Language and Human Behavior: An Introduction to Topics in Linguistics
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 300
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 300
Choose Your Format
$127.63 USD
Ebook
$59.85 USD
Language and Human Behavior: An Introduction to Topics in Linguistics explores language in an accessible way from an applied linguistics perspective. Specifically, students are introduced to the forms, social varieties, and functions of language, and how language is acquired, is organized in the brain, changes over time, and is sometimes lost. As no previous knowledge of linguistics is required, the book is ideal for general education courses and can also serve as an introduction to the field for undergraduate minors or majors.
The book comprises nine themed sections. Each of the sections includes a number of short, topically relevant chapters, and original exercises, projects, and links to videos and audio excerpts that coordinate with and enliven the chapter topics. These exercises and projects provide opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and writing skills while exploring linguistic topics, and to learn more about their own and their communities’ knowledge and use of language.
Each chapter is organized as follows:
- Prereading questions to frame the topic
- Topic
- List of chapter key words
- Postreading questions to review the chapter
- Questions that stimulate critical thinking in small-group and whole-class discussions
- Chapter references
- List of readings such as academic articles and books, novels and short stories, and/or links to websites, films, and videos that highlight some aspect of the topic presented in the chapter
Additionally, each section includes interviews with linguists who discuss what drew them to the field and their perspectives on language.
Section 1. Language and How We Study It
Chapter 1.1 What Is Language?
Chapter 1.2 How do We Know What We Know about Language?
Chapter 1.3 What Are the Components of Language?
Chapter 1.4 Are All Languages Spoken?
Chapter 1.5 Are All Languages Written?
Section 2. What We Know About Language and Languages
Chapter 2.1 How Old Is Human Language?
Chapter 2.2 Are All Languages Related?
Chapter 2.3 How Do Languages Change Over Time?
Section 3. Brain, Babies, and Language Learning
Chapter 3.1 Where Does Language Reside in the Brain?
Chapter 3.2 How Do Babies Acquire Language?
Chapter 3.3 How Do We Learn Other Languages?
Section 4. Language Contact
Chapter 4.1 What Is Multilingualism?
Chapter 4.2 What Are Indigenous Languages?
Chapter 4.3 Why Do Languages Become Endangered?
Section 5. Language in Society
Chapter 5.1 What Is a Dialect?
Chapter 5.2 What Role Does Language Play in Social Justice?
Chapter 5.3 What Is a Language Style?
Section 6. Language and Culture
Chapter 6.1 Are There Social Norms for Conversation?
Chapter 6.2 What Is the Relationship Between Language and Power?
Section 7. Language and Identities
Chapter 7.1 How Does Language Shape and Reveal Who We Are?
Chapter 7.2 Gendered Identities
Section 8. Language, Technology, and Social Networks
Chapter 8.1 Language and Artificial Intelligence (AI): How Human Is AI?
Chapter 8.2 How Has Technology Changed Language Use?
Shahrzad Mahootian is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. She received her doctorate in linguistics from Northwestern University and began teaching at NEIU in 1993. Her research interests and publications include topics in language contact including structural, cognitive, and social aspects of multilingualism, bilingual language acquisition, code switching and language choice, language and identity. She has also written on various aspects of Persian linguistics.
Judith Kaplan-Weinger is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. She received her PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University and has been a member of NEIU’s Linguistics faculty since 1987. Her research and teaching focus on sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and the ethnography of communication. Currently, she researches the discursive practices of loss, grief, and mourning.
Lewis Gebhardt is an assistant professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. He earned his PhD at Northwestern University in 2009. His research interests include syntax and semantics, especially the syntax and semantics of noun phrases across languages. He is a linguistic consultant for The Language Conservancy, helping to document and analyze Crow, a Siouan language spoken in Montana, and with the Crow tribe’s language-education and language-revitalization efforts.
Richard W. Hallett is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at Northeastern Illinois University. He received his PhD in linguistics from the University of South Carolina in 2000, the same year he began teaching at NEIU. He regularly teaches introductory linguistics, world Englishes, lexical acquisition, multiple language acquisition, English grammar in the classroom, and language and identity. He has published in the areas of second language acquisition, discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, humor, and language and tourism.