Linguistics II
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alper Kumcu Email | Website
Course Description and Content
The course begins with an overview of the distinction between micro- and macro-linguistics, introducing the shift from the internal structure of language to language in use. It then examines how language varies across social groups and regions, focusing on issues of identity, style, prestige, and power. Topics such as multilingualism, bilingual development, diglossia, and language contact are explored alongside mechanisms of language change and the impact of innovation in contemporary communication contexts. The course further investigates the relationship between language and culture, including cultural categories and linguistic relativity. In the second half of the semester, attention turns to language acquisition and cognition, addressing first and second language acquisition processes, the mental organization and processing of language, and the relationship between language and the brain. The final week introduces computational linguistics and digital humanities, highlighting how large-scale language data, corpus methods, and digital tools are used to analyze variation, change, discourse, and multilingual practices in contemporary societies. The course concludes by integrating social, cognitive, and technological perspectives into a comprehensive macro-linguistic framework.
Objectives & Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain key concepts in macro-linguistics, including social and regional variation, multilingualism, language change, and language policy.
- Analyze how language constructs identity and reflects social power relations.
- Describe the processes involved in first and second language acquisition and distinguish between them.
- Discuss how language is represented and processed in the mind and localized in the brain, drawing on neurolinguistic evidence.
- Evaluate the role of language in shaping culture, worldview, and social interaction.
- Interpret basic findings from corpus-based and computational approaches to language, and understand how digital tools and large-scale language data contribute to the study of linguistic variation, change, and discourse.
- Integrate social, cognitive, cultural, and technological perspectives to develop a holistic understanding of language as a dynamic human and societal phenomenon.
Weekly Schedule
| Week | Topic | Related Reading (George Yule, 8th ed., 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Course Introduction | Preface (pp. 24–25); overview of Chapters 1–20 |
| 2 | From Micro to Macro Linguistics | Chapters 3–11 (overview of internal structure); Chapters 12–20 (overview of language in use) |
| 3 | Language and Identity | Chapter 19 – Social Variation in Language; Chapter 20 – Language and Culture (social categories, gender, address terms) |
| 4 | Language and Power | Chapter 19 – Social Variation in Language (prestige, accommodation, vernacular) |
| 5 | Multilingualism and Bilingualism | Chapter 18 – Regional Variation in Language (diglossia, bilingualism, pidgins, creoles); Chapter 14 – Second Language Acquisition (becoming bilingual) |
| 6 | Language Change and Language in the Digital Era | Chapter 17 – Language History and Change; Chapter 19 – Social Variation in Language (slang, register, innovation) |
| 7 | Language and Culture | Chapter 20 – Language and Culture (culture, categories, linguistic relativity) |
| 8 | Midterm Exam | — |
| 9 | First Language Acquisition | Chapter 13 – First Language Acquisition |
| 10 | Second Language Acquisition | Chapter 14 – Second Language Acquisition |
| 11 | Language in the Mind | Chapter 12 – Language and the Brain (language processing, slips, mental organization) |
| 12 | Language and the Brain | Chapter 12 – Language and the Brain (brain areas, aphasia, lateralization) |
| 13 | Computational Linguistics and Digital Humanities | — |
| 14 | Course Review | Review of course topics and readings |
Recommended Readings
- Burdick, A., Drucker, J., Lunenfeld, P., Presner, T., & Schnapp, J. (2012). Digital humanities. MIT Press.
- Crystal, D. (2004). The stories of English. Penguin.
- Crystal, D. (2005). How language works. Penguin.
- Crystal, D. (2011). Language and the Internet (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Edwards, J. (2013). Sociolinguistics: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
- Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingualism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
- Holmes, J. (2013). An introduction to sociolinguistics (4th ed.). Routledge.
- Jurafsky, D., & Martin, J. H. (2023). Speech and language processing (3rd ed. draft).
- McCulloch, G. (2019). Because Internet: Understanding the new rules of language. Riverhead Books.
- McEnery, T., & Hardie, A. (2016). Corpus linguistics: Method, theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.
- Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct: How the mind creates language. William Morrow.
- Salzmann, Z., Stanlaw, J., & Adachi, N. (2014). Language, culture, and society: An introduction to linguistic anthropology (6th ed.). Westview Press.
Requirements and Evaluation
Assessment Structure
- Midterm examination: 50% (one exam) Provisionally scheduled for Week 8. The date may change.
- Final examination: 50% (one exam) Scheduled for the regular course day during the first week of the final examination period.
Homework and attendance are included in the instructor’s assessment; no separate percentage is specified for them.
Requirements
- To be considered successful in the course, a student must receive at least 50 out of 100 on the final exam. Any student who scores below 50 out of 100 will fail the course.
- Attendance is mandatory. Students exceeding the absence limit will automatically fail (F1).
- Missing the final exam results in automatic failure (F2).
- Late submissions will receive a grade deduction that increases with the length of the delay.
- Unless an assignment is completed in class with pen and paper, you must upload it to HADİ. I will submit uploaded work to Turnitin. Plagiarism will result in a grade of zero for the assignment and may be referred for further action under university procedures.
- All assignment files must be named in the format “FirstName_LastName_StudentNumber” (e.g., Alper_Kumcu_12345678.docx).
- Every digitally prepared assignment must include an AI Use Acknowledgment stating whether you used AI tools and, if so, which tools you used and for what purpose. Plagiarism or submitting AI-generated text as your own work will result in an automatic failing grade for the course.