LING6017 Language Development and Language Behavior Dr. Chin-lung Yang MA Elective course. Sem 1TBAVenue: TBA Course Description The aims of this course are to introduce students to some research methods employed in the study of language acquisition and language behavior, and to assess the significance of research results in these fields.  The main topics to be covered include: stages of language development, reading acquisition, second language learning, language and reading disorders, and the influences of writing systems on language processing. Course Details Assessment:100% coursework

LING7017 Sociolinguistics Dr. Darren Tang MA Elective course. Sem 2TBAVenue: TBA Course Description Linguistic practices are inherently social. To understand what language is, we also need to understand how and why it is used. This course offers an introduction to the field of sociolinguistics, the study of the relationship between language and society. We explore how language use is shaped by different social factors such as identities, media, and language attitudes. The course draws on a range of social contexts, exploring sociolinguistic landscapes around the world. Course Details Assessment:100% coursework

LING7016 Linguistic Diversity in China Dr. Robert Marcelo Sevilla MA Elective course. Sem 1TBAVenue: TBA Course Description This course introduces linguistic diversity across modern China, with a focus on structural variation in terms of sound systems, word forms, and grammatical structure. The course takes a descriptive approach to linguistic features with little theoretical or technical linguistic knowledge necessary. Topics covered include the main typological regions in Sinitic and their relationships to each other, the Altaic areal region, the Mainland Southeast Asian region, the Highland region, and approaches to quantifying linguistic diversity. Course Details Assessment:100% coursework

LING6020 Advanced Topics in Psycholinguistics Dr. Chin-lung Yang MA Elective course. Sem 2TBAVenue: TBA Course Description The course will examine issues concerning how language is acquired and processed in the mind. Advanced research topics to be covered in this course are as follows: brain and language development, language and thought, mental systems for words, word segmentation in Chinese and English, dyslexia, language disorders. There will also be practical laboratory classes. Course Details Assessment:100% coursework

LING7015 Pragmatics Dr. Leo Hoye MA Elective course. Sem 1TBAVenue: TBA Course Description The course introduces students to linguistic and extralinguistic approaches to language use and the making of meaning, where the roles of language users, their interlocutors, and the contexts in and through which they act and use language are considered paramount. As a contextually-driven perspective on meaning, Pragmatics contrasts with Semantics which tends to focus on instances of language – linguistic expressions – that are abstracted from their real-world contexts of use. Topics to be explored include both canonical and current approaches to meaning with a focus on real-world issues [...]

LING7014 Language Structure in Context Dr. Kofi Yakpo MA Elective course. Sem 1Thursday, 9:30 am – 12:20 pmVenue: RRST-4.04 Course Description This course introduces students to a specific language or group of languages on which the teacher concerned has conducted linguistic field work, laboratory or theoretical research. Topics cover the main areas of grammar and phonology of the language chosen for the course. The study of linguistic structure may be complemented with aspects of comparative linguistics, areal typology, language contact, socio-cultural, historical and geographical context. Course work may also cover aspects of the collection, analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative [...]

LING6032 Semantics Dr. Leo Hoye MA Elective course. Sem 1Thursday, 9:30 am – 12:20 pm Venue: RRST-7.48 Course Description This course introduces students to the linguistic study of meaning. It focuses on the meaning of signs and the relation between signifiers and what they stand for. Topics to be examined include both traditional and current approaches to lexical and sentence meaning. The role of semantics in the language system will be addressed. Central problems and theoretical concepts of Semantics will be discussed, with illustration from a variety of languages. Course Details Assessment:100% coursework

LING7013 Language Emergence and Language Change Prof. Christophe Coupé MA Elective course. Sem 2 Monday, 9:30 am - 12:20 pm Venue: CPD-2.25, Centennial Campus Course Description How, when and why did the faculty of language emerge and evolve in our ancestors? How is it connected to the development of other cognitive abilities, of new behaviors and social interactions? These issues fuel today’s scientific investigations, but the question of how we came to communicate the way we do today has puzzled scholars for millennia, as evident from the legacy of ancient Greek and Chinese philosophers. In this course, we will paint a [...]

LING6028 Topics in Language Acquisition Dr. Chin Lung Yang MA Elective course. Sem 2 Friday, 1:30 pm – 4:20 pm Venue: RRST-4.04 (except Jan 19 2024) Course Description The course introduces current linguistic approaches to language acquisition in bilingual and multilingual contexts. Topics will include the acquisition of Cantonese and English by bilingual children; acquisition of English as second language by Chinese speakers, and vice versa; and the acquisition of a third or additional language by bilinguals. The course is particularly suitable for those with some experience of language teaching. Course Details Assessment: 100% coursework

LING7012 Introduction to Data Science for Linguists Prof. Christophe Coupé MA Elective course. Sem 1 Wed, 9:30 am – 12:20 am Venue: CPD-2.25 Course Description This course offers students a detailed introduction to data science and its application to linguistic issues. It covers both theoretical aspects and methods, and assumes no strong background in mathematics or computer science. Following an introduction to data science, a number of statistical concepts and tools will be introduced and applied to linguistic data. Simple natural language processing (NLP) techniques will also be covered. Topics include: sampling, descriptive and inferential statistics, basic parametric and non-parametric statistical [...]

LING6022 Reading Acquisition and Developmental Dyslexia Dr. Liu Chun Yin Ralph MA Elective course. Sem 2 Wednesday 9:30 am – 12:20 pm Venue: ONLINE Course Description This course aims to provide a theoretical understanding of reading development and reading disorders in different writing systems, with a specific focus on alphabetic (English) and logographic (Chinese) writing systems. Through attending the course, students will be able to understand how different cognitive processes contribute to the development of skilled word reading and text comprehension and what problems children may encounter during the course of reading development. Effective treatment and instruction approaches will also be [...]

LING6021 Language Types and Universals Dr. Joe Perry MA Elective course. Sem 2 Wednesday, 1:30 pm – 3:20 pm; (CPD3.29) Thursday 1:30 pm - 2:20 pm (CPD-2.19) Course Description This course introduces linguistic typology as an approach to language structure based inductively on investigation of a wide range of languages.  It does not require prior knowledge of many languages, although some knowledge of a language such as German or Japanese is a useful asset.  The course includes applications of typology in the field of language acquisition. Course Details Assessment: 100% coursework.

LING6019 Grammar and Interaction Dr. Olivia Lam MA Elective course. Sem 2 TBA Venue: TBA Course Description This course introduces students to the recent advances in the study of the interface between linguistic structure (grammar) and human interaction (spontaneous communication).  It focuses on issues of the identity of basic interactional units and how syntax, prosody, semantics and conversational structure shape one another in naturally occurring talk. Topics include: Syntax of sentences in progress, Adverbial clauses in conversation, Repair and syntax, Conversational turns and their extension. Assessment: 100% coursework