This unit explores the fundamental properties of human language, with examples from languages spoken in every part of the world. We look at the sounds of human language: how the speech organs make them, and how different they can be across languages. We gain a detailed understanding of English consonants and vowels, and we learn how to transcribe them phonetically. We investigate the ways in which sounds can convey meanings, through the formation of words and sentences in English and many other languages. We see how and why English is different from Japanese, Swahili, German, or even Irish.

This unit introduces the study of the interrelationship between language and society. It is concerned with phenomena of language change and how that leads to varieties in a language. How are these varieties linked to social differences? What distinguishes male speech from female speech or what are the linguistic styles of different social classes or ethnic groups? What is slang, or jargon, and what distinguishes a casual conversation from an interview?

Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of human speech. Phonology is the study of the representation and organization of sound in human language. This unit introduces students to these two core fields within linguistics, while also offering a brief overview of the phonetic and phonological diversity found in the world's languages. Basic phonological patterns are explored and students are given hands on practice in analysing these patterns.

All languages can be used to build meanings of roughly equivalent complexity, but they often do this in very different ways. This core unit focuses on morphology and syntax, exploring the nature of these aspects of language, and showing how they are related to other aspects of language such as discourse and the lexicon.

Semantics deals with the meaning of words, phrases, sentences and texts, and the relations between those meanings. Pragmatics deals with how speakers use context and shared information to convey information additional to the semantic content of what they say, and with how hearers make inferences on the basis of this information. Our goal is to explore the diversity of ways in which meaning can be expressed linguistically in different languages, as well as of what constitutes evidence for meaning.

A language other than English is chosen for analysis (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse), and for description of the ways it is used (ethnography of speaking including speech acts, speech events, registers and genres). It is examined in its areal, genetic, historical, social and typological context. We also examine sources of data and their reliability, and the way findings are presented (reference and teaching grammars and linguistic papers).

'Language looks different when you look at a lot of it at once.' This unit of study introduces you to the use of computer software to look at a lot of language at once: Do we refer to 'men' and 'women' equally often? What are the five most frequent words in the English language? What is the difference between 'pure' and 'sheer'? How does television dialogue differ from real-world dialogue? And how does a computer help us to answer these and similar questions?

Discourse analysis is concerned with analysing how people create meaning(s) in a given social context. In this unit students will learn to apply linguistic methods to the analysis of discourse. 'Discourse' includes both spoken and written language as well as images. Students will learn to apply a range of advanced linguistic methods to explore different discourse varieties and to study their organisation above the sentence level. A particular focus will be on the kinds of insights provided by different analytical techniques.

Through the study of seminal research in sociolinguistics the student is introduced to the methodology and tools used for the study of linguistic variation. The unit looks at variation and change across all the primary areas of the grammar: phonetic and phonological, lexical, syntactic semantic change and variation looking at the seminal research in each areas. Students will undertake an independent research project into a topic of variation observed in Australian English.

Language is a dynamic system, under constant pressures and continually evolving. Sounds and sound systems of human languages are incredibly diverse yet at the same time there are identifiable principles or factors that seem to constrain the diversity found in the phonetic and phonological systems of language. This unit examines sound systems in language, from a holistic point of view, looking at phonetic and phonological properties of sounds. Techniques are introduced to help analyse linguistic sound systems in terms of synchronic patterns and also their diachronic development.

This elective unit explores issues and challenges at an advanced level in the analysis of word and sentence structure, and introduces a range of formal and functional models developed for the description and analysis of complex morphological and syntactic issues.

This unit introduces students to the methods of linguistic argument through careful study of a current debate in theoretical linguistics. Students learn to identify and assess the underlying assumptions, to work out what evidence would confirm or disconfirm the hypotheses made by different parties in the debate, and to draw conclusions as to which hypotheses are more likely to be useful or correct. They also learn to situate the debate within the wider contexts of linguistic theories and language description. Students are asked to contact staff members to discuss potential topics.

This advanced seminar aims to prepare students for independent research in linguistics through critical reading and discussion of current issues and approaches in theory, data, methodologies, and criticism in linguistics and related research domains.

Human languages show a great range of diversity in every level of structure: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and more. Yet at the same time this diversity is constrained by universal or near-universal properties. This unit examines the nature and extent of diversity in the world's languages, exploring how this diversity can be best described, analysed, and explained. Principles of Language Typology and techniques for discovering patterns and generalizations are introduced. Explanations for diversity and universals are considered.

This unit takes a functional view of grammar, considering the ways in which English is organised to build up our picture of reality, to enable us to interact in conversation and to make our contribution coherent and relevant. It is designed to give students skills in the analysis of ideational, interpersonal and textual meaning in the clause, the nature of inter-clausal relations, and the structure of nominal, verbal and adverbial groups and prepositional phrases.

Pragmatics explores interactions of meaning and context in discourse. This unit of study introduces students to some important topics in pragmatics research: reference and speech acts, non-literal language, the role of inference and reasoning in discourse, politeness, conversation, and the ethnography of speaking.

This unit of study examines the main linguistic phenomena that occur in the contact between majority and minority languages in a context of migration, using the Italo-Australian community as a case.

Interdisciplinarity is a key skill in fostering agility in life and work. This unit provides learning experiences that build students' skills, knowledge and understanding of the application of their disciplinary background to interdisciplinary contexts. In this unit, students will work in teams and develop interdisciplinarity skills through problem-based learning projects responding to 'real world problems'.

What role does language play in business communication? Corporations make use of a wide range of different communicative activities, from company websites, mission statements, and corporate reports to communication on social media sites. People use language to construct and enact corporate images, workplace cultures, and leadership styles. This unit introduces students to linguistic approaches to business language, and explores the role language plays in organisations. Students will gain new insights into the surprising power of workplace discourse.

Law cannot exist without language. We look at the central role of language in the law and in legal professions. Language is the medium through which norms and laws are established, from informal agreements to ironclad contracts. Human interaction in legal processes is conducted through language, from arrests to interrogations to courtroom cross-examination and sentencing. And language is a focus of forensic work, from verifying the identity of recorded voices to determining whether an apparent suicide note was in fact written by the deceased.

This unit of study aims to give an overview of the languages of indigenous Australians. Of the 250 distinct Aboriginal languages spoken in 1788, most are dead or dying and just 20 languages are expected to survive another few generations. This unit of study will challenge this grim and oft-quoted statistic. We will see that new Aboriginal languages have emerged, apparently moribund languages have been gaining strength and distinctive Aboriginal ways of talking have survived. We consider why some languages have prospered while others have declined. We explore how Australian languages have responded to the challenges of non-Aboriginal settlement, in such arenas as education, land rights and health.

Intercultural communication is common, especially in today's globalized societies. It is challenging for people who engage in it, as well as for theories of communication in different societies. We consider approaches including conversation analysis, speech act theory, interactional sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and discourse analysis. In analysing samples of cross-cultural communication we attend to how social relationships are reflected in linguistic practices. We explore applied perspectives on intercultural communication in educational, courtroom and workplace interactions.

'You won't believe what happens next (and it's not what you think)'. This unit examines linguistic approaches to media discourse. The language of news texts and social media will form a special focus of the unit. We will explore general aspects of media institutions, the ways in which social identities are constructed in the media, differences between the language of various types of media texts, and relationships between words and images.

New technologies are developing at a rapid pace and have enabled significant breakthroughs in collecting, analysing and visualising the textual data that are at the heart of many subjects. This interdisciplinary unit will teach students how to use computer and digital tools for the collection or analysis of spoken/written discourse, for example social media, literature, fieldwork data, corporate communication, foreign language, interviews, news discourse and many more. The emphasis is on easy-to-use tools and no prior technical expertise is required.

Language in Context: from Foundations to Cutting Edge' will focus on paired readings (one reaching back to the foundations of the discipline, the other one looking forward from the frontiers of current understandings). These will relate to language in context (in all relevant senses, from society to culture, from conversation to text, within and across modalities), including but not limited to empirical, analytical, theoretical, applied, methodological, and epistemological issues, at an advanced level.

Structure in Language: from Foundations to Cutting Edge' will focus on paired readings (one reaching back to the foundations of the discipline, the other one looking forward from the frontiers of current understandings). These will relate to structure in language (at all levels, from sound to morphosyntax to discourse), including but not limited to empirical, analytical, theoretical, applied, methodological, and epistemological issues, at an advanced level.

This unit will support the development of students' research theses. The unit will include an orientation to their honours year, thesis development workshops, regular student-supervisor consultations and preliminary thesis writing.

This unit requires students to complete an 18 000 word original piece of sustained and advanced research in Linguistics, with supervision from a member of the Department guiding the research and writing process.