Language Studies (LS) 2023-2024 Edition

LS 271. Understanding Contemporary China. 3 Credit Hours.

This course is designed for students who have little or no background in Chinese language and culture. Through a survey of various aspects of Contemporary China, it aims to increase students’ awareness of China, Chinese culture, and Chinese people; to understand some of the major characteristics of Chinese culture and civilization; to analyze the economic and social developments that led to China’s significant role in the current global community; and to probe the challenges and problems China faces after the economic reform in 1979. By the end of the course, students will have exhibited the awareness of the major events and developments in contemporary China, addressed and compared the issue of differences between China and the West, examined and analyzed the economic and social developments brought about by China’s economic reform as well as its challenges and problems after the reform, and demonstrated basic understanding of Chinese culture and civilization.

Spring 2024LS 271A3751MWF9:00am - 9:50am(Z. Williams)

LS 275. How Language Works. 3 Credit Hours.

In this course you will explore the intuitive knowledge that a native speaker of a language possesses and acquire greater insight into the intricacies of human language. Topics include the origins of language, units of meaning, computer processing of human language, sentence structure, speech production, language in context, language in society, language and culture, native and non-native language development, shades of meaning, conversational norms, language change over time, artificial language, and writing systems.

Fall 2023LS 275A1602M3:30pm - 6:10pm(A. Houston)
Spring 2024LS 275A3752M3:30pm - 6:10pm(A. Houston)

LS 302. Language, Thought, and Society. 3 Credit Hours.

Language is a tool for creative expression, cognition, and social interaction. Philosophy of language, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics are all examples of highly successful and productive consilience of language study with the humanities, biology, psychology, and the social sciences. People are sentient beings, capable of experiencing a broad range of psychological states. This course draws on the unity of knowledge in an effort to account for the richness of our mental lives and the flexibility of our behavior.

Spring 2024LS 302A3528TTh3:30pm - 4:45pm(A. Houston)

LS 303. French Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

Biocultural theory posits the co-evolution of genes and culture. Language, culture, and imagination confer survival advantages to humans as a social species and have preserved evolved human complexity. This course takes biocultural approach to the works of French philosophers such as Montaigne, Descartes, Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire, Saussure, Derrida, Beauvoir, Foucault, and Lacan. Students may take the course more than once, as different iterations. Topics of a given iteration may include humanism, skepticism, dualism, primitivism, language, textualism, indeterminacy, relativism, feminism, constructivism, historicism, and psychoanalysis. Materials and instruction are in English. This course is cross-listed with HIS 303.
Prerequisites: 200-level history course.

LS 304. Italian Studies. 3 Credit Hours.

This course focuses on the history, society, politics, culture, and economics of modern Italy and its predecessors on the Italian Peninsula. Students may take the course more than once, as different iterations. Topics of a given iteration may include humanism, science, philosophy, the Inquisition, fascism, and the Vatican. Materials and instruction are in English. This course is cross-listed with HIS 304.
Prerequisites: 200-level history course.

Winter Session 2024LS 304A2029MTWThFS8:30am - 11:30am(J. Pearson)