Purdue University College of Liberal Arts
Information for
General Course Descriptions
LING 201: Introduction to Linguistics. Basic concepts of linguistics and methods of analysis of language; overview of linguistics and the role of language in society. Introduction to phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, and to problem-solving techniques, with material drawn from a variety of languages.
LING 311: Fundamentals of Phonology and Morphology; Prerequisite or corequisite: LING 201 or equivalent. Basic concepts and tools of phonological and morphological analysis viewed through the material of American English. Current theoretical approaches to phonology and morphology, including word-formation processes and applications.
LING 315: Elements of Phonetics; Prerequisite or corequisite: LING 201 or equivalent. Credit will not be given for both LING 315 and SLHS 306. Introduction to articulatory phonetics. Mechanisms of production of speech sounds. Sounds of languages of the world, ear training for discriminating speech sounds, and practice in broad and narrow phonetic transcription. Introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
LING 321: Foundations of Syntax and Semantics; Prerequisite or corequisite: LING 201 or equivalent. Credit will not be given for both LING 321 and ENGL 328. Introduction to syntactic and semantic analysis based on American English and its dialects. Underlying structure and its relation to meaning. Analysis of parts of speech, constituent phrases, sentence structure, representations, ambiguity, and applications of current theory.
LING 368: Sociolinguistic Study of African American English (ANTH 368, COM 368, ENGL 368, FLL 368, IDIS 378). A study of the history, structure, uses, and educational concerns of African American English in African American speech communities and the United States culture at large.
LING 398: Special Topics in Linguistics I; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of a special topic in linguistics. The topic will vary from semester to semester.
LING 490: Directed Reading in Linguistics; Admission by consent of the chair of the Linguistics Program; May be repeated for credit. Independent study and reading on a topic in linguistics directed by a faculty member.
LING 498: Special Topics in Linguistics II; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of a special topic in linguistics. The topic will vary from semester to semester.
LING 500: Introduction to Linguistics (ANTH 514, AUSL 580, ENGL 506, FLL 561). Fundamental concepts and methods of linguistic analysis of natural languages; overview of linguistics and the role of language in society. Introduction to phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, and to problem-solving techniques, with material drawn from a wide variety of languages.
LING 511: Phonology I: Descriptive Analysis; Prerequisite or corequisite: LING 500 or equivalent (ENGL 513). Foundations of phonological analysis. Development of concepts and methods for the analysis of phonological data and the phonological structures of natural languages within the framework of generative phonology. Focus on problem solving and linguistic argumentation.
LING 512: Phonology II: Theoretical Approaches; Prerequisite: LING 511. Examination, comparison, and evaluation of contemporary phonological theories, with focus on the contribution of each theory to our understanding of representations and operations in phonological analysis. Primary emphasis is on autosegmental phonology, metrical phonology, lexical phonology, and optimality theory.
LING 521: Syntax I: Syntactic Analysis; Prerequisite or corequisite: LING 500 or equivalent (ENGL 512). Foundations of syntactic analysis and syntactic theory within the framework of generative grammar. Focuses on the central concepts of syntactic theory and on the principles and methods of syntactic analysis and argumentation using a core of topics relevant for syntactic theory.
LING 522: Syntax II: Issues in Syntax; Prerequisite: LING 521. Deeper examination of a wider range of syntactic phenomena and evaluation of competing theoretical analyses proposed to account for them. Constructing theoretical analyses and evaluating their explanatory adequacy for Universal Grammar. Topics include LF phenomena, functional projections, and structural representations.
LING 531: Semantics I: Lexical and Sentential Semantics; Prerequisite or corequisite: LING 500 or equivalent (ENGL 511). Foundations of semantic analysis and survey of current linguistic semantic theories and methods. Semantics at the lexical and sentential levels. Combinatorial, truth-conditional, pragmatic, contextual, and computational semantics.
LING 532: Semantics II: Formal and Grammatical Semantics; Prerequisite: LING 521, 522, and 531. A formal, logic-based study of semantic relations. Semantics of individuals and objects, attributes, determiners, definite descriptions, quantifiers, events, time, and space.
LING 541: Historical Linguistics and Language Change; Prerequisite: LING 500 or equivalent (ENGL 563, FLL 563). A general examination of the ways in which languages and their subsystems change over time and of the forces that produce change. The comparative method; internal reconstruction; geographical variation; and social variation. Overview of world language families and genetic relationships.
LING 590: Directed Reading in Linguistic; Admission by consent of the chair of Linguistic Program; May be repeated for credit. Independent study and reading on a topic in linguistics directed by a faculty member.
LING 591: Special Topics in Phonology; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of an advanced topic in phonology. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 592: Special Topics in Syntax; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of an advanced topic in syntax. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 593: Special Topics in Semantics; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of an advanced topic in semantics. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 594: Special Topics in Historical Linguistics; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of an advanced topic in historical linguistics. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 598: Special Topics in Linguistics; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Investigation of an advanced topic in linguistics. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 619: Seminar in Phonology; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Intensive study and research on a selected topic in phonology. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 629: Seminar in Syntax; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Intensive study and research on a selected topic in syntax. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 639: Seminar in Semantics; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Intensive study and research on a selected topic in semantics. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 649: Seminar in Historical Linguistics; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated from credit. Intensive study and research on a selected topic in historical linguistics. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 689: Seminar in Linguistics; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated for credit. Intensive study and research on a selected topic in linguistics. Topic varies from semester to semester.
LING 690: Individual Seminar; Admission by consent of instructor; May be repeated up to 6 hours for credit. Under the individual guidance and supervision of a faculty member, students will select and investigate a topic and will produce a paper of professional caliber on the subject.
LING 698: Research M.A. Thesis
LING 699: Research Ph.D. Thesis