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