Linguistics Course: Language, Dialects, Writing Systems, and Diversity — Comprehensive Notes
Overview
Language is a universal human trait with wide-ranging importance
As an object of scientific study (linguistics)
In computer science and technology today
Central to constructing and judging identities; language use shapes social judgments
Accent and dialect are core concepts; accent is a fundamental human feature linked to identity
Children recognize when someone doesn’t speak their language and react (evidence from classroom visits in India)
Accent, dialect prejudice, and perceptions of nonstandard varieties are central to the course
The course will examine a range of accents/dialects with a focus on two major varieties:
Boston dialect (deep study due to prior research)
African American English (AAE) with emphasis on grammar, not just vocabulary, and comparisons to Standard American English
A key claim (a linguist’s dogma): all languages are equally complex at some level
Complexity is not about debility or laziness of a dialect; technologies and vocabulary changes do not erase underlying grammatical architecture
Example: Korean today is technologically advanced, but its underlying language architecture is not fundamentally altered by new tech vocabulary over the past 200 years
The outer appearance of a language may reflect external factors (technology vocabulary) without changing the core structure
Standard language and power
The standard is privileged and linked to social power and fashion, not scientific superiority
The standard changes over time; proximity to the standard is often practically useful, but not a measure of linguistic superiority
Example: costume and fashion changes across eras (e.g., 1950s cinema visuals) illustrate convention and social norms
Two technical threads in the course
Structure of languages: recursion and grammars as a way to generate infinite sentences from finite mental resources
Initial chunk is technically challenging; introduces recursion and grammar-based generation
Sounds of languages: phonetics/phonology; classification of sounds; cross-language variation in phoneme inventories
Example contrast: English words ending in vowels (go) vs consonants (cat)
Hawaiian: words can end only in vowels; this is a striking phonotactic constraint
Class structure and logistics
Lectures: Mondays and Wednesdays at the stated time; Friday sections with in-class work
Sections account for 20% of the grade (regular in-class work)
Regular assignments roughly once a week; some are standard problem write-ups, others are different tasks (see Assignment 1 below)
Exams: three exams spaced through the semester (often described as two midterms + a final)
Writing project: 8% of the grade; involves writing on a topic related to writing systems; includes English writing (4%), peer review, and revisions
There will be a linguistic diversity survey as the first assignment (Assignment 1)
Writing project and the scope of study
Writing project topic: writing systems across languages; investigate how writing systems relate to the sounds of the languages they encode
The image at the end (not shown here) illustrates major writing-system entry points; includes alphabetic systems, logographic systems (e.g., Chinese), and other systems; note that Japanese/Hawaiian specifics are nuanced beyond the simplified diagram
Students will learn about one additional writing system beyond Roman orthography by the end of the course
Writing project structure: 8% total; 4% for the initial English piece, peer review, and revision workflow
Linguistic diversity and the campus survey (Assignment 1)
Each student will conduct a linguistic diversity survey with six people and collect data on three items for each person (the person, parent one, parent two)
This yields 18 data points per student: $6 imes 3 = 18$
With approximately 200 students in the class, total data points ≈ $200 imes 18 = 3600$
Purpose: highlight the real-world linguistic diversity on campus and challenge monolingual assumptions
Major philosophical and practical questions
How many languages are there, and what constitutes a language vs. a dialect? (a central, unresolved question)
Language change is continuous and intrinsic to human societies; languages are never static
Language and identity: the language people claim, or the way they speak, contributes to identity construction
The discovery that many European and South Asian languages are related (Indo-European lineage) challenged colonial-era hierarchies and demonstrated the unity of human language families
The history of English within the broader Indo-European tree and how English evolved from earlier stages
Key examples and case studies mentioned
Korean: now technologically advanced; language structure largely unchanged by new technical vocabulary over two centuries
Korean, Irish Gaelic, Hindi, Spanish, Bengali, Persian, German: common lineage in the Indo-European family tree
Yugoslavia-era Serbo-Croatian vs separate national languages (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia): mutual intelligibility remains, but national identities frame language labeling; highlights language as identity rather than simple mutual comprehension
Frisian: a tiny language closely related to Dutch; last-name examples (ends in sma or Stra) illustrate historical language remnants and modern linguistic context
Sign languages and spoken languages: a core equivalence
Spoken and signed languages are fundamentally the same in linguistic terms: input/output can be swapped without changing the core linguistic system
Sign languages can be as expressive as spoken languages; advantage in noisy environments or in the dark, but functional equivalence in complexity and structure is the key point
The same underlying principles of phonology/phonetics apply to signs (e.g., set of usable signs is finite and organized in systematic ways)
Writing systems and their connections to sounds
All languages have writing systems that connect to their phonology to varying degrees; some systems align closely with sounds, others are more logographic or syllabic
The course will explore how writing systems relate to the phonological inventories of languages; there are multiple entry points to writing system development in human history
Important reminders about course culture and design
It’s a gen-ed course that satisfies SB (social/behavioral?) requirements and the cultural diversity designation
Students are encouraged to engage with discomfort and challenge naive beliefs about dialects and nonstandard varieties
The standard is a social construct tied to power, fashion, and historical context rather than an inherent measure of linguistic quality
Concepts to remember for exam and assignments
Recursion and grammars as mechanisms for infinite sentence generation
Phoneme inventories and cross-language variation (e.g., Hawaiian’s vowel-ending constraint)
Relationship between language, identity, and power dynamics (standard language as a product of social power)
Writing systems as human inventions with diverse entry points and functional relationships to speech sounds
Sign languages as fully-fledged natural languages with structure comparable to spoken languages
Quick note on structure and follow-up
The instructor will introduce sections and lab logistics (Labs in Hasbrooke, Lab 228, or Hasbrooke Lab Edition) and confirm section assignments on SPIRE
There will be no section in the first week; sections will start next week
TAs will assist with sections and labs; stay tuned for timetables and room numbers
Core questions to guide study
What makes a dialect or accent legitimate as a language or a variety? How do power dynamics shape what is labeled a “language”?
How do writing systems reflect and constrain the phonology of languages they encode?
How do sign languages compare to spoken languages in terms of structure, complexity, and expressive capacity?
Summary of learning goals
Understand language as a universal, socially embedded phenomenon
Distinguish between accent, dialect, and standard language, and analyze their social implications
Grasp the idea that all languages are equally complex at their core and that apparent differences often reflect external factors like technology or prestige
Learn about the relationship between writing systems and phonology, and explore diverse writing systems beyond the Roman alphabet
Appreciate the historical development of language families (e.g., Indo-European) and their cultural-political contexts
Recognize the linguistic unity of spoken and signed languages and the implications for linguistics and education
Key formulas and numeric notes
Grade components (illustrative):
Sections:
Writing project:
Writing piece portion:
Exams collectively:
Linguistic diversity survey data points per student:
If there are approximately , then total data points ≈
Recursion concept: sentence generation is unbounded due to recursive rules in grammar
Important terms to review for exams
Accent, dialect, standard, power, convention, identity, mutual intelligibility, language family, Indo-European, writing system, logographic, syllabary, alphabetic, phoneme, allophony, recursion, grammar, morphology, syntax, phonology, sign language
Final takeaway
Language is a dynamic, social, and deeply human system. Variation is natural and informative, not a signal of inferiority. The course aims to equip you with tools to analyze language structure, variation, and writing systems while recognizing the ethical and societal dimensions of language use.