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Module

SEL3349 : The History of Linguistic Ideas

  • Offered for Year: 2020/21
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Geoffrey Poole
  • Owning School: English Lit, Language & Linguistics
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Semester 1 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10.0

Aims

1. Familiarize the student with different approaches to the study of human language from antiquity to the present.
2. Examine the major intellectual and cultural trends of the societies in which these approaches were formulated.
3. Enable the student to appreciate both the role that intellectual and cultural contexts play in the development of theories of language and the impact that theories of language can have on intellectual and cultural trends.

Original Summary:
This module explores different theoretical approaches to 'language' and 'languages' from antiquity to the present. In addition to discussing the content of the approaches themselves, however, the module will also examine the intellectual environment, history and culture in which these theories arose. The goal will be to appreciate both the role that intellectual and cultural contexts play in the development of theories of language and the impact that theories of language can have on intellectual and cultural trends.

Outline Of Syllabus

Week 1: Module Introduction
Weeks 1-4: The Ancient World (Plato, Aristotle and Roman Grammarians)
Weeks 5-6: The Middle Ages and Renaissance (St. Augustine, Scholasticism, Descartes and the First Cognitive Revolution)
Weeks 6-8: The 19th Century (Indo-European, The Rise of the 'Social' Sciences)
Weeks 9-12: The 20th Century (Ordinary Language Philosophy, Soviet Linguistics, Behaviorist Linguistics, Chomsky and the Second Cognitive Revolution)

Teaching Methods

Module leaders are revising this content in light of the Covid 19 restrictions.
Revised and approved detail information will be available by 17 August.

Assessment Methods

Module leaders are revising this content in light of the Covid 19 restrictions.
Revised and approved detail information will be available by 17 August.

Reading Lists

Timetable