Target Audience: Second-Year Undergraduate Students (Licence)
Semester: 04
Teaching Unit: Fundamental
Credits: 04
Coefficient: 02
Duration: 15 weeks
The Linguistics and Phonetics course aims to introduce students to the main concepts, notions, and analytical tools related to linguistics, phonetics, and phonology. It is designed to enable students to acquire the theoretical knowledge and analytical skills necessary to describe, analyse, and interpret linguistic and speech data.
The course is organised around two complementary strands of instruction: the first focuses on the main areas and fundamental concepts of linguistics, while the second focuses on phonetics and phonology. Each strand is supported by weekly seminars and practical activities that enable students to consolidate the knowledge acquired and apply it through observation, analysis, and guided exercises.
The Linguistics strand introduces students to major schools of thought and theoretical approaches that have contributed to the development of modern linguistic thought. It covers, in particular, Structuralism, Behaviourism, Mentalism, and Functionalism. The study of these approaches enables students to understand different conceptions of language, linguistic structure, and language functioning, as well as the different perspectives used to explain linguistic phenomena and language learning. Students are also encouraged to establish connections between and compare these approaches in order to develop a more critical and nuanced understanding of the phenomena under study.
The Phonetics and Phonology strand focuses on key aspects of speech production and organisation in English. It enables students to further develop their knowledge of the description and transcription of speech sounds, as well as of prosody and stress, with particular attention to stress in English. The course also addresses different aspects of connected speech, enabling students to observe and analyse phonetic modifications that may occur in continuous spoken discourse. These topics are explored through examples and activities designed to develop students' skills in observing, describing, and analysing speech.
Through these different learning units, the course progressively develops students' ability to identify, describe, classify, explain, analyse, and interpret a range of linguistic, phonetic, and phonological phenomena. The knowledge acquired is reinforced through interactive presentations, linguistic and phonetic examples, reflection activities, guided discussions, analytical exercises, and application-based tasks.