What is Language?

Module code: LIN4218

Credits: 15.0
Semester: SEM1

Contact: Prof David Adger

This module introduces students to the basic concepts that underlie how modern linguistics conceives of language. It contrasts human language, both spoken and signed, with animal systems of communication and AI processing of language. It motivates the idea that sounds, signs, words and sentences are built up from abstract patterns that we humans impose on what we hear and see, and asks whether this implies that all humans have a kind of universal capacity of language.

Connected course(s): UDF DATA
Assessment: 50.0% Coursework, 50.0% Examination
Level: 4