Spring 2023 Linguistics Course Descriptions
This is an unofficial list of courses that will be offered in Linguistics in Spring 2023. It is strictly for the use of expanded course descriptions. For the complete official course offerings, please consult the My.UIC portal.
For a list of all courses and general course descriptions, please see the UIC Academic Catalog.
Spring 2023 Courses in Linguistics Heading link
LING 150 – Introduction to the Study of Language
On Campus. Two Sections. Choose TR 9:30-10:45 OR TR 11:00-12:15
You use language all the time, but do you know about the structures that make up language? In this course, you will learn how we produce and organize sounds, build words, and understand the difference between “time flies like an arrow” and “fruit flies like a banana.” Here you’ll make sense of why people have accents, what teachers should know about language, and why good AI speech recognition is so darn hard to achieve.
Individual and Society
LING 160 – Language and Society
On Campus. Two Sections. Choose TR 8:00-9:15 OR TR 9:30-10:45
How does language change over time? How do children’s animation films racialize language? What’s with all the pronouns? This course introduces students to language as it socially constructs place, status, gender, ethnicity, and other aspects of identity through intimate conversations all the way to national language policies. Bring your lived experiences and learn to process them through current sociolinguistic lenses.
Individual and Society & US Society
LING 210 – Introduction to Natural Language Syntax
On Campus. TR 11:00-12:15
Syntactic analysis is crucial for linguistic data processing and building linguistic data structure. This course gives you introduction to the hidden nature of even simple sentences using a scientific approach to data analysis. We will also make connections to other areas of linguistics and human cognition more generally, and we will touch on real world applications of syntactic analysis.
Prerequisite(s): LING 150; or consent of the instructor.
LING 220 – Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
On Campus. TR 2:00-3:15
What sounds exist in the world’s languages? What are the mechanics behind speech production and perception? How can we analyze human speech and categorize sounds to understand underlying patterns? How do we acquire the sounds of our languages, whether as children or later in life? What do the sound systems of bilinguals look like, and why? In this course, we’ll explore these key questions about the sounds of human language and more.
Prerequisite(s): LING 150; or consent of the instructor.
LING 310 – Language and Discrimination
On Campus. TR 12:30-1:45
Judgments of language are judgments of speakers. This course examines how language is used to discriminate, from the middle school teacher punishing her students for speaking Navajo to anti-Semitic “dog-whistles” used by the alt-right to the public persecution of the main witness in the Trayvon Martin murder trial. We’ll study academic and legal texts, news articles, podcasts, blogs, images, and videos, unpacking instances of linguistic discrimination to critique and interrupt discriminatory language practices we encounter every day.
Prerequisite(s): LING 150; or consent of the instructor.