Linguistics course resources

The study of linguistics takes us to the crossroads of language and culture where where language shapes our understanding of the world and connects diverse cultures.
There is a a treasure trove of resources that unravel the scientific study of language's structure, usage, and societal significance.
Linguistics help us decode the intricate web of sounds, grammar, and context, shedding light on communication's intricate role in society.
Linguistics will take us on a journey through phonetics, syntax, semantics, and more, while also helping us explore practical applications like language teaching and translation in the digital age.

"Words use us as much as we use words." -- Laurence J. Peter

Open Educational Resources

This page and the resources linked from it are Open Educational Resources (OER)

Linguistics was team-taught at Southern Nazarene University by Howard Culbertson, world missions professor, and Carolyn Waterman from the English department. It could be taken for credit as an English course or as a missions course given that communication is a branch of Cultural Anthropology.

Linguistics was offered at SNU about every two years and could be taken either as a missions course or as an English course.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language and its structure, including how it is used, acquired, and processed by humans. Linguists examine the components of language, such as sounds, grammar, and vocabulary, and investigate how they are used in communication. They also study the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which languages are spoken, and how language is related to other aspects of human cognition and behavior.

Linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that draws on insights from psychology, anthropology, computer science, philosophy, and other disciplines. It has many practical applications, including language teaching, speech therapy, machine translation, and natural language processing.

There are several subfields of linguistics, including:

Phonetics and phonology: the study of the sounds of language, how they are produced, and how they are used in different languages.
Morphology: the study of the structure of words and how they are formed from smaller units called morphemes.
Syntax: the study of the structure of sentences and how words are combined to form grammatically correct sentences.
Semantics: the study of meaning in language, including how words and sentences convey meaning and how context affects meaning.
Pragmatics: the study of how language is used in social contexts and how context affects the interpretation of language.
Historical linguistics: the study of how languages change over time and how they are related to each other.
Sociolinguistics: the study of how language is used in different social contexts and how it reflects and reinforces social norms and identities.

Language - God's gift
Language learning alphabet -- PowerPoint slide show [ download as PowerPoint ]
The word for God: Bible translators face a dilemma in India
Crossword puzzle on intercultural communication
How to say "Merry Christmas" in more than 80 languages
How to say "He is risen" or "Christ is risen" in almost 70 different languages

External Links

SIL (Wycliffe) Linguistics Resources
Language gulper -- Overview of almost 200 ancient and modern world languages, including phonology, grammar, basic vocabulary, key literary works and maps
Everytongue.com -- Putting a recording of every language online
Translation apps for phones
Psychologists show how Accents shape our perception of a person
Semantics: Can colorless green ideas sleep furiously?
English as a Second Language
- English as a Second Language: Teaching and Learning
The Word Detective
Language learning
- Foreign Language for Travelers
- Spanish speaking resources
- Language learners, start here
- Want to learn French, Spanish or German? Here's a site billing itself as the Berlitz of the Internet ]
Companies hiring translators
- Ulatus

Writing Standards

Most courses at SNU contain a writing component.

I expect students to produce written work that is focused, well-developed, organized, and relatively free of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors.

Papers falling short of this standard will not be graded. That work will be returned to the students for further revision and resubmission.

See my writing checklist.

-- Howard Culbertson,

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Tempted to cheat on schoolwork? Before you do, read SNU's academic integrity policy