Linguistics: An Introduction for Teenage Scholars

Ages 13-18

Live Group Course

In this introductory course, students will have a crash-course in linguistics and the major disciplines that fall under the subject: Historical Linguistics, Etymology, Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax, Typology, Semantics, and Acquisition.

Will

Live video meetings

1x per week, 8 weeks

2-8 learners per class

55 min

About Learning Overview Teacher Reviews

What's included

8 live meetings

7 hrs 20 mins in-class hours

Assignments

1 hour per week. Students will be provided with assignments in the class dealing with the particular subjects outlined in the syllabus.

Assessment

Parents are encouraged to inquire into their student's participation. I will be happy to send an e-mail with my observation about the students engagement in the class.

Class Experience

This course seeks to introduce the student to the following linguistic subjects: Historical Linguistics, Etymology, Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax, Typology, Semantics, Writing Systems and Language Acquisition.

The class will be comprised of initial lectures, but discussion will drive the classes, as well as fun examples for analysis and consideration.

My teaching style is relaxed and interactive.  There is a wealth of information on every subject.  Student interest will dictate to some extent how much time is spent on particular subjects within the syllabus.

Learning Goals

The goal of the course is to develop interest and a framework for appreciating language through linguistic inquiry.

Syllabus

Curriculum

Follows Teacher-Created Curriculum

8 Lessons

over 8 Weeks

Lesson 1:

Language

 What is a language?  How many languages are there?  How does a language differ from the complex communication systems of bees, ants, birds, dogs or even mathematics?  The class will investigate Hockett's Design Features (universals of human language).

55 mins online live lesson

Lesson 2:

Phonetics and Phonology

 How is language produced physically?  What languages have the most and least sounds.  How does English compare?  The English phonemic inventory will be compared to Polynesian languages (very few sounds) and Khoisan languages (a great number of sounds), and other languages that are illustrative of the variety of language sounds.  Cognates of English words borrowed into Hawaiian, Mandarin and Japanese will also be analyzed.

55 mins online live lesson

Lesson 3:

Morphology

 What are words?  What do they do?  English word classes will be compared against word classes of other languages to discover their relative complexity or simplicity.  Lexical and Functional word types will be introduced.  In addition to prefixes and suffixes, students will be introduced to infixes and circumfixes.  Students will analyze a nonsensical text to see whether they are able to parse the words into their classes.

55 mins online live lesson

Lesson 4:

Syntax

 What effect does word order have on meaning?  Latin, English and Mandarin will be compared.  English and Earlier forms of English will also be compared.

55 mins online live lesson

Other Details

External Resources

Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.

Meet the teacher

Will

Joined December, 2024

Profile

Teacher expertise and credentials

I am a teacher and literacy instructor that is constantly using my knowledge of phonetics, phonology and morphology to engineer the most effective instruction for my students.  I have also worked as a Spanish Linguist for Spanish and English literacy curriculum development.  In my free time I study languages, which is made enjoyable by my understanding of the linguistic principles that I teach here.  I have a BA in Linguistics with a minor in French.