3.00 Credits
Students registered in this sequence must attend the first and second class sessions or their registration will be dropped. Language is at the center of what it means to be human and is instrumental in all humanistic pursuits. With it, we understand others, persuade, argue, reason, and think. This course aims to provoke us to critically examine common assumptions that determine our understanding of texts, of ourselves, and of others. The first quarter of this sequence (Autumn Quarter) explores fundamental questions of the nature of language, concentrating on language in the individual: the properties of human languages (spoken and signed) as systems of communication distinct from other forms, of how language is acquired, used, and changes, to what extent language shapes perception of the world and cognition, and the nature of translation and bilingualism. These questions are examined through classic and contemporary primary and secondary literature, drawn from the Bible, Plato, Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Descartes, Lewis Carroll, Chomsky, and other modern authors. The second quarter of this sequence (Winter Quarter) is devoted to examining how language mediates between the individual and society; its origin, spread, and development; and its role in power, gender, identity, culture, nationalism, and thought; as well as its use in politeness, irony, and metaphor. Selected readings include Rousseau, Herder, von Humboldt, Saussure, Sapir, Bloomfield, Whorf, Eco, and George Orwell.