Department of Linguistics

The information in parentheses after a course number is the Texas Common Course Numbering (TCCN) designation. Only TCCN designations that are exact semester-hour equivalents of University courses are listed here. Additional TCCN information is given in Appendix A .

American Sign Language: ASL

Lower-Division Courses

ASL 601C. Accelerated First-Year American Sign Language.

Introduction to American Sign Language and its vocabulary and sentence structure. A six-hour course comparable to American Sign Language 506 and 507. Six lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Sign Language 601C, 601D, 506. American Sign Language 601C and 507 may not both be counted. Offered on the letter-grade basis only.

ASL 601D. American Sign Language I: Beginning.

This course focuses on the development of beginner-level comprehension and production skills in American Sign Language. Students learn how to attend to visual language and use their hands and body for producing ASL constructions. Elementary vocabulary and grammar is covered, along with information about Deaf culture. Six lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Sign Language 601C, 601D, 506. American Sign Language 601D and 507 may not both be counted. Offered on the letter-grade basis only.

ASL 610D. American Sign Language II: Beginning.

Focuses on the development of intermediate-level proficiency in ASL. An introduction to more complex grammatical constructions with the goal of engaging in conversations in ASL on a variety of topics. Examines the historical aspects of the Deaf community and related themes. Six lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Sign Language 610D, 611C, 312K. American Sign Language 507 and 610D may not both be counted. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: American Sign Language 601D or 507 with a grade of at least C.

ASL 311D. American Sign Language III: Intermediate.

Focuses on maintaining and building upon a student's intermediate ASL skills. Grammar coverage includes complex constructions that involve the signing space, and vocabulary building includes comparisons between English words and ASL signs in order for the learner to make appropriate vocabulary choices in their ASL production. Complex questions facing the contemporary Deaf community are discussed. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. American Sign Language 311D and 312L may not both be counted. American Sign Language 611C and 311D may not both be counted. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: American Sign Language 601C, 610D, or 312K with a grade of at least C.

Upper-Division Courses

ASL 320. Advanced American Sign Language Conversation.

Advanced development of conversational skills in American Sign Language, with a focus on sophisticated linguistic structures and important issues in deaf studies. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: American Sign Language 611C or 312L with a grade of at least C-.

ASL 326. Sign Languages and Signing Communities.

Same as Linguistics 350 (Topic 3: Sign Languages and Signing Communities). Examines the grammar of signed languages, their use in signing communities, and the acquisition of signed languages as first languages. No knowledge of American Sign Language is required. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May not be counted toward fulfillment of the foreign language requirement for any bachelor's degree. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

ASL 336. Introduction to Sign Interpreting.

Introduction to sign interpreting from American Sign Language into English and from English into American Sign Language. Topics include the ethics of interpreting and the problems that arise in interpreting in different social and professional situations. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: American Sign Language 611C, or credit or registration for American Sign Language 312L.

ASL 350. Topics in American Sign Language, Deaf Studies, and Interpreting.

Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Additional hours may be required for some topics. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Varies with the topic.

Topic 1: American Sign Language Literature. Examines American Sign Language literature; includes narratives, language games, and poetry. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. American Sign Language 350 (Topic: American Sign Language Literature) and 350 (Topic 1) may not both be counted. Additional prerequisite: American Sign Language 610D with a grade of at least C, or credit or registration in American Sign Language 311D or 312L.

ASL 357. Undergraduate Research.

Supervised research experience. Individual instruction. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the letter-grade basis only. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing, American Sign Language 601D with a grade of at least B, and consent of instructor.

Linguistics: LIN

Lower-Division Courses

LIN 306. Introduction to the Study of Language.

Survey of major areas of linguistics: sound systems, grammatical structures, historical development of languages, language families and linguistic universals, dialect differences and their social significance. Three lecture hours a week for one semester.

LIN 312. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language.

An interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary introduction to the manifold aspects of language. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

LIN 312C. Culture and Communication.

Same as Anthropology 307. An introduction to the study of culture through communication and the theory of signs. Three lecture hours or two lecture hours and one discussion hour a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: Anthropology 307, Linguistics 312 (Topic: Culture and Communication), 312C.

LIN 312D. Languages around the World.

Explores the language families of the world. Considers such questions as: what does it mean for languages to be related, and how do we know that they are related in the first place; why are there only a handful of language families in Europe and Africa while there are scores in South America and New Guinea; What can we say about where a language or language family may have originated; and how much living history is being lost as languages become endangered or extinct when people stop speaking them? Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 312 (Topic: Languages Around the World) and 312D may not both be counted.

LIN 312E. Language of Sign and Gesture.

Explores how language, a faculty that arises in the brain, is expressed by the body, both for spoken languages (via the vocal tract) and for signed languages (via the hands and face). Also includes an examination of how language, a special cognitive faculty unique to humans, intersects and overlaps with other communication systems, with a focus on gesture, the nonlinguistic communicative systems used by humans and some nonhuman species. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 312 (Topic: Language in the Body) and 312E may not both be counted.

LIN 313. Language and Computers.

Natural language processing, including spam filtering, dialogue systems, spelling and grammar correction, forensic linguistics, cryptography, and machine translation. Studies how these systems function, the difficulties in implementing them, and implications of such technologies for society. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 312 (Topic: Language and Computers) and 313 may not both be counted.

LIN 119S, 219S, 319S, 419S, 519S, 619S, 719S, 819S, 919S. Topics in Linguistics.

This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the Department of Linguistics. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Upper-Division Courses

LIN 321L. American English.

Same as English 321L. An overview of the historical development of English in the Americas. Attention to regional, social, and ethnic differences, and their implications for public education. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

LIN 322. Gypsy Language and Culture.

Same as English 364D (Topic 1). Linguistic introduction to Romani; relationship to languages of India; history from 280 BC; modern dialects and international standard language; history and culture as reflected in the language. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: Asian Studies 372 (Topic 13), English 350E (Topic: Gypsy Language and Culture), 364D (Topic 1), Linguistics 322, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies 325 (Topic 1). Prerequisite: For English majors, nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing; for others, upper-division standing.

LIN 323L. English as a World Language.

Same as English 323L. An account of the spread of English around the world; national, social, and regional varieties. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

LIN 129S, 229S, 329S, 429S, 529S, 629S, 729S, 829S, 929S. Topics in Linguistics.

This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser in the Department of Linguistics. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

LIN 344K. Phonetics: The Production and Perception of Speech Sounds.

Articulation and transcription of speech sounds; distinctive feature systems; physiological and acoustical aspects of phonetics; common phonological processes. Three lecture hours a week for one semester.

LIN 345. Language Change and Language Variation.

Introduction to the study of how languages change and the principles developed by linguists to account for these changes. Investigation of the various domains in which change occurs, and the social and linguistic motivations for change. Examines the methods linguists use to determine the earlier profile of a language or its parent language, before identified changes occurred. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Linguistics 344K.

LIN 350. Special Topics in the Study of Language.

Nontechnical examination of social, educational, and political problems to which current linguistic knowledge is relevant. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Varies with the topic.

Topic 1: Language and the Brain. Same as Communication Sciences and Disorders 350. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 2: Language and Thought. Study of the relation between language and thought, using a cognitive science approach. Examines the words people use and how people think; whether language structure affects thought; and some cognitive aspects of language. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 3: Sign Languages and Signing Communities. Same as American Sign Language 326. Examines the grammar of signed languages, their use in signing communities, and the acquisition of signed languages as first languages. No knowledge of American Sign Language is required. May not be counted toward fulfillment of the foreign language requirement for any bachelor's degree. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 4: Language and People. Areas in language and linguistics that most directly impact people, such as language and ethnicity, language and nation-building, and language politics. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 5: Bilingual Language Acquisition. Examines various aspects of bilingual first language acquisition including phonology, morphology, and syntax, as well as the child's use of his/her languages. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 6: Indigenous Languages of the Americas. Same as Latin American Studies 322 (Topic 15: Indigenous Languages of the Americas). Examines various aspects of languages in the Americas, including their linguistic structures, the cultural domains in which they exist, and their histories of language contact and change. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 9: Psycholinguistics. Examines the psychological mechanisms that people use in learning, comprehending, and producing language. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 10: How to Describe a Language. Practical introduction to language documentation and preservation. Subjects include language diversity and practical methods for describing, documenting, and preserving languages, with an emphasis on the phonological and morphological analysis of restricted data sets, as well as the role of linguists in conjunction with communities of speakers who wish to document or revitalize their languages. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 350 (Topic: How to Describe a Language) and 350 (Topic 10) may not both be counted. Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 11: Speech Intelligibility. An overview of the main empirical findings on talker-, listener-, and signal-related factors that shape speech intelligibility, the degree to which spoken language can be comprehended. Explores how signal-related (physical), peripheral (auditory-perceptual), and system-related (mental) factors condition variation in both the production and perception of intelligible speech. Also examines how variation in intelligibility conditions different levels of spoken language processing and different tasks that the listener is performing during spoken language comprehension. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 350 (Topic: Speech Intelligibility) and 350 (Topic 11) may not both be counted. Additional prerequisite: Linguistics 344K, 358S, or consent of instructor.
Topic 12: Analyzing Text Data: A Statistics Toolkit for Linguists. Introduction to statistical concepts and analyses via language problems and linguistic data sets. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 350 (Topic: Words in a Haystack) and 350 (Topic 12) may not both be counted. Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 13: Creole Languages and Their Speakers. Same as English 364D (Topic 2). Only one of the following may be counted: African and African Diaspora Studies 372G (Topic: Creole Languages and Their Speakers), English 364D (Topic: Creole Languages and Their Speakers), 364D (Topic 2), Linguistics 350 (Topic: Creole Languages and Their Speakers), 350 (Topic 13). Additional prerequisite: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.
Topic 14: Linguistics of Writing. How language relates to the written word and how linguistic analysis is intertwined with writing. Subjects include the typology and evolution of writing systems, the psycholinguistics of reading and writing, and the role of writing in contemporary language politics. Linguistics 350 (Topic: Linguistics of Writing Systems) and 350 (Topic 14) may not both be counted. Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

LIN 353C. Introduction to Computational Linguistics.

Introduction to key representations and algorithms used in computational linguistics and the main natural language processing applications. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 350 (Topic: Introduction to Computational Linguistics) and 353C may not both be counted.

LIN 353N. Natural Language Processing.

Introduces theoretical and applied topics relating to natural language processing, including machine translation, search, automatic summarization, and dialog systems. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: Computer Science 378 (Topic: Natural Language Processing), Linguistics 350 (Topic: Natural Language Processing), 353N.

LIN 357. Undergraduate Research.

Supervised research experience. Individual instruction. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the pass/fail basis only. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and Linguistics 306 with a grade of at least C-.

LIN 358Q. Supervised Research.

Supervised student-initiated research. Individual instruction. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the pass/fail basis only. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and Linguistics 306 with a grade of at least C-.

LIN 358S. Fundamentals of Speech Science.

Same as Communication Sciences and Disorders 358S. Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the encoding and decoding of speech. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: Communication Sciences and Disorders 315S, 358S, Linguistics 358S. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and a University grade point average of at least 2.25; for Communication Sciences and Disorders majors, Communication Sciences and Disorders 313L and 358 with a grade of at least C in each.

LIN 360K. Introduction to English Grammar.

Introduction to the study of the syntactic structure of modern English from the viewpoint of generative grammar. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. English 360K and Linguistics 360K may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

LIN 364M. History of the English Language.

Same as English 364M. Development of sounds, forms, and vocabulary of the English language from its origins to the present. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

LIN 372K. Sound Patterns: From Sound to Word.

Methods and principles of analyzing the sound systems of languages. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Linguistics 344K.

LIN 372L. Syntax and Semantics: The Structure and Meaning of Utterances.

Methods and principles of describing the syntactic systems of languages. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and Linguistics 306.

LIN 373. Topics in Linguistics and Related Disciplines.

Introduction to the study of the areas of linguistics that involve other disciplines, such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, mathematical methods in linguistics. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Prerequisite: Varies with the topic.

Topic 1: Child Language. Examination of theory and research concerning the development of language in the child. Linguistics 373 (Topic 1) and Psychology 333P may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 2: Language and Speech in American Society. Same as American Studies 321 (Topic 2: Language and Speech in American Society), Anthropology 325N, and Sociology 352M (Topic 3: Language and Speech in American Society). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing, and Anthropology 302, 305, 307, or Linguistics 306.
Topic 3: Language in Culture and Society. Same as Anthropology 325M and Sociology 352M (Topic 4: Language in Culture and Society). Language as a cultural resource; functions of language in society; survey of language communities. Prerequisite: Anthropology 302, 305, 307, or Linguistics 306; or consent of instructor.
Topic 7: Introduction to Cognitive Science. Same as Cognitive Science 360 (Topic 1: Introduction to Cognitive Science) and Philosophy 365 (Topic 2: Introduction to Cognitive Science). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.
Topic 9: The German Language: Historical Perspectives. Same as Anthropology 320L (Topic 9) and German 369 (Topic 4). Only one of the following may be counted: Anthropology 320L (Topic 8: German and English: Historical Perspectives), 320L (Topic 9), Classical Civilization 348 (Topic 8: German and English: Historical Perspectives), 348 (Topic 9: The German Language: Historical Perspectives), German 369 (Topic 4), Germanic Civilization 327E (Topic 9: German and English: Historical Perspectives), Linguistics 373 (Topic 8: German and English: Historical Perspectives), 373 (Topic 9). Additional prerequisite: Three semester hours of upper-division coursework in German or Linguistics.
Topic 10: Language, Culture, and the Texas German Experience. Same as American Studies 370 (Topic 47), Anthropology 324L (Topic 55), and German, Scandinavian, and Dutch Studies 351C. The evolution of the culture and language of German immigrants to Texas from the 1840s through the present and how they have influenced other ethnic groups in Texas. Three lectures a week for one semester. Only one of the following may be counted: American Studies 370 (Topic: Language, Culture, and the Texas German Experience), 370 (Topic 47), Anthropology 324L (Topic: Language, Culture, and the Texas German Experience), 324L (Topic 55), Germanic Civilization 327E (Topic 11) German, Scandinavian, and Dutch Studies 351C, Linguistics 350 (Topic: Language, Culture, and the Texas German Experience), 373 (Topic 10). Additional prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

LIN 374M. Sociolinguistics.

Same as Anthropology 374M. An in-depth treatment of current interests in sociolinguistic research literature. Subjects include language and gender; social, regional, and ethnic dialects of American English; language use in African American communities; language and identity in a pluralistic society; and language, literacy, and education. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Anthropology 302 or Linguistics 306.

LIN 379. Conference Course in Linguistics.

Supervised individual study of selected problems in linguistics. Conference course. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Six semester hours of upper-division coursework in linguistics.

LIN 679H. Honors Tutorial Course.

Supervised individual reading for one semester, followed by research and writing to produce a substantial paper. Conference course for two semesters. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: For 679HA, admission to the Linguistics Honors Program; for 679HB, Linguistics 679HA.