Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11.40 – 12.30

on 12/9, 14/9, 17/10, 19/10, 31/10, 02/11

Lecturer: Dr. A. B. Bodomo

Location: K.K. Leung Building, 102 (Tuesdays) & LG109 (Thursdays)

Office: Room 105C, Main Building

Office Hours: By appointment

Telephone: 2857 8285

Email: abbodomo@hkusua.hku.hk

Cognitive science is a relatively new discipline that investigates the way the human mind functions and how computers can simulate these functions. The human mind is a complex system that receives, stores, processes and sends out information. All this involves cognition, which refers to perceiving and knowing.

Language is an important part of this cognitive process of receiving, storing, transforming and sending out information. We often hear or read information, store what we hear or read in order to remember it, and process this information before telling, or writing to, someone about it. Linguistics is the science of language, and is thus the part of cognitive science that addresses issues of language learning, production, and understanding. Students of cognitive science need to have a good grasp of this central aspect of the discipline.

To this end, in the linguistics component of this introduction to cognitive science, we will address issues that center on the nature of language, its key properties and components, and how it is learnt and used in various contexts.

Pre-requisite and follow-up courses

There are no pre-requisites for this course beyond the normal requirements for admission to first year studies at the University of Hong Kong.

As a follow-up to the linguistics component of cognitive science, students who complete this course can enroll in various aspects of Linguistics such as computational linguistics, syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology, and language and literacy.

Format of class meetings

Class interaction will be in the form of lectures but I could let some students present some aspects of the reading assignments in class. Tutorials will be undertaken by the teaching assistant for the Cognitive Science course.

Textbooks and Readings

Ernest Lepore and Zenon Pylyshyn (eds). 1999. What Is Cognitive Science. Blackwell Publishers. (especially chapters 10, 11, 12, and 13)

Neil Stillings and others. 1995. Cognitive Science: An Introduction. MIT Press. (especially chapters 6, 9, 10, and 11)

R. Wilson and Frank C. Neil (eds) 1999. The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. MIT Press

Especially the following articles:
Linguistics and language: Gennaro Chierchia
Formal Grammars: Edward Stabler
Language Acquistion: Lila Gleitman and Paul Bloom
Morphology: Mark Aronoff
Phonology: G. N. Clements
Pragmatics: Laurence Horn and Gregory Ward
Semantics: Barbara Partee
Syntax: Edwin Williams
Syntax-Semantics Interface: Gennaro Chierchia

Topics

1. Linguistics and its place in Cognitive Science 14/9, 17/10

2. Levels of linguistic representation: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics: 19/10, 31/10

3. Language and Literacy Acquisition: 02/11

Reading Assignments

Read the article by Grennaro Chierchia in the MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Sciences and summarize what it says about the relevance of language studies to cognitive science. Illustrate some of the properties of language with your own examples. As much as possible, draw your examples from more than one language. Due date: to be announced later.

Study Questions

1. Why is the study of language central to cognition?

2. At what levels of representation do we account for the pronunciation, form, structure, and meaning of a word or phrase?

3. How are languages learnt/acquired? Can you compare this to literacy acquisition?

Evaluation/Marking scheme (tentative)

60% exam (possibly to be a takehome exam or other essay-like thing)

25% for 5 short essays (one essay for one module)

10% tutorial participation

05% attendance