Into how many meaningful units can a word like "politicization" be divided? Why are "oxen" and "mice" English words but not "boxen" or "mouses"? How many words do the indigenous peoples of the Arctic really have for snow? How can the Arabic word "kitaab" mean 'book', but "kataba" mean 'he wrote'? To answer these and other questions, we must learn to ask bigger questions: What is a word? How are words structured? How are they processed in people's brains? How do they differ across time, space, and context? This course will seek out answers through scholarly readings, discussion, and problem-based learning. Prerequisite: Ling 170D.
Course Attributes: EN S; BU Hum; AS SSC; FA SSC; AR SSC
