Syllabus
WEEK 1: ORIGINS of MODERN MAN and LANGUAGE Feb. 21
Cognition, intelligence and creativity
Nativist views/ Language as instinct vs. social learning
Human ancestors vs. modern humans: What we need to add to the mind to get language? (J. Searle)
Animals’ communication systems vs. the language of humans (D. Premack)
What are the reasons for the rise of humans and modern language? TED Talk by Y. N. Harari
Readings: Language in Mind: Introduction to Psycholinguistics, by Julie Sedivy 2018, ch. 2, pp. 9-31
WEEK 2: HOW HUMANS INVENT LANGUAGE Feb. 28
Inventing and learning language
Gesturing, babbling, speaking, writing and signing
Language change: Survival of the fittest? Language diversity
The birth of a language documentary (Nicaragua sign language)
Readings: Sedivy, ch. 2, Evolution of speech, pp. 31-50
WEEK 3: Language and the Brain March 7
Learning about language in the brain from genetic disorders, specific language disorder and dyslexia
The quest to understand consciousness, TED Talk by A. Damasio
Understanding language, by J. Elman (lecture)
Readings: Sedivy, ch. 3, Genetic Disorders, pp. 54-67
Assignment: relevant web activities in http://sites.sinauer.com/languageinmind/
AND IF YOU WANT TO GO FURTHER...
Seeds of Speech, by Jean Aitchison, Cambridge U Press 2000, ch. 1
Researchers Debate the Origin of Language, by Marc Hauser 2002, in Harvard Gazette and How human mind originated 2009
WEEK 4: MAPPING LANGUAGE in the BRAIN March 14
How does brain process, perceive and produce language?
Reading: Sedivy, ch. 3, pp. 67-84
McGilchrist,The Divided Brain, TED Talk
Assignment: Web activity in http://sites.sinauer.com/languageinmind/
WEEK 5: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: LEARNING SOUND PATTERNS March 21
How infants learn: The nature of speaking;
Sound recognition and matching sounds to words;
Concepts and reference
TED Talk Pat Kuhl et al., Language, culture, mind and brain File
Reading: Learning sounds, in Sedivy, ch. 4
Recommended readings: Seeds of Speech, ch. 7, by J. Aitchison
Review: File 2.1-2.3 (Phonetics)
Assignment: Web activity in http://sites.sinauer.com/languageinmind/
WEEK 6: L ACQUISITION: Sounds and words, part II March 28
How child learns language
What are the sounds and where are the words?
Why do we talk https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Why+do+we+talk+
Readings: Sedivy, ch. 4, part II and if you want to go further: Language and the mind, by Hickey, Raymond
Learning vs. growth, in Language in Use, by G. Diessel, pp. 313-19
Digital mind in an analog world, in Language Instinct, by S. Pinker 1994, pp. 269-87
Semiotic Landscape, by G. Kress and T. Leuwen, in Language in Use, pp. 344-9
ASSIGNMENT: Relevant web activities in Sedivy, online
WEEK 7: WORDS and GRAMMAR April 4
The nature of speaking; Recognizing sounds and matching them to words;
Concepts and reference
Reading: Learning words, in Sedivy, ch. 5, part I and more, i.e., Recommended readings:
Productivity and the Mental Lexicon, by Ingo Plag, in Language in Use, pp. 106-13
How do they do it?, by Steven Pinker
Tomasello, Michael, The usage based theory of language acquisition
Syntax review: File 5.1 and 5.4
ASSIGNMENT: Prepare a proposal to carry out research on any topic affiliated with the course (use the proposal form in our Moodle course please prepare the relevant web activities, ch. 5, part I
WEEK 8: LEARNING WORDS, L ACQUISITION part 3 April 11
Language in sculpting infants' brain
Understanding speakers' intentions
Parts of speech; Words vs. rules
Reading: Learning words, in Sedivy, ch. 5, part II
Lupyan, Gary & Ben Berger, How Language Programs The Mind for recommended readings, see below
ASSIGNMENT: Relevant web activities in Sedivy, online
WEEK 9: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: BUILDING SENTENCES April 25
Topic: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: LEARNING THE STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES
Description: How does mind build “logical“ sentences and “correct“ grammatical structures?
The nature of syntactic knowledge; Learning grammatical categories
Readings: Sedivy, ch. 6, pp. 185-200
ASSIGNMENT: Relevant web activities in Sedivy, online
WEEK 10: Propaganda and words May 2
Communication from diverse perspectives
TED Talk Language shapes our thinking, by L. Boroditsky
Speech acts and performative speech acts
Readings: review Sperber & Wilson's Relevance: Communication and Cognition
The language of communist power, by Petr Fidelius 1989, in M. Goetz-Stankiewicz
The process of communication accommodation, by H. Giles, in New Sociolingcs Reader 2009
WEEK 11: LANGUAGE DIVERSITY and UNIVERSALS May 9
What do languages have in common and how to explain it?
How universal are language universals?
Reading: Sedivy, ch. 12, part I
Assignment: Relevant web activities
WEEK 12: LANGUAGE DIVERSITY May 16
Words, concepts and culture
One mind, two languages
Reading: Sedivy, ch. 12, part II
Assignment: Relevant web activities
Sedivy, ch. 12, Diversity, part IISoubor ch. 12, selected pp.Soubor
WEEK 13: Student presentations on research projects May 23
FINAL
Annotation
HUMAN LANGUAGE and the MIND is a course in human thinking and speaking that deals with psychological, cognitive and anthropological aspects of language as a key to mind, intellect and creativity; interrelation of language, thoughts and brain; language in mediating experience, remembering and creating meaning; the instinctive, emotional and rational in our cognition; pre-linguistic cognition of hominids; children’s language acquisition; and language diversity.