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BA Linguistics and Chinese

Year of entry: 2021

Course unit details:
Language, Mind and Brain

Unit code LELA10201
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Offered by Linguistics & English Language
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

How do young children acquire language so easily? What role do social structures play in the development of language? How are writing and reading different from speaking and listening? This unit addresses these questions and explores the cognitive underpinnings of human language.
 
The unit introduces students to the foundational concepts in the study of language from a cognitive perspective. We will explore questions that are still a matter of debate in the field, critically examining both evidence and arguments. Students will come away with a deeper understanding of how language works, some of the principles governing the complex interactions between language and other cognitive dimensions (such as attention, perception, and thought), and a basic understanding of how language functions in the brain.
 
Along the way we’ll examine evidence from babies, chimpanzees and other animals, the birth of new languages, perceptual illusions, stroke patients, experiments on the influence of alcohol on speech and of swearing on pain, together with modern brain imaging techniques.
 

Aims

The aim of this unit is to introduce students to the foundational concepts in the study of language from a cognitive perspective. We will explore questions that are still a matter of debate in the field, and examine the arguments bearing on matters such as the uniqueness of human language, the place of language in the architecture of the mind, and the physical structures in the brain responsible for language.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the unit students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

  • Distinguish the differences and similarities between language and other communication systems
  • Evaluate the role of the brain in developing and employing language, including key arguments surrounding issues such as modularity of mind
  • Critically assess scholarly and scientific claims from the literature, and the arguments supporting them
  • Engage in interdisciplinary group discussions to compare competing approaches and hypotheses, using evidence-based reasoning
  • Research and prepare coherent written communications
  • Understand the fundamental role of the brain in developing and using language.
  • Identify the differences and similarities between language and other communication systems
  • Recognise and understand the key arguments surrounding issues such as modularity of mind.

Intellectual skills

  • Support an argument using evidence and reasoning.
  • Critically assess scholarly and scientific claims and the arguments supporting them.
  • Compare competing hypotheses and bring evidence to bear in selecting between them.

Practical skills

  • Read and interpret scientific articles.
  • Write brief essays providing evidence and reasoning in favour of a scientific claim.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Writing skills
  • Independent study skills
  • Time management skills
  • Critical thinking skills

Employability skills

Other
This course unit aims to develop students¿ ability to asses the quality of evidence from diverse sources, as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills. It also aims to develop students¿ written communication skills, and provides an opportunity to practice good time management and organisation.

Assessment methods

Written Exercise 500 words 30%
Written Exercise 1000 words 50%
Seminar participation NA 10%
Quizzes 10x3 question quizzes 10%
Written Exercise 500 words NA (formative)

 

Feedback methods

Feedback Method Formative or Summative
Written feedback on written exercises Formative and summative
Score for quizzes on completion in Blackboard Summative
Additional feedback on written exercises in consultation hours or by appointment Formative and summative

 

Recommended reading

  • Osborne, Lawrence. 1999. A linguistic big bang. New York Times Magazine, October 24, 1999.
  • Petitto, Laura Ann. 2000. The acquisition of natural signed languages: Lessons in the nature of human language and its biological foundations. In: Chamberlaine, Morford & Mayberry, Language Acquisition by Eye, Mahwah, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p.41-51.
  • Terrace, H. S. 1979. How Nim Chimpsky changed my mind. Psychology Today 13(6): 67-72.
  • Pullum, Geoffrey K. 1991. The great Eskimo vocabulary hoax: And other irreverant essays on the study of language. University of Chicago Press. (excerpt)
  • Pisoni, David B. and Christopher S. Martin. 1989. Effects of alcohol on the acoustic phonetic properties of speech: Perceptual and acoustic analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 13(4), p. 577-587.
  • Sacks, Oliver. 1970. The man who mistook his wife for a hat. New York, Touchstone. (excerpt)

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 22
Tutorials 11
Independent study hours
Independent study 183

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Wendell Kimper Unit coordinator

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