| CODE | LIN1220 | ||||||
| TITLE | Language and Cognition | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 2 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The “cognitive revolution”, heralded by Chomsky’s work on generative grammar in the 1950s, promised to put the discipline of theoretical linguistics within the broader programme of cognitive science, which includes psychology, philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary biology. This study-unit will place contemporary work in theoretical linguistics within the context of these other disciplines, introducing participants to the issues in the study of mind that have been fundamental to progress in the field. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims at making explicit the connection between the various core areas of research in theoretical linguistics and the more general study of human cognition. In this respect, students will be motivated to think about the cognitive basis of language in the light of development in both linguistics and cognitive science. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - appreciate the role of contemporary linguistic theory in bringing about the cognitive revolution; - understand how each different subfield of linguistics they are exposed to in their other units belongs to the more general question of how language is triggered in the human mind/brain and what the language faculty's relation to other cognitive and physiological systems is. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - compare and evaluate theoretical claims in the light of empirical evidence, while taking into account contrasting claims; - preview the extent to which a full understanding of the human ability for language (and by extension human cognition too) necessitates a strongly inter-disciplinary approach; - become conversant with basic issues underlying cognitive science. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main texts: - Boeckx, C. (2009) Language in Cognition: Uncovering mental structures and the rules behind them. Oxford/Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. Supplementary texts: - Bickerton, D. (1990). Language and Species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. - Chomsky, N. (1981). Knowledge of Language: Its nature, origin and use. New York: Praeger. - Elman, J., Bates, E. A., et al. (1998). Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development. Cambridge, Ma.: MIT Press. - Fodor, J. (1983). The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, Ma.: MIT Press. - Jackendoff, R. (1997). The Architecture of the Language Faculty. Cambridge, Ma.: MIT Press. - Jackendoff, R. (2002). Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Pinker, S. (1995). The Language Instinct. London: Penguin. - Pinker, S. (1999). How The Mind Works. London: Penguin. |
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| RULES/CONDITIONS | In TAKING THIS UNIT YOU CANNOT TAKE LIN1120 | ||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Stavros Assimakopoulos |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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