The University of the West Indies, Mona

The first section of this course introduces the study of morphemes, the smallest parts of words that contribute to meaning. Students learn how morphemes are combined to form words through processes such as inflection, compounding and reduplication. The second section of the course considers the rules of syntax: rules by which words are combined into phrases, forming the hierarchical structures which produce sentences. Students learn to apply tests such as replacement and movement, and to recognize the application of syntactic processes such as passivization and question formation.

This course provides an introduction to the study of language structure, and will help students see that variation in language is limited, despite differences between languages. It considers how the vocal apparatus is used to produce speech sounds and how individual languages use sounds to differentiate words. Students also learn how words can be analyzed to consist of smaller meaningful parts called morphemes, how these can be classified by their function in language, and how words are formed through processes such as inflection, compounding, reduplication. Finally, the course considers how words are combined to form hierarchically structured phrases and sentences.

LING1402 compresses some of the subject matter of LING1001 and LING1002 in a single course. For a fuller understanding, it is recommended that those two courses are taken instead. LING1402 should not be taken alongside either LING1001 or LING1002.

Haitian is one of the major Creole languages in the Caribbean. It is spoken by more than nine million persons and is among the few Creole varieties that have gained official status. In this course, students will have an opportunity to acquire a basic facility with oral and written expression and comprehension in Haitian.  They will also be exposed to a range of French-lexicon Creole texts, both written and oral, and the lyrics of popular Kweyòl music.  A deliberate effort will be made to provide students with exposure to the major dialects of Haitian. This course has replaced LING2801 Structure and Usage of French Lexicon Creole I.

This course provides an introduction to the study of meaning in natural languages. It examines basic concepts such as sense and reference, meaning relations including polysemy and hyponymy, the relationship between meaning and structure and semantics versus pragmatics.

This course explores approaches to the learning and teaching of second and foreign languages across the world, with special emphasis on the sociolinguistic context of the Caribbean. It also discusses developments in Applied Linguistics and their applicability to language teaching and testing in the Caribbean context.

Many persons assume that the social norms of the Deaf are the same as those of the hearing. As this is not so, students need to be aware of and be able to appreciate the cultural differences that exist. This course explores the cultural experiences and perspectives among persons who are Deaf. In addition, the course provides an overview of issues related to members of the Deaf community.

The course is fundamentally an exploration of the ways language can be studied as a social phenomenon, and focuses on developing an objective understanding of the links which speakers make between language and social groupings. The course will examine the connection between specific language features in speech communities such as the pronunciation of ‘r’ and the social background of the speaker who uses the feature. Other topics include sociological and social psychological explanations for language use, language change, language and gender, and language ideology. This course has a strong Caribbean focus.

The course focuses on the relationship between language and sex as a biological category 

versus gender as a social phenomenon. It investigates the application to Caribbean language use of some of the theoretical frameworks through which this relationship has been studied. Also discussed are the ways children acquire gendered language identities and issues relating to sexism in language. Actual conversations are recorded and transcribed for analysis. This course has a strong Caribbean focus.

This course investigates the language geography of the Caribbean in terms of speech forms 

and accents, and asks what makes persons from each territory sound different when speaking the same language. It looks at speech production, inclusive of elocution and accent production, and at the application of this knowledge to certain situations, such as making oneself understood around the region, providing consultation to movie production companies, and the like.

This is another in a series of courses offering students exposure to a living Caribbean language. This is an introduction to one of the few Arawakan languages still spoken in the Caribbean, Garifuna as spoken by the Garinagu or 'Black Caribs' of Belize. It will give students the ability to engage in conversational use of the language while exposing them to the structure of the language, including its similarities to other Arawakan languages. This will take place in a context where the student learns to appreciate the sociocultural norms associated with an indigenous Caribbean language.

The background to any preparation of Jamaican language interpreters for the legal system requires familiarity with the appropriate technical legal terminology in Jamaican Creole. Building on the basis of the insights developed in LING2810, it is this need which this course seeks to fulfill.

This course is designed for students in the Faculty of Medical Sciences entering the Clinical Practice phase of their training, and is intended to specifically address the management of Deaf patients. LING2821 provides an opportunity to learn signs for the healthcare domain and to obtain fluency by practicing the use of sign language in immersion-type settings.

This course continues the study of syntactic structure, progressing seamlessly from work covered in LING2002. The course investigates ways in progressing seamlessly from work covered in LING2002. The course investigates ways in which properties of human language are explained within a theoretical framework, and emphasizes that data are meaningless in the absence of a theory. Using a Transformational Generative model, the course investigates how to account for transformations such as head-to-head movement and phrasal movement, and crucially, the restrictions on movement. This is presented as a fairly complete and simple system, laying the theoretical foundation for further explorations.

This course examines the validity of the term ‘Creole,’ and looks at the world-wide distribution of Creole languages. It aims to familiarize students with the debates on Creole genesis and Creole typology that have dominated the study of these languages and to engage them in a critical evaluation of the positions held by different sides in these debates. It goes on to look at the phenomenon of decreolisation in the context of theories of language change. 

This course focuses on the practical aspects of language use in negotiation. It examines the communication processes involved in negotiation and covers both the basic principles and the practice of negotiation. It analyses language use in negotiation through role play and simulation and uses these to examine models and methods of negotiation; persuasive strategies; negotiator characteristics and styles; power and gender issues and social and cultural issues in negotiation.

This course introduces the student to basic research methods in linguistics. Equipped with this knowledge, students are required to design their own programme of field research and go into the field, under supervision, to collect language data from informants. They are required to transcribe portions of this data and provide some preliminary analysis.

This course examines the field of interpreting and the role of an interpreter. It considers how to define the communication process, and how to consider client(s) and do situational assessments. The interpreter role and ethics, the process of interpreting, settings and assignments are also examined.