Study of English Language

Semester and Year Offered: Sem 4 | Year 2

Course Coordinator and instructor: Monishita Hajra Pande and Ipshita Hajra Sasmal

Email of course coordinator: monishita[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in, ipshita[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in

Pre-requisites: None

Aim: This course aims at introducing the major concepts in the study of language. Students will be exposed to the major branches of linguistics which will then be applied to analyse the use of language. The course will familiarise learners with the basic concepts in phonetics, phonology, morphology and semantics and thereby enabling them to apply those concepts to look at data critically from English and other languages. Knowledge gained in these areas of linguistics will allow students to reflect on their own language use and understand the deeper, theoretical motivations behind the study of language. Students will be encouraged to understand the universals which govern languages and identify the specific differences which surface during language use. An introductory section on socio-linguistics will also be included in order to enable learners to understand the role of socio-economic and cultural factors in the use of language.

Brief description of modules/ Main modules:

1. Module 1: Introduction to linguistics
2. Module 2: Phonetics and Phonology
3. Module 3:Morphology and word formation processes
4. Module 4: Semantics
5. Module 5: Introduction to Sociolinguistics

References:

• Aitchison,J.(1987). Linguistics.U.K:Hodder and Stoughton.
• Carr,P.(2013).English phonetics and phonology(2nd edition).U.K.:Wiley-blackwell.
• Fasold,R. & Conner-Linton,J.(2006). An introduction to language and linguistics.Cambridge:CUP
• Gerorge,Y.(2010).The study of language(4th Edition).Cambridge:CUP.
• Gordon,W.T&Willmarth,S.(2008). Linguistics for beginners. For Beginners:LLC.
• Hudson,R.A.(1996). Sociolinguistics.Cambridge:CUP.
• Meyerhoff,M.(2006). Introducing sociolinguistics. London & New York:Routledge.
• Odden,D.(2005).Introducing phonology.Cambridge:CUP.
• Poldauf,I.(1984). English word stress. Oxford: Pergamon press.
• Rahman,T.(2010).A general introduction to linguistics. New Delhi:OrientBlackswan
• Sethi,J. &Dhamija,P.V.(2006).A course in phonetics and spoken English(2nd Edition).New Delhi:Prentice-Hall.
• Wardhaugh,R.(2006).An introduction to sociolinguistics. U.K.: Blackwell Publishers.

Tentative Assessment schedule with details of weightage: