[
Wesleyan Home Page
] [
WesMaps Home Page
] [
WesMaps Archive
]
[
Course Search
] [
Course Search by CID
]
Academic Year 2003/2004
Language, Mind, Body: Philosophies of Linguisitics
COL 112 FA
What is language? What is thought? What do they have to do with one another? And what does each have to do with the body? Western thinkers have pondered such questions, in one form or another, for more than two
thousand
years. In this course we will examine some of the most important answers that have been proposed: from classical Greece and Rome through Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern times down to the present. Along the way we
will
consider how the various views of language have each been appropriate to their time, how they have intersected and continue to intersect not only with changing language technologies (such as writing, printing or audio
recording),
but also with other intellectual disciplines (including philosophy, physics, theology, chemistry, biology, mathematics, history, anthropology, sociology, computer science and psychology).
MAJOR READINGS
Major readings for the course are drawn from Harris and Taylor's LANDMARKS IN LINGUISTIC THOUGHT I: THE WESTERN TRADITION FROM SOCRATES TO SAUSSURE (Routledge: 1997).
Supplementary readings will be drawn
from:
Joseph, Love and Taylor's LANDMARKS
IN LINGUISTIC THOUGHT II: THE WESTERN TRADITION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (Routledge: 2001),
Pieter A.M. Seuren's WESTERN LINGUISTICS: AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION (Blackwell: 1998),
Koerner and Asher's CONCISE
HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE SCIENCES: FROM
SUMERIANS TO THE COGNITIVISTS (Pergamon: 1995),
R.H. Robin's A SHORT HISTORY OF LINGUISTICS (Longman: 1997),
Giulio Lepschy's multivolume HISTORY OF LINGUISTICS (Longman: 1994, 1998),
Umberto Eco's THE SEARCH
FOR THE PERFECT LANGUAGE (Blackwell:
1997)
Julia Kristeva's LANGUAGE--THE UNKNOWN: AN INITIATION INTO LINGUISTICS (Columbia: 1989),
Geoffrey Sampson's SCHOOLS OF LINGUISTICS (Stanford: 1980)
Lakoff and Johnson's PHILOSOPHY IN THE FLESH: THE
EMBODIED MIND AND ITS CHALLENGE TO WESTERN
THOUGHT (Basic Books: 1999)
and other sources yet to be determined.
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
The requirements for the course include two mid-term examinations and a final paper plus a number of shorter writing assignments.
COURSE FORMAT:
Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA COL
Grading Mode:
Student Option
Prerequisites:
NONE
SECTION 01
- Instructor(s): Wiliarty,Kevin P
- Times: ..T.R.. 09:00AM-10:20AM; Location: BTFDC314
- Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 19)
- SR. major: X Jr. major: X
- SR. non-major: X Jr. non-major: X SO: X FR: 19
Special Attributes:
- FYI: First Year Initiative:Seminar
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
Contact
wesmaps@wesleyan.edu
to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459