LING1102 Language as a Cognitive System

This unit considers language from a cognitive perspective, focusing on models of language informed by what we know of how language is represented in the human mind and brain, how human language evolved and how linguistic ability develops in the human child. The unit also introduces basic concepts in the formal modelling of linguistic systems. As a result of working through this unit, you should be able to:

• explain how linguistic phenomena can be understood with reference to the concepts of body, mind, and brain
• describe the basic properties of the physical realisation of language in speech, sign, and writing
• detail the progress of child language acquisition in the domains of phonology, morphology, and syntax, and explain how the facts of acquisition are key issues in the debate on the innateness of language
• explain how language is located in the brain, and how this relates to various language pathologies
• demonstrate understanding of the basic issues in the evolution of the language capacity of humans.