This course, beyond providing an introduction to the science of linguistics, is designed to give students in their first year an awareness of the importance of language in everyday life and of the range of its uses and abuses as a cultural and class marker, vehicle of knowledge, and instrument of power. It is an objective of this course that students who complete it should be better prepared than they were before for the sensitive and exacting study not only of literature but of whatever specialized studies they subsequently undertake. Topics to be considered include whether language is a cultural artifact that is learned or is instinctual; the varieties of languages; language as expression of culture; linguistic imperialism; problems of translation; the distinction between speech and writing; stenolanguage, metalanguage, and poetic language; metaphor and symbol; and semiotics. |