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. |
ASL1102 |
American Sign Language II
This course focuses on continued development of conversational fluency in ASL, for both expressive and receptive skills. Through communicative activities and feedback, students will acquire a deeper understanding of grammatical features including use of non-manuals. Readings and class discussions will acquaint students to topics relevant to the Deaf community, American Deaf culture, ASL linguistics and history. The course will provide further development in ASL literature by analyzing storytelling features and re-telling them.
|
Spring, Summer. |
ASL2302 |
ASL Literature
This course provides an overview of various genres in American Sign Language literature including narratives, folklore, ABC stories, poetry, translated works and visual vernacular. Students will analyze contents, themes and stylistic techniques of works done by various ASL literary artists. This course emphasizes critiquing various narrative and poetic genres with planning and development of new literary works.
|
Spring. |
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. |
LING1104 |
WIM: Introduction to Cognitive Science
This section is highly recommended for students who are interested in learning about the topics covered in the main course through writing and discussion.
Full details for LING 1104 - WIM: Introduction to Cognitive Science |
Spring. |
LING1109 |
English Words: Histories and Mysteries
Where do the words we use come from? This course examines the history and structure of the English vocabulary from its distant Indo-European roots to the latest in technical jargon and slang. Topics include formal and semantic change, taboo and euphemism, borrowing, new words from old, "learned" English loans from Greek and Latin, slang, and society.
Full details for LING 1109 - English Words: Histories and Mysteries |
Spring. |
LING1132 |
Elementary Sanskrit II
An introduction to the essentials of Sanskrit grammar. Designed to enable the student to read classical and epic Sanskrit as soon as possible.
|
Spring. |
LING1170 |
Introduction to Cognitive Science
This course provides an introduction to the science of the mind. Everyone knows what it's like to think and perceive, but this subjective experience provides little insight into how minds emerge from physical intities like brains. To address this issue, cognitive science integrates work from at least five disciplines: Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy. This course introduces students to the insights these disciplines offer into the workings of the mind by exploring visual perception, attention, memory, learning, problem solving, language, and consciousness.
Full details for LING 1170 - Introduction to Cognitive Science |
Spring, Summer (six-week session). |
LING2212 |
Hieroglyphs to HTML: History of Writing
An introduction to the history and theory of writing systems from cuneiform to the alphabet, historical and new writing media, and the complex relationship of writing technologies to human language and culture. Through hands-on activities and collaborative work, students will explore the shifting definitions of "writing" and the diverse ways in which cultures through time have developed and used writing systems. We will also investigate the traditional divisions of "oral" vs. "written" and consider how digital technologies have affected how we use and think about writing in encoding systems from Morse code to emoji.
Full details for LING 2212 - Hieroglyphs to HTML: History of Writing |
|
LING2215 |
Psychology of Language
Provides an introduction to the psychology of language. The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the scientific study of psycholinguistic phenomena. Covers a broad range of topics from psycholinguistics, including the origin of language, the different components of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), processes involved in reading, computational modeling of language processes, the acquisition of language (both under normal and special circumstances), and the brain bases of language.
|
Spring. |
LING2248 |
Native American Languages
This course explores the wide variety of languages indigenous to the Americas. There were thousands of languages spoken in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans and hundreds of these languages are still spoken today. We will look at several of these languages in terms of their linguistic structure as well as from social, historical, and political perspectives. No prior linguistic background is required and no previous knowledge of any Native American languages is presumed.
|
Spring. |
LING2252 |
Intermediate Sanskrit II
Readings from Sanskrit dramas and literary commentary.
|
Spring. |
LING3302 |
Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
This course is an introduction to both phonetics (the study of the physical properties of the sounds of human language) and phonology (the organization and patterning of those sounds). The first part of the course focuses on the main areas of phonetics: articulation, acoustics, and perception. Students acquire basic skills, such as production and perception of speech sounds, transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet, and instrumental analysis of speech. In the second part of the course students are introduced to key concepts in phonology, including rules, representations, and analysis of sound patterns. Throughout the course aspects of the sound systems of a wide range of world languages are studied.
Full details for LING 3302 - Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology |
Spring. |
LING3314 |
Introduction to Historical Linguistics
Survey of the basic mechanisms of linguistic change, with examples from a variety of languages.
Full details for LING 3314 - Introduction to Historical Linguistics |
Spring. |
LING3316 |
Old Norse II
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. Extensive reading of Old Norse texts, among them selections from some of the major Icelandic family sagas: Njals saga, Grettis saga, and Egils saga, as well as the whole Hrafnkels saga.
|
Spring. |
LING3325 |
Cayuga Language and Culture II
A continuation of LING 3324, with further exploration of Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ) language and culture. Language instruction continues in an immersive learning environment with a focus on plants and growing in the spring.
|
Spring. |
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. |
LING4424 |
Computational Linguistics
Computational models of natural languages. Topics include tree syntax and treebank databases; broad-coverage probabilistic grammars; finite state generative phonology; computational semantics; computational minimalist grammar; finite state optimality-theoretic phonology; Hidden Markov models of acoustic realization; text and speech corpora; lab methods in Unix/Linux environment.
|
Spring. |
LING4425 |
Pragmatics
What is the relationship between what words mean and how they are used? What is part of the grammar and what is a result of general reasoning? Pragmatics is often thought of as the study of how meaning depends on the context of utterance. However, it can be difficult to draw a line between pragmatics and semantics. In this course, we will investigate various topics that walk this line, including varieties of linguistic inference (including entailment, presupposition, and implicature), anaphora, indexicals, and speech acts.
|
Spring. |
LING4477 | Experimental Methods in Language Sciences | |
LING4492 |
Honors Research Workshop II
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 submit drafts of the introduction, methodology, results, and conclusions. Students will comment on each others drafts. Students will also work on presentation skills.
|
Spring. |
LING4494 |
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.
|
Spring. |
LING6248 |
Native American Languages
This course explores the wide variety of languages indigenous to the Americas. There were thousands of languages spoken in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans and hundreds of these languages are still spoken today. We will look at several of these languages in terms of their linguistic structure as well as from social, historical, and political perspectives. No prior linguistic background is required and no previous knowledge of any Native American languages is presumed.
|
Spring. |
LING6314 |
Introduction to Historical Linguistics
Survey of the basic mechanisms of linguistic change, with examples from a variety of languages.
Full details for LING 6314 - Introduction to Historical Linguistics |
Spring. |
LING6402 |
Phonology II
A continuation of LING 6401 with a focus on developing research skills.
|
Spring. |
LING6404 |
Syntax II
A continuation of LING 6403, focusing on syntactic dependencies, including the theory of control, an examination of locality constraints on movement, covert versus overt movement, and the syntax of quantification. The purpose of the course is to develop the background needed for independent syntactic research.
|
Spring. |
LING6422 |
Semantics II
Uses the techniques introduced in Semantics I to analyze linguistic phenomena, including quantifier scope, ellipsis, and referential pronouns. Temporal and possible worlds semantics are introduced and used in the analysis of modality, tense, and belief sentences. The phenomena of presupposition, indefinite descriptions, and anaphora are analyzed in a dynamic compositional framework that formalizes the idea that sentence meaning effects a change in an information state.
|
Spring. |
LING6425 |
Pragmatics
What is the relationship between what words mean and how they are used? What is part of the grammar and what is a result of general reasoning? Pragmatics is often thought of as the study of how meaning depends on the context of utterance. However, it can be difficult to draw a line between pragmatics and semantics. In this course, we will investigate various topics that walk this line, including varieties of linguistic inference including entailment, presupposition, and implicature), anaphora, indexicals, and speech acts.
|
Spring. |
LING6477 | Experimental Methods in Language Sciences | |
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. |
LING6603 |
Research Workshop
Provides a forum for presentation and discussion of ongoing research, and development of professional skills. Participants must enroll in a concurrent independent study with a special committee member, or a relevant workshop.
|
Spring. |
LING6604 |
Research Workshop
Provides a forum for presentation and discussion of ongoing research, and development of professional skills. Participants must enroll in a concurrent independent study with a special committee member, or a relevant workshop.
|
Spring. |
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. |
LING7702 |
Directed Research
An independent study for graduate students.
|
Spring. |
LING7710 |
Computational Seminar
Addresses current theoretical and empirical issues in computational linguistics.
|
Fall. |
LING7711 |
Semantics Seminar
Addresses current theoretical and empirical issues in semantics.
|
Fall, Spring. |
LING7713 |
Phonetics Seminar
Addresses current theoretical and empirical issues in phonetics.
|
Spring. |