Teaching slides for Introduction to Linguistics, in course order. Click a title to view or download the slides.

1. Intro to Linguistics (1.8 MB)

Intro to Linguistics — What linguistics is and isn’t, what language is, Hockett’s design features, why study language, languages of the world, how linguists study language, prescriptivism vs descriptivism, branches, conlang project.

2. Writing Systems (6.0 MB)

Writing Systems — What writing is vs language, why writing developed (Mesopotamia), multiple inventions, rebus principle, meaning-based vs sound-based systems, direction/conventions, material shaping script.

3. Phonetics (3.0 MB)

Phonetics — Articulatory, auditory and acoustic phonetics, why IPA is needed, vocal tract anatomy, consonants/vowels, natural classes, stress and tone.

4. Phonology (775 KB)

Phonology — Phonetics vs phonology, minimal pairs, modelling speakers’ knowledge of sound systems.

5. Morphology (557 KB)

Morphology — Word structure, morphemes and affixes, what counts as a word, levels of structure, interaction with phonology/syntax.