(BA) (4-year-programme) - The University of Hong Kong

145LING3111.Language and literacy in the information age (6 credits)This course aims at helping students gain an understanding of the role of language and literacyeducation in the socio-economic development of many societies. After the introduction of basicconcepts in sociolinguistics and in literacy, we will compare linguistic situations in selected parts ofthe world and then take up major issues such as multilingualism, literacy education, includingdefinitions and types of literacies, language planning policies, and how to integrate linguistic andeducational issues in development projects.Prerequisite: LING1000Assessment: 100% coursework.LING3112.Experimental phonetics (6 credits)The course covers the theoretical and instrumental study of the acoustic properties of speech sounds;classificatory criteria; speech analysis and synthesis; experimental techniques; and laboratory work.Prerequisite: LING1000 and LING2004Assessment: 100% coursework.LING3113.Language typology: The study of linguistic diversity (6 credits)Typology investigates the structural diversity of the world’s languages. Topics covered include:notions of language type with particular reference to morphology case marking, and word order; arealdistribution of features; universals of language and their explanation.Prerequisite: LING1000 and LING2009Assessment: 100% coursework.LING3118.Lexical-functional grammar (6 credits)The course offers an intensive introduction to the architecture of Lexical-Functional Grammar, with adiscussion of how this syntactic theory addresses issues such as levels of representation, lexicalintegrity, complex predicates, serial verbs, optimality, and the syntax - semantics interface.Prerequisite: LING1000 and LING2050Assessment: 100% coursework.LING3122.Pragmatics (6 credits)The course introduces students to Pragmatics, the study of meaning in context. Topics include:linguistic meaning, speaker intention, interpretation and understanding, context, deixis, reference,conversational implicature, inference, presupposition, speech acts, politeness, and relevance theory.Prerequisite: LING1000Assessment: 100% coursework.LING3123.Discourse analysis (6 credits)This course covers fundamental concepts and methods in Discourse Analysis. Several approaches thatdescribe and explain the structure and function of spoken, written and other types of discourses willbe presented (e.g. ethnomethodological approach, conversation analysis, and interactionalsociolinguistics). Examples will be drawn from different discourse genres, such as everydayconversations and various professional encounters to investigate how language is used. Many