2024/2025

General Linguistics

Type: Mago-Lego

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 3 module

Online hours: 20

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 28

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Human language can be defined in dozens of ways: as a means of communication, a universal code, a ramified system, cultural legacy, an innate gift, a miracle… Whatever it is, language always remains in the focus of scholarly attention and its study requires much effort. Students taking this course will be able to find their way in the language hierarchy, detect change in phonetics, grammar and vocabulary of modern languages, investigate language contacts arising in all corners of the world, observe linguistic diversity and discuss endangered languages, contrast languages and reveal their common and specific features, as well as plunge into the history of linguistics and follow the evolution of the linguistic thought from the earliest times up to the present. A short preliminary course making part of the discipline and familiarizing participants with basics of linguistics will facilitate its mastering even by students having no professional linguistic training.