LING 5.01 Words

In this course we will explore all aspects of this most familiar unit of language. Among the questions we will address are: How exactly can we – or dictionary-makers – describe the precise meaning of a word? Is this even possible? How can two politicians honestly differ about the meaning of the word "lie"? How can a word’s meaning change over time? How and why are words borrowed from one language into another? How do our brains think of the words we want so fast? Why do we sometimes mishear song lyrics? What kinds of building blocks make up a word, and what ways are there of inventing new words? What makes a word part of slang or a specialized vocabulary? How do children learn their first words – and how do they learn tens of new words a day at their peak of vocabulary acquisition around age 2?

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