Foundational Issues in Linguistics

LING

87000

Foundational Issues in Linguistics

The goal of this course is to provide and encourage discussion of foundationalissues in Linguistics. Training in the subdisciplines of Linguistics often starts withpre-established assumptions about the direction of inquiry, and the methods used to pursue it. But equally important to the results of inquiry is the motivation behind the commitments that shape it. In Linguistics these include commitments as to what the subject matter of Linguistics is, what constitutes knowledge of language, whatcounts as relevant data, and how data are best collected and modeled. In this course we provide a forum for discussing these issues. We will examine questionsconcerning the place of Linguistics in the cognitive sciences and concerning thevalidity of the empirical and analytical methods employed by linguists. As such, thecourse is aimed to strengthen the grounds that more specialized courses build on, by encouraging critical assessment of the assumptions that linguists make (or take for granted) in their research.

Offer as needed

Graduate School Graduate

Yes

030893