General Linguistics I [LROMB218]

Learning outcomes

The science of linguistics is, through its classical works, eminently concerned with epistemology: this course is naturally part of this critical perspective. Consequently, it aims to provide the student not so much with an encyclopaedic knowledge as with tools for analysis and reflection. Taking into account the implicit representations of the language activity of the beginner, stemming from images and received knowledge, it seeks to lead him to fundamental questions.

Content

Questioning the fact that there is a grammatical activity at least as old as poetry or writing, this course studies the ways in which this grammatical activity took the form of science in the 19th and 20th centuries: the comparative grammar of IndoEuropean languages; the Saussurean problematic. These different approaches lead us to question the relevance of the questions of modern science for the "sciences of language". The course thus articulates various aspects: phonology, morphology, syntax, and thus situates human language, including sign languages, among the semiotic systems, at the same time as it exposes specific pathologies and takes up the themes of language emergence and acquisition. The weekly supervision and written assignments are designed to encourage the student's own personal development.