Everywhere, every day, everybody uses language. There is no human society, no matter how small or how isolated, which does not employ a language that is rich and diverse. This course introduces you to linguistics, featuring interviews with well-known linguists and with speakers of many different languages. Join us to explore the miracles of human language!
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Miracles du langage humain : Introduction à la linguistique
Université de LeydeÀ propos de ce cours
Résultats de carrière des étudiants
10%
10%
Compétences que vous acquerrez
- Essay Writing
- History
- English Language
- Chinese Language
Résultats de carrière des étudiants
10%
10%
Offert par

Université de Leyde
Leiden University is one of Europe's foremost research universities. This prominent position gives our graduates a leading edge and prepares them for careers both within and outside of academia. Leiden University is the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575. Our motto is: Praesidium Libertatis (Bastion of Liberty) - Freedom of spirit, thought and expression. Leiden University has a campus in Leiden and The Hague, with 7 faculties, 47 Bachelor Programmes, 79 Master Programmes and nearly 30,000 students.
Programme de cours : ce que vous apprendrez dans ce cours
Introduction to Linguistics
In this first week, we will try to determine what makes language human: why do (almost) all human beings have a language, and what makes human language different from animal communication systems? We will furthermore discuss the many different places where linguists work, and the many different methodologies that they use for conducting their research. You will moreover get to know all the other participants in this MOOC: my students Inge and Marten, as well as the speakers of six different languages. Finally, don't forget to watch our first expert interview: Marten and Inge have talked with Dr. Victoria Nyst of Leiden University, who has enlightened us in the fascinating world of sign languages! For the assignments with the support of Ethnologue, please make sure to study the instructions listed in 'required and optional readings' of this module.
The study of sound: Phonology and Phonetics
In this module we will delve into what appear to be the smallest building blocks of spoken language: 'sounds'. As we will see however, all is not what it seems, as we will in fact encounter an even smaller building block of language, a true atom. Another interesting thing about this module is that as of this week our 6 informants will all only speak their own language. Naturally, there is also an interview with my very special friend Prof. dr. Claartje Levelt, whom I have announced before.
The study of words and sentences: Morphology and Syntax
In this module we will discuss words and sentences. All languages have them; but as I will illustrate, they can be organized in very different ways in different languages. I will furthermore demonstrate what cupcakes have in common with words in a sentence. This module's interview is with one of the most cited and re-knowned linguists alive, Prof. Noam Chomsky! Finally, our 6 language informants will provide us with information about the word order in their languages.
The study of meaning: Pragmatics and Semantics
This module deals with a topic which many of you find very interesting: meaning. How do we determine what a word means? To what extent does our language influence our thinking? How can we change the world with language? As usual, we also have an additional interview with an expert of the current module's theme: in this module Barend Beekhuizen talks to Inge and Marten about his work as a Leiden PhD student in computational linguistics.
Avis
- 5 stars79,41 %
- 4 stars15,15 %
- 3 stars3,14 %
- 2 stars1,04 %
- 1 star1,23 %
Meilleurs avis pour MIRACLES DU LANGAGE HUMAIN : INTRODUCTION À LA LINGUISTIQUE
This course was fascinating, and the professor and his students were very personable. You can tell that they love the subject they're teaching, and that makes the material even more palatable.
I loved this course. The professor does a fabulous job explaining the material and bringing in others to show the material's relevance. It was very interesting and I want to learn more!
Very interesting course, well-made videos, interesting interviews and reading materials. Would definitely recommend this course to people who want to know more about different aspects of language.
I have no previous experience in Linguistics but really enjoyed the course. The course materials gave me great insight and some ideas of what I would like to pursue next. Thank you!
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