L2 or Second Language Acquisition/ Learning

The teaching and learning of L2, the use of research from L1 acquisition domain to make the process of learning more 'natural' and 'easy' is one of the richest areas of applied linguistics. Specially ELT and other language teaching branches of applied linguistics are one of the most publishing areas in linguistics. How to convert L2 learning to acquisition, what are the acquisition barriers, affective factors, the approaches which prefer learning vs the approaches which try to create natural conditions to convert language learning to language acquisition: all these points are very briefly discussed in these slides which are based on a chapter from The Study of Language by George Yule.

L1 or First Language Acquisition

L1 or First Language Acquisition is one of the most researched areas of psycholinguistics. For last forty or so years, researchers have tried to find out how child learns a language, what are the stages in L1 acquisition,  what factor affect child's learning. These slides cover a chapter from The Study of Language by George Yule on L1 Acquisition.

Language and Social Variation (Sociolinguistics)

These slides cover basic topics regarding sociolinguistics e.g. Speech Community, Sociolinguistics, Age and Occupation, Social Dialect or Sociolect, Social Markers, Style and Style Shifting, Slang, Register, Jargon, Speech Accommodation: Convergence and Divergence, Language and Gender, Language and Ethnicity and African American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Language and Regional Variation

These slides are based on a chapter of The Study of Language by George Yule. The topics covered are Dialect, Dialectology, Isogloss and Dialect boundaries, Standard Language, Bilingualism, Diglossia, Language Codification and Standardization, Pidgins and Creoles.

What is Grammar and Its Kinds

These slides cover some very basic concepts regarding grammar: Misconceptions about Grammar, What is Grammar, Traditional Grammar, Weaknesses of Traditional Grammar, The Structuralists and Structuralism, Strengths and Assumptions of Structuralism and Weaknesses of Structuralism with reference to criticism of  Chomsky and TGG grammarians on structuralism.

Behaviourism and Chomsky's Critique on Behaviourism

These slides give a very brief account of the behaviourist theory of psychology, the application of this theory to linguistics, and the critique/ criticism of Chomsky on Behaviourism as a mentalist. Various online sources are consulted to prepare this lecture.

Historical Linguistics and Philology

This lectures contains introductory material on philology, historical linguistics, proto-languages. The short history of English language is also included. The book used is The Study of Language by George Yule.