12.5 1st year Janet Fletcher. No special prerequisite. It is not necessary to know a language other than English to study Linguistics. First semester Two lectures and a tutorial a week. Students completing first-year Linguistics subjects should:

• have a general understanding of the nature of human language;
• have begun to develop skills for describing and analyzing languages;
• have gained a conceptual framework for thinking about and discussing language.

A practical introduction to central areas of linguistics, including the origins of language, language in society, phonetics, word structure, writing systems and language learning; selected topics in applied linguistics. Regular problem-solving assignments, a short essay and a take-away examination paper, totalling 4,000 words. Finegan and Besnier Language, Its Structure and Use.