Course Description

 

In this course:

1. Critiques and reviews of different schools of linguistics.

2.  The various characteristic features of  schools in linguistic

3. New trends in linguistic thought

4. Characteristic features of Saussure's structuralist school

5. Characteristic features of the American descriptivist school with particular emphasis

on two figures: Boas and Bloomfield

6. Characteristic features of the Prague Functional School especially Mathesius,

Trubotskoy and Martinet

7. The theoretical features of the school of Generative Transformational Grammar

8. Characteristic features of the of the London School of Linguistics

9. Austin's view of language as action

10. The views of Labov on  linguistic variation

11. Halliday's Functional Grammar

12. Characteristic principles of Critical Discourse Analysis

13. Computer applications of linguistictheory

 

Course Aims

Students should be able to:

1. Identify the basic principles characterizing each of the various schools of linguistics.

2. Provide an explanation of the different linguistic theories.

3. Discuss the historical development of the various theories of linguistics.

4. Compare and contrast characteristics of the various approaches to language study.

 

Learning Outcomes

  1. Ability to think critically and analytically.
  2. Ability to make comparisons between different approaches to the study of language.
  3. Ability to apply theoretical knowledge to texts.
  4. Ability to do research and make use of information from references in support of a valid argument.