6261 |
Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics
An introduction to the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Proto-Indo-European and the chief historical developments of the daughter languages.
Full details for LING 6261 - Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics |
Fall. |
LING6401 |
Phonology I
Provides an introduction to phonological theory. The empirical basis, theoretical approaches, and relevant literature are explored through extensive data analysis and critical reading.
|
Fall. |
LING6403 |
Syntax I
An advanced introduction to syntactic theory within the principles and parameters/minimalist frameworks. Topics include phrase structure, argument structure (unaccusative verbs, unergative verbs, double object constructions), principles of word order, and the binding theory.
|
Fall. |
LING6419 |
Phonetics I
This course provides advanced instruction in phonetic analysis and experimental methodology. Students learn about various theories of speech perception, production, and cognitive representation. This provides a background in which students develop an original research project. The goals of this course are for students to gain a conceptual understanding of phonetic analyses and to acquire practical experience in using phonetic analyses to explore cognitive dimensions of speech.
|
Fall. |
LING6421 |
Semantics I
Introduces methods for theorizing about meaning within generative grammar. These techniques allow the creation of grammars that pair syntactic structures with meanings. Students look at several empirical areas in detail, among them complementation (combining heads with their arguments), modification, conjunction, definite descriptions, relative clauses, traces, bound pronouns, and quantification. An introduction to logical and mathematical concepts used in linguistic semantics (e.g., set theory, functions and their types, and the lambda notation for naming linguistic meanings) is included in the course.
|
Fall. |
LING6423 |
Morphology
Addresses the basic issues in the study of words and their structures. Provides an introduction to different types of morphological structures with examples from a wide range of languages.
|
Fall. |
LING6455 |
Greek Dialects
The features and genetic relationships of the major dialects of ancient Greek, supplemented by the reading and analysis of representative epigraphical and literary texts.
|
Fall. |
LING6601 |
Topics in Phonetics/Phonological Theory
Examination of recent developments in the core areas of phonetics and phonology as well as its interfaces with other components of the grammar (e.g., morphosyntax, semantics or pragmatics). Topics covered include current approaches and relevant theoretical and historical perspectives.
Full details for LING 6601 - Topics in Phonetics/Phonological Theory |
Fall, Spring. |
LING6634 |
Topics in the Philosophy of Language
An investigation of varying topics in the philosophy of language including reference, meaning, the relationship between language and thought, communication, modality, logic and pragmatics.
Full details for LING 6634 - Topics in the Philosophy of Language |
Fall. |
LING6635 |
Indo-European Workshop
An assortment of subjects intended for students with previous training in Indo-European linguistics: problems in the reconstruction of Proto Indo-European, topics in the historical grammars of the various IE languages, reading and historical linguistic analysis of texts, and grammatical sketches of "minor" IE languages.
|
Fall, Spring. |
LING6692 |
Phonetic Data Analysis Workshop
The phonetics data analysis workshop provides students with practice in analysis and visualization of phonetic data, using Matlab, R, and Praat. Experiment design and statistical methods are emphasized.
Full details for LING 6692 - Phonetic Data Analysis Workshop |
Fall, Spring. |
LING7701 |
Directed Research
An independent study for graduate students.
|
Fall. |
LING7711 |
Semantics Seminar
Addresses current theoretical and empirical issues in semantics.
|
Fall, Spring. |
LING7712 |
Syntax Seminar
Addresses current theoretical and empirical issues in syntax.
|
Fall. |