The Meertens Institute offers a five-week online course on linguistics (no specific background is required), from Monday 30 March – Monday 11 May. The course ‘Miracles of Human Language‘, coordinated by Prof. Marc van Oostendorp from Leiden University, colleague of Leonie Cornips, is an introduction into the study of languages and the field of linguistics. Join the course now for free.
About the Course
The Miracles of Human Language introduces you to the many-faceted study of languages, which has amazed humans since the beginning of history. Together with speakers of many other languages around the world, as well as with famous linguists such as Noam Chomsky and Adele Goldberg, you will learn to understand and analyse how your native tongue is at the same time similar and different from many other languages. You will learn the basic concepts of linguistics, get to know some of the key features of big and small languages and get insight into what linguists do.
This course gives an introduction into the study of languages, the field of linguistics. With the support of the basic linguistic terminology that is offered in the course, you will soon be able to comment both on variety between languages, as well as on a single language’s internal structure. Anyone who wishes to understand how languages work, and how they can give us insight into the human mind is very welcome to join.
The course is useful if you want to get a fairly quick introduction into linguistics, for instance because you are considering studying it further, or because you are interested in a neighbouring discipline such as psychology, computer science or anthropology. Furthermore, the course will help you develop analytical skills.
If you are curious to understand how language works and how it gives insight into the human mind, this course is definitely for you!
Course Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to Linguistics
Week 2: The Study of Sound: Phonology and Phonetics
Week 3: The Study of Words and Sentences: Morphology and Syntax
Week 4: The Study of Meaning: Pragmatics and Semantics
Week 5: Language in Society
Recommended Background
For participating in this course, no specific background is required.
Anyone with an interest in language is welcome to take a peek around the corner, and to join us during this basic exploration of the field of linguistics.
Suggested Readings
All materials you need will be open-access, which means that they are freely available to everyone enrolled in the course.
Course Format
The course consists of 5 weeks of video lectures, 5 weekly quizzes and a final exam. Each week, a different domain from the field of linguistics is highlighted in the video lectures. During the weekly quizzes you will be asked to apply what you have learned in that week’s videos. In practice, this means that you will watch one or more videos in which an informant provides a look into his or her native language. You will then take the role of a linguist doing fieldwork, and you will try to unravel how a particular feature is present in this language.
Some of the videos in this MOOC will consist of short lectures by Professor Van Oostendorp, but in several of them you will see him discuss issues with students Inge Otto and Marten van der Meulen. Inge and Marten have also assisted Van Oostendorp in many aspects in the production of this course.
