University of Pennsylvania · Courses

LING

113 courses with the subject LING, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.

LING 0001Introduction to Linguistics1

Philosophy: 4.5 Select one of the following: 1 4.50 PHIL 1170 History of Modern Philosophy

Subject: LING
Credits (min): 1
Credits (max): 1
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0050Landscape of Research and Innovation

At Penn there are thousands of faculty, staff, and students engaged in an extraordinary variety of research projects. The goal of this ﬁrst- year seminar is to give entering students an overview of this landscape. Participants will survey and discuss the content of a dozen ﬁelds and sub-ﬁelds, and will also learn how to get involved in research and innovation during their time at Penn. Each student will develop an individual plan, covering the acquisition of needed knowledge and skills, the development of personal and social connections, and the exploration of on- and off-campus research opportunities of various kinds. We will meet twice a week. We will meet twice a week. At one weekly meeting, an active researcher will join us for an informal discussion, in the context of the regularly-scheduled series of "Dinners with Interesting People" in the Quad. In the other weekly meeting, we will review background reading and discuss the featured area, including exercises in computational modeling of real datasets. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0051Proto-Indo European Language and Society

Most of the languages now spoken in Europe, along with some languages of Iran, India and central Asia, are thought to be descended from a single language known as Proto-Indo-European, spoken at least six thousand years ago, probably in a region extending from north of the Black Sea in modern Ukraine east through southern Russia. Speakers of Proto- Indo-European eventually populated Europe in the Bronze Age, and their societies formed the basis of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, as well as of the Celtic, Germanic and Slavic speaking peoples. What were the Proto-Indo-Europeans like? What did they believe about the world and their gods? How do we know? Reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language, one of the triumphs of comparative and historical linguistics in the 19th and 20th centuries, allows us a glimpse into the society of this prehistoric people. In this seminar students will, through comparison of modern and ancient languages, learn the basis of this reconstruction -- the comparative method of historical linguistics -- as well as explore the culture and society of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and their immediate descendants. In addition, we will examine the pseudo-scientiﬁc basis of the myth of Aryan supremacy, and study the contributions of archaeological ﬁndings in determining the "homeland" of the Indo-Europeans. No prior knowledge of any particular language is necessary. This seminar should be of interest to students considering a major in linguistics, anthropology and archaeology, ancient history or comparative religion. (Also fulﬁlls Cross-Cultural Analysis.) Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0054Bilingualism in History

This course introduces the foundations of linguistics - the scientiﬁc study of language - through exploration of multilingualism in the USA and in different societies around the world. Contacts between groups of people speaking different languages are documented from earliest records, and around the world it remains the norm to ﬁnd more than one language in regular use in a single community. In this course we will see that multilingualism is a catalyst for linguistic change: sometimes languages are lost; sometimes new languages are created; sometimes the structure of a language is radically altered. We will consider: Which parts of linguistic structure are most susceptible to change under conditions of bilingualism? Does language contact - whether a result of trade, education, migration, conquest, or intermarriage - influence language structure in predictable ways? How do individual speakers handle multiple languages? How have attitudes to speakers of multiple languages changed through history? How have socio-historical events shaped the linguistic situation in the USA? Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0060Language and Social Identity

Language is an important part of both human cognition as well as social organization. Our identities, our societies, and our cultures are all informed by and how we use language. Language interacts with the social, political and economic power structures in crucial ways. This course will focus on the ways in which language and the social facts of life are dependent upon each other. In this course, we will examine issues related to class, race, gender, culture and identity, as well as how language exists to both challenge and uphold systems of power.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0130Introduction to Language: Language Structure and Verbal Art

The purpose of this course is to explore the relationship between linguistic structure and the use of language for artistic purposes. The syllabus is organized as a sequence of units, each built around a particular theme. These include the sound structure of poetry (meter, rhyme, and other linguistic patterns in Jabberwocky, the Odyssey, Shakespeare, the Troubadours, and others); how precise linguistic data can be used to solve an outstanding literary problem (determining the approximate date when Beowulf was composed); and the structure of folktales of various cultures and of narratives of everyday experience.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0150Writing Systems

The historical origin of writing in Sumer, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica; the transmission of writing across languages and cultures, including the route from Phoenician to Greek to Etruscan to Latin to English; the development of individual writing systems over time; the traditional classiﬁcation of written symbols (ideographic, logographic, syllabic, alphabetic); methods of decipherment; differences between spoken and written language; how linguistic structure influences writing, and is reflected by it; social and political aspects of writing; literacy and the acquisition of writing.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0500Introduction to Formal Linguistics

Philosophy: Select one of the following:

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0600Introduction to Sociolinguistics

This class is an introduction to sociolinguistics: the subﬁeld of linguistic that is concerned with how society interacts with language. We all have experience with language in social context, and the data we need to study it more carefully is all around us. You'll learn about how our social contexts and identities shape how we use language, which in turn influences how others perceive us. You'll also learn about how social influences on language can contribute to language change over time. This is an active learning course, so you will engage in the same kinds of activities that sociolinguists do every day: reading papers, discussing case studies, collecting and analyzing data, and writing reports about what you have learned. And just like a working sociolinguist, you will do many of these activities collaboratively with others. Topics we will cover include regional accents, language attitudes, race, gender, style-shifting, code-switching, different kinds of language change, and techniques for the quantitative analysis of sociolinguistic variation.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0610Language in a Multicultural World

Which is more common around the world, monolingualism, bilingualism or multilingualism? Do children who learn two languages from birth turn out to be developmentally and linguistically disadvantaged or the reverse? What kind of new languages emerge when languages and cultures come into contact? Would establishing English as the social language of the United States help to preserve English? Why do the most pessimistic estimates predict the death of 90% of the world's 6,000 languages by the end of this century? This course addresses questions about multilingualism, as they relate to language ideologies, policies, and cultural identity on the one hand and language contact on the other. 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2203

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0650Talkin' Black: Language, Power & Identity

Soda, pop, or cokes? Buggy or shopping cart? Y'all, Y'alls, y'all'd've, y'all'd've'f'I'd've? Do you talk black, speak Appalachian - maybe both? Is your vernacular spectacular? Does anyone talk 'normal'? What does your accent say about you? We use language every day, but don't always take the time to stop and talk about the language we use. Language can both be a powerful tool for communication, and also a means to mock and disempower the 'other' (such as using the Southern accent to portray stereotypes). It can be used to draw people in (I'm lookin at you, brotha, sista) and dividing (you ain't from around here, are ya?) And, even if we share the exact same language - or think we do - miscommunications still seem to abound. This course will bring a s sociolinguistic perspective to language: how we use it, how we speak and write multiple versions of the same language, and how it reflects our identities, particularly with regards to race, class, gender, and regional backgrounds. We will explore deep questions of language as a medium of communication with consequences and impact in political, social, and personal realms. In addition to producing a research paper, we will also explore codeswitching and codemeshing techniques. This course, open to majors and non-majors, will explore language in social interactions, both as a means for humans to inflict power, but also as a site for deploying resistance. Language, at the intersections of power and identity, is not neutral. This sociolinguistic course will apply linguistic principles to literary forms, to explore how Black novelists such as Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Ken Saro-Wiwa, M. NourbeSe Philip, bell hooks, and others, incorporate their voices across the Black diaspora to explore the ways that Black voices are expressed - or silenced - when accounting for agency and power relations

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0700Data Science for Studying Language and

the Mind

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0740Introduction to Language and the Brain

This course offers an introduction to the brain basis of language. Its primary goal is to introduce students to the study of the brain and language by combining basic concepts from linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. We will consider, through lectures and readings, a number of questions: What areas of the brain underlie language processing and acquisition? What are the fundamental functions of these brain areas and how do these functions overlap with other cognitive processes? How is language impacted when one of these areas is damaged? And what are the methods and approaches researchers use to examine these questions? This is an introductory course and no speciﬁc background is assumed or required. 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 0750Language and Thought

This course describes current theorizing on how the human mind achieves high-level cognitive processes such as using language, thinking, and reasoning. The course discusses issues such as whether the language ability is unique to humans, whether there is a critical period to the acquisition of a language, the nature of conceptual knowledge, how people perform deductive reasoning and induction, and how linguistic and conceptual knowledge interact.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1005Introduction to Cognitive Science

How do minds work? This course surveys a wide range of answers to this question from disciplines ranging from philosophy to neuroscience. The course devotes special attention to the use of simple computational and mathematical models. Topics include perception, learning, memory, decision making, and language. The course shows how the different views from the parent disciplines interact and identiﬁes some common themes among the theories that have been proposed. The course pays particular attention to the distinctive role of computation in such theorie and provides an introduction to some of the main directions of current research in the ﬁeld. It is a requirement for the BA in Cognitive Science, the BAS in Computer and Cognitive Science, and the minor in Cognitive Science, and it is recommended for students taking the dual degree in Computer and Cognitive Science.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1100The History of Words

It is sometimes said that every word has its own history. But there are also general factors affecting how words change over time. In this course, we explore both aspects of the history of words. On the one hand, we explore the ways in which the saying is true, by investigating taboo words, euphemisms, shibboleths, doublets, folk etymology, idioms, paradigm gaps, reanalysis, and other word-speciﬁc processes. On the other hand, we discuss the general factors, such as regular sound change (for instance, the Great Vowel Shift), word frequency, and others, as time and interest permit. Spring, odd numbered years only 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1250The Phonetics of Music

Singing is an instance of human voice production, and as such can be studied in the way that speech is studied by speech scientists. The scientiﬁc study of singing is a small but growing ﬁeld that uses methods from speech physiology and acoustics to characterize differences among singing voices and performances. This course will introduce students to methods for quantifying aspects of voice production, so that voice samples can be compared across singers, styles, etc. We will also discuss the scientiﬁc basis for some of the vocal techniques. Every aspect of voice presented in class will be explored through hands-on lab work with computer programs. We will mostly look at recorded samples of professional singers, but we will sometimes look at students' own vocal productions. However, this is not a course about improving one's singing, and no skill or talent is required to participate. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1500The Keys to Language Structure (and How to Use Them)

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts of sentence structure in a "pretheoretical" framework, demonstrating that any natural human language must have certain structures and must choose the rest from a restricted universal set. The textbook, which was written for this course, discusses each set of structures with examples from six languages: English, Spanish, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, Mandarin, and Navajo. The instructor will add languages from among those with which the students are familiar, within the limits of his competence. This course will help students not only to learn foreign languages, but also to improve their own writing skills, by making the structures that they must use more explicit and intelligible. Fall, even numbered years only 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1700Experimental Approaches to the Study of Language

Controlled experiments are a key element of empirical research, and they play an increasingly important role in the study of language and communication. This course will be divided into two halves. In the ﬁrst half, students will be introduced to the fundamentals of how to conduct an experiment, along with a basic introduction to statistical s methods. The emphasis will be on understanding the basic logic of experimental design, but special lectures will focus on the application of particular methods to the study of language. In the second half, classes will become more like lab meetings as students develop their own experimental projects from the ground up. At the end of the semester they will write up these projects as papers. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1720Language, Cognition and Culture

This is a course on how language relates to other cognitive systems. We will discuss the question of whether and how the language one speaks affects the way one thinks, the relation between words and concepts, the link between language acquisition and conceptual development in children, and the potential role of language in shaping uniquely human concepts. The course incorporates cross-linguistic, cross-cultural and developmental perspectives and combines readings from linguistics, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience and other ﬁelds within cognitive science.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1750Psychology of Language

This course describes the nature of human language, how it is used to speak and comprehend, and how it is learned. The course raises and discusses issues such as whether language ability is innate and unique to humans, whether there is a critical period for the acquisition of a language, and how linguistic and conceptual knowledge interact.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 1770Research Practicum in Cognitive Science

Research Practicum is a six-week half-credit course that facilitates students’ entry into research in cognitive science. Students complete a small project of their own devising, from hypothesis generation to report writing. Practicum has a 'flipped' classroom. Before class each week, students watch video lectures that will help them implement their project; in-person class is for asking questions about the week’s lecture, and to work on the week’s assignment for the student’s project, with help from the instructor and TA as needed. Each week, we will also have a guest lecturer from the lab of a MindCORE faculty afﬁliate. The main product – pieces of which the student submits every week – is a 4-5 page paper reporting the study they conducted. Each week, students will also write a 150 word summary/reflection on the guest lecture that week.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2041Language in Native America

This course is an introduction to linguistic perspectives on the languages native to the Americas (their nature and distribution, typological similarities and differences), with an emphasis on North America. The diverse languages of this region will be examined from the point of view of particular linguistic phenomena, such as phonology, morphology, and syntax; and in addition we will study their historical development and their place in culture, society, and thought. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2042Construct a Language

In this course, students construct their own language, one that is compatible with what is known about possible human languages. To this end, the course investigates language typology through lectures and examination of grammars of unfamiliar languages. Topics include language universals, points of choice in a ﬁxed decision space, and dependencies among choices. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2047Linguistics of American Sign Language

This course covers linguistic issues in American Sign Language (ASL). Topics include formal linguistic properties of ASL – phonology (articulatory features, phonological constraints and processes, nonmanuals), morphology (compounding, derivation, incorporation, new word formation, classiﬁer constructions), and syntax (word order, inflection, verb types, role shift) – as well as the acquisition, processing historical development, and sociolinguistics of ASL. Though the course focuses on ASL speciﬁcally, we also keep in view the broader issues concerning sign languages more generally, including the implications of evidence from the visual-manual modality for general linguistic theory. Parallels and differences between ASL and other signed and spoken languages are pointed out where appropriate. Students should have either a basic knowledge of ASL or acquaintance with basic concepts of linguistics. Spring, even numbered years only Also Offered As: ASLD 2047 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2205

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2100Introduction to Language Change

This course covers the principles of language change and the methods of historical linguistics on an elementary level. The systematic regularity of change, the reasons for that regularity, and the exploitation of regularity in linguistic reconstruction are especially emphasized. Examples are drawn from a wide variety of languages, both familiar and unfamiliar. The prerequisite for the course is any course in phonetics or phonology, or Ling 001, or permission of the instructor. Note that this course does NOT satisfy any sector requirement. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 0001

LING 2170Origins and Evolution of Language

While communication is abundant throughout the living world, the human system we call language seems to stand out. Indeed, if humans themselves can be said to stand out among other species on Earth, it may well be language that played the crucial role in getting us here. So where does language come from? This question has been dubbed the hardest problem in science, but the last three decades have seen a notable renaissance in scientiﬁc attempts to answer it. This seminar will examine both the results of this multidisciplinary endeavor and the tools that have been employed in it. It will involve discussions of the nature of language and its place among other communication systems and will touch on fundamental questions of what it means to be human. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2190Language games and cultural evolution

This is a course about how language and communication can be thought of as games. When people use language to communicate, they are following rules to perform actions that have an effect on the world, including other people. These actions might achieve goals, and they might prompt further actions, and so on. Perhaps more interestingly, these communicative actions can, over time, lead to changes in the environment and even the rules of the game itself. In other words, the playing ﬁeld changes dynamically as a result of the actions performed on it. This way of looking at language is not new, and this is also a course about how thinking about language this way can inspire (and has inspired) formal models and laboratory experiments that help us to understand how humans use language and how it evolves. In doing so we will also situate this approach to studying language in a broader context of studying the cultural evolution of complex behavioral systems more generally. ,

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2210Phonetics I: Experimental

This course focuses on experimental investigations of speech sounds. General contents include: the fundamentals of speech production and perception; speech analysis tools and techniques; and topics in phonetic studies. The course consists of integrated lectures and laboratory sessions in which students learn computer techniques for analyzing digital recordings. Mutually Exclusive: LING 5210 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2220Phonetics II: Data Science

This is a methodology course, which focuses on how to conduct phonetics research using very large speech corpora. Topics include scripting and statistical techniques, automatic phonetic analysis, integration of speech technology in phonetics studies, variation and invariability in large speech corpora, and revisiting classic phonetic and phonological problems from the perspective of corpus phonetics.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2250Computer Analysis and Modeling of

Biological Signals and Systems

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2300Sound Structure of Language

An introduction to phonetics and phonology. Topics include articulatory phonetics (the anatomy of the vocal tract; how speech sounds are produced); transcription (conventions for representing the sounds of the world's languages); classiﬁcation (how speech sounds are classiﬁed and represented cognitively through distinctive features); phonology (the grammar of speech sounds in various languages: their patterning and interaction) and syllable structure and its role in phonology.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2500Introduction to Syntax

This course is an introduction to current syntactic theory, covering the principles that govern phrase structure (the composition of phrases and sentences), movement (dependencies between syntactic constituents), and binding (the interpretation of different types of noun phrases). Although much of the evidence discussed in the class will come from English, evidence from other languages will also play an important role, in keeping with the comparative and universalist perspective of modern syntactic theory.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2700Language Acquisition

An introduction to language acquisition in children and the development of related cognitive and perceptual systems. Topics include the nature of speech perception and the specialization to the native language; the structure and acquisition of words; children's phonology; the development of grammar; bilingualism and second language acquisition; language learning impairments; the biological basis of language acquisition; the role in language learning in language change. Intended for any undergraduate interested in the psychology and development of language. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2900Deep Learning and Large Language Models in Linguistic

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 2980Transfer or Credit Away Free Elective

Course number for use in XCAT 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3020Linguistic Field Methods

Instruction and practice in primary linguistic research, producing a grammatical sketch and a lexicon through work with a native-speaker consultant and some reference materials. Consultant work is shared with LING 5020. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 2300 AND LING 2500

LING 3040Structure of a Language

This class focuses on an in-depth study of the grammar of a given language, typically one that is understudied or that has particularly interesting grammatical properties. Different aspects of grammar will be considered, drawing on features of the sound system, morphology, syntax and semantics as appropriate. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3090Language and Computation

The computational study of natural language and its implications for linguistic theories. Topics include ﬁnite state tools, computational morphology and phonology, grammar and parsing, computational models of language learning in children and machines. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3100History of the English Language

This course traces the linguistic history of English from its earliest reconstructable ancestor, Proto-Indo-European, to the present. We focus especially on signiﬁcant large-scale changes, such as the restructuring of the verb system in Proto-Germanic, the intricate interaction of sound changes in the immediate prehistory of Old English, syntactic change in Middle English, and the diversiﬁcation of English dialects since 1750. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3110Old English I

The main purpose of this course is to teach students to read Old English ("Anglo-Saxon"), chiefly but not exclusively for research in linguistics. Grammar will be heavily emphasized; there will also be lectures on the immediate prehistory of the language, since the morphology of Old English was made unusually complex by interacting sound changes. In the ﬁrst eight weeks we will work through Moore and Knott's "Elements of Grammar" and learn the grammar; the remainder of the term will be devoted to reading texts. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3410Morphology I

This course will explore some issues concerning the internal structure of words. After a brief introduction to some basic terms and concepts, we will discuss the interaction of morphology with phonology. We will look both at how morphology conditions phonological rules and how phonology conditions morphology. Then we will turn to the interaction of syntax and morphology. We will look at some problems raised by inflectional morphology, clitics and compounds. The main requirement for the class will be a series of homework exercises in morphological analysis and a short paper at the end of the semester. Not Offered Every Year Mutually Exclusive: LING 5410 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 2300 AND LING 2500

LING 3420Morphology II

This course takes a detailed look at a number of central topics in morphological theory. The material examined in the course consists of primary readings and reviews, covering a number of central topics in the ﬁeld. These topics include (but are not restricted to) allomorphy, blocking, the interface of phonology and morphology, syncretism, afﬁxation, the syntax-morphology interface, and compounding. The primary requirements for the class involve short assignments that are based on the readings, in the form of both problem sets and critical appraisals of core theoretical positions. In addition to this, students wil write a short paper at the end of the semester. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit University of Pennsylvania Catalog 2207

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 3410

LING 3640Experimental Sociolinguistics

How do people form social impressions of others based on subtle patterns in their linguistic behavior? How do people shape their use of language to adapt to different social contexts and reflect their own identities? And what kinds of cognitive processes allow people to learn and use these sociolinguistic skills? Sociolinguists are increasingly turning to experimental methods to answer these exciting but complex questions. In this class, students will gain an up-to-date familiarity with major results in the experimental sociolinguistics literature, an awareness of the wide range of methods for sociolinguistic experimentation, and hands-on experience with the tools needed to create sociolinguistic experiments. Fall, even numbered years only Mutually Exclusive: LING 5640 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 0600 OR LING 0060

LING 3650Sociophonetics

This course will build on students' existing knowledge of sociolinguistic variation and phonetics to allow them to explore differences in the perception and production of different language and language varieties. In this course, students will learn the primary skills of sociophonetic analysis, including learning to design their own perception and production studies. Students will also gain experience with methods in sociophonetics and common tools for analysis such as ELAN, Praat, FAVE and R. The course is open to graduate and undergraduate students, but all students will have the opportunity to conduct an independent sociophonetic research project. Mutually Exclusive: LING 5650 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 0600 OR LING 2200

LING 3670Language Contact

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3690Pidgins and Creoles

This course provides a thorough introduction to the study of Pidgin and Creole languages, including an overview of their history and development. It focuses on the socio-historical context of their genesis, their morpho- syntactic properties, diachronic development, cognitive processes at work in creole formation and the resulting linguistic make-up. The status of creoles and their use in education are also examined. In addition to an individual mid-term and ﬁnal paper, students will conduct a collaborative project consisting of comparing linguistic features in a set of creoles to other languages in their environment. The class will use data from the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Structures (2013) and from Pidgin, Creoles and Mixed Languages (Velupillai, 2015) in addition to multiple other sources. Diachronic data for some of the creoles will also be examined. Mutually Exclusive: LING 5690 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3740Neurolinguistics

This course is an upper level undergraduate/graduate seminar in neurolinguistics. We will explore language in the brain through readings and discussions. 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3750Psycholinguistics Seminar

This course examines how people use language. We will focus on Herb H. Clark’s book “Using Language” (1996). In this book, Clark proposes that language use is a form of joint action, and extensively develop what this claim entails and how it accounts for people’s linguistic behavior. The course will consist of a detailed examination of Clark’s thesis. Also Offered As: PSYC 3310 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: PSYC 1310 OR PSYC 2310 OR LING 0001

LING 3810Semantics I

This course provides an introduction to formal semantics for natural language. The main aim is to develop a semantic system that provides a compositional interpretation of natural language sentences. We discuss various of the aspects central to meaning composition, including function application, modiﬁcation, quantiﬁcation, and binding, as well as issues in the syntax-semantics interface. The basic formal tools relevant for semantic analysis, including set theory, propositional logic, and predicate logic are also introduced.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3850Experiments in the Study of Meaning

This course provides an introduction to the experimental study of meaning in natural language. We begin by introducing some basic notions of formal semantics and pragmatics and review relevant technical background. Next we discuss recent developments in studying meaning-related phenomena experimentally, which, in addition to theoretical questions, involve issues in the acquisition and processing of semantic information. In the course of this, we will also introduce the basics of experimental design and relevant psycholinguistic methodology. In addition to readings and homework assignments, students will embark on a small research project (individually or jointly), which will be presented in class at the end of the semester and written up as a term paper. Not Offered Every Year LING 5810 OR LING 5510 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 0500 OR LING 1700 OR LING 2500 OR LING 3810 OR

LING 3860Experiments in the Study of Meaning II

This course continues the introduction to Experiments in the study of meaning in natural language from LING 455. A large focus will be practical aspects of designing and implementing experiments, while covering a range of current topics from the experimental semantics and pragmatics literature (and exploring new avenues) along the way, e.g., pronouns and deﬁnite reference, presuppositions, quantiﬁers and domain restriction, generics. We'll start with some basic aspects of experimental design, including counter-balancing, controlling for confounds, utilizing ﬁllers, as well as a range of key experimental task paradigms, such as simple truth- value judgments and picture sentence matching, acceptability ratings, reading time studies, and visual world eye tracking. For implementation, we will introduce the PCIbex platform at https://farm.pcibex.net and its relevant functionalities. Students will select a topic area, either individually or in small groups, and start from a survey article or recent journal paper to familiarize themselves with current issues. Next, they will formulate their own question, decide on a suitable task paradigm, and begin fleshing out a full experiment implementation, with the goal of collecting data at the end of the semester (if at all possible). The project will then be written up in a term paper. This provides students with the opportunity to engage in a scientiﬁc investigation of their own early on in their career in a domain that is easily accessible and yet central to the general enterprise of the cognitive sciences.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 3999Independent Study in Linguistics

An independent study for majors in linguistics.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 4000Tutorial in Linguistics

This tutorial allows students to deal in a concentrated manner with selected major topics in linguistics by means of extensive readings and research. Two topics are studied during the semester, exposing students to a range of sophisticated linguistic questions.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 4098Senior Thesis

Credit for working on a Senior Thesis with a faculty advisor

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5000Research Workshop

This course is intended for advanced graduate students who are interested in developing a research paper. Each student will present his or her topic several times during the semester as the analysis develops, with feedback from the instructor and other students to improve the organization and content of the analysis. The goal is an end product appropriate for delivery at a national conference or submission to a journal.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5020Linguistic Field Methods

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5090Language and Computation

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5100Historical and Comparative Linguistics

Synchronic and diachronic systems. Analogic processes. Semantic change. Effects of contact. Internal reconstruction. Comparative method and reconstruction.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5110Old English

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5150Dynamics of Language

This course introduces the tools, techniques, as well as current research on the approach to language as a dynamical system, which seeks to fruitfully integrate linguistic theory, psycholinguistics, corpus linguistics and historical linguistics through the means of mathematical modeling. Topics include: string processing, dynamical systems and stability, stochastic processes, mathematical models of population dynamics, and dynamical models of language learning, processing, and change.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5170Evolutionary Linguistics

Evolutionary linguistics Scholars have been interested in the origins and evolution of language for hundreds of years, and work was published on the topic throughout the twentieth century. The end of the century, however, saw a considerable upsurge in serious scientiﬁc interest, leading to increasing interdisciplinary communication on the topic and the development of new empirical tools. This course offers an introduction to the literature in this ﬁeld, bringing together research from a diverse range of disciplines, and laying out what questions remain and how they might possibly be answered.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5210Phonetics I: Experimental

Speech: its linguistic transcription, its quantitative physical description, and its relationship to the categories and dimensions of language structure and use. The physical basis of speech: acoustics, vocal tract anatomy and physiology, hearing and speech perception, articulation and motor control. Phonetic variation and change. Prosody: stress, intonation, phrasing speech rate. Phonetic instrumentation, the design and interpretation of phonetic experiments, and the use of phonetic evidence in linguistic research, with emphasis on computer techniques. Introduction to speech signal processing. Speech technology: introduction to speech recognition, text-to-speech synthesis, speech coding. This course will emphasize the phonetics of natural speech, and its connections to issues in other areas of linguistics and cognitive science.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5220Phonetics II: Data Science

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5250Computer Analysis and Modeling of Biological Signals and

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5300Sound Structure of Language

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5310Phonology I

First half of a year-long introduction to the formal study of phonology. Basic concepts in articulatory phonetics; the distribution of sounds (phonemes and allophones); underlying and surface forms, and how to relate them using both ordered-rule and surface-constraint approaches. The survey of theoretical topics in this term includes distinctive features (context, organization, underspeciﬁcation); the autosegmental representation of tone; and the theory of phonological domains and their interaction with morphological and syntactic constituency. Emphasizes hands-on analysis of a wide range of data.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5320Phonology II

Second half of a year-long introduction; continues LING 530. Topics to be surveyed include syllable structure and moraic theory; the prosodic hierarchy; the properties and representation of geminates; templatic and prosodic morphology; reduplication and emergence of the unmarked; and metrical phonology (properties of stress, foot typology, and issues of constituency). Emphasizes hands-on analysis of a wide range of data.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5410Morphology I

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 5310 AND LING 5510

LING 5420Morphology II

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5450Mental Lexicon

An investigation of the psychological representations and processing of words. Topics include: the extraction of words from speech; lexical access and production; the induction of morphological and phonological regularities in word learning; decomposition of morphologically complex words; frequency effects in morphological processing; storage vs. computation in the lexicon; the past tense debate; morphological change. This course makes extensive use of linguistic corpora. Students will also be familiarized with experimental design issues in the psycholinguistic study of the lexicon. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5500Introduction to Syntax

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5510Syntax I

A general introduction at the graduate level to the analysis of sentence structure. The approach taken is that of contemporary generative- transformational grammar.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5520Syntax II

Select four of the following:

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5560Historical Syntax

Introduction to the study of the syntax of languages attested only in historical corpora. The course will cover methods and results in the grammatical description of such languages and in the diachronic study of syntactic change. Not Offered Every Year l Prerequisite: LING 5520 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5600Language Variation & Change

University of Pennsylvania Catalog 631 6 LING 5740 Neurolinguistics 8 LING 5750 The Acquisition of Meaning

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5620Quantitative Study of Linguistic Variation

This course provides students with the opportunity to hone their statistical, computational, and organizational skillsets while conducting original linguistic research on data gathered in continuing ﬁeldwork in the speech community. Topics include forced alignment and vowel extraction, auditory and automated variable coding, the application of linear and logistic regression, and techniques for effective data visualization. Fall, odd numbered years only 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 5660 OR STAT 5000 OR STAT 5010

LING 5640Experimental Sociolinguistics

How do people form social impressions of others based on subtle patterns in their linguistic behavior? How do people shape their use of language to adapt to different social contexts and reflect their own identities? And what kinds of cognitive processes allow people to learn and use these sociolinguistic skills? Sociolinguists are increasingly turning to experimental methods to answer these exciting but complex questions. In this class, students will gain an up-to-date familiarity wit major results in the experimental sociolinguistics literature, an awarenes of the wide range of methods for sociolinguistic experimentation, and hands-on experience with the tools needed to create sociolinguistic experiments. Fall, even numbered years only Mutually Exclusive: LING 3640 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5650Sociophonetics

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 0600 AND LING 2200

LING 5660The Study of the Speech Community: Field Methods

For students who plan to carry out research in the speech community. Techniquesand theory derived from sociolinguistic studies will be used to deﬁne neighborhoods, enter the community, analyze social networks, and obtain tape-recorded data from face-to-face interviews. Students will work in groups and study a single city block.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5670Language Contact

To this day, we have found no evidence of a language developing in total isolation from other languages. Most languages arein constant contact with other languages with the consequence that they can shape and influence each other. However, everylanguage evolves in a distinct linguistic ecology and this means that the circumstances of language contact and the socioculturalrelationships involved in each contact situation vary considerably, leading to a range of different outcomes. This course offers athorough introduction to the ﬁeld of contact linguistics including a detailed overview of contact situations and their linguistic andsocial consequences. The topics under study are: bilingualism (including code switching), multilingualism, morpho- syntactic andphonological transfer, structural diffusion, convergence, pidginization & creolization, language shift and language death. We willparticularly focus on the cognitive processes involved in contact situations and will explore them, using descriptive, theoretical andexperimental approaches. Mutually Exclusive: LING 3670 1 Course Unit h s LING 5690 Pidgins and Creoles This course provides a thorough introduction to the study of Pidgin and Creole languages, including an overview of their history and development. It focuses on the socio-historical context of their genesis, their morpho- syntactic properties, diachronic development, cognitive processes at work in creole formation and the resulting linguistic make-up. The status of creoles and their use in education are also examined. In addition to an individual mid-term and ﬁnal paper, students will conduct a collaborative project consisting of comparing linguistic features in a set of creoles to other languages in their environment. The class will use data from the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Structures (2013) and from Pidgin, Creoles and Mixed Languages (Velupillai, 2015) in addition to multiple other sources. Diachronic data for some of the creoles will also be examined. Mutually Exclusive: LING 3690 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5690Pidgins and Creoles

This course provides a thorough introduction to the study of Pidgin and Creole languages, including an overview of their history and development. It focuses on the socio-historical context of their genesis, their morpho-syntactic properties, diachronic development, cognitive processes at work in creole formation and the resulting linguistic make-up. The status of creoles and their use in education are also examined. In addition to an individual mid-term and final paper, students will conduct a collaborative project consisting of comparing linguistic features in a set of creoles to other languages in their environment. The class will use data from the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Structures (2013) and from Pidgin, Creoles and Mixed Languages (Velupillai, 2015) in addition to multiple other sources. Diachronic data for some of the creoles will also be examined.Mutually Exclusive: LING 36901 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2025-2026
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5740Neurolinguistics

This course is an upper level undergraduate/graduate seminar in neurolinguistics. We will explore language in the brain through readings and discussions.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5750The Acquisition of Meaning

This is a seminar on the acquisition of a ﬁrst language by children. We will discuss the acquisition of the meanings of words and sentences, and the pragmatic and social interpretation of sentences in context. We will also consider how language relates to other cognitive systems and to human social reasoning. Particular emphasis will be placed on discovering the mechanisms children possess that enable them to learn and use language. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5770Discovery Procedure

The goal of generative grammar is to provide a discovery procedure for language, a practical and mechanical method for constructing the grammar given a corpus of utterances. In this class, we pursue a constructive program with plausible algorithms for linguistic structures from phoneme onward. Such an effort is only possible by integrating insights from linguistics, child development, cognitive science and machine learning that have developed since the original conception of discovery procedure in the late 1940s. 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5810Semantics I

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5820Semantics II

The ﬁrst part of the course expands the system from LING 580 to include intensional contexts. In particular, we discuss analyses of modals, attitude verbs, and conditionals, as well as the scope of noun phrases in modal environments. The second part of the course discusses a selection of topics from current work in semantics, such as the semantics of questions, tense and aspect, donkey anaphora, indeﬁnites, genericity, degree constructions, events and situations, domain restriction, plurality and focus.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5850Experiments in the Study of Meaning

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5860Experiments in the Study of Meaning II

Electives 12 Any LING course at the 5000 level or above Or any course with Attribute HDLA (https:// catalog.upenn.edu/attributes/hdla/)

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 5900Deep Learning and Large Language Models in Linguistic

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6000Second Year Seminar

The goal of this course is divided into two main components: First, it provides a setting in which second year PhD students in Linguistics will develop the skills that are essential to communicating and advancing their research; and second, it provides professional support in a number of areas, including (but not limited to) abstract writing, preparing papers for publication, dealing with reviews, and related topics. At the beginning of each semester, the students will determine which of their research projects will be central to the seminar; this is the one that they will regularly present on during course meetings. One possibility is that students will be simultaneously enrolled in an independent study for their project, but that is by no means necessary. The course will be flexible enough so that students can have certain days devoted to the speciﬁc professional activities that they are engaged in. For example, we might spend part of a session providing feedback on an abstract that one of the participants is preparing to submit. The small size of the course will ensure that speciﬁc occasions like this can be addressed in course meetings throughout the course of the year. Two Term Class, Student must enter ﬁrst term; credit given after both terms are complete 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6100Seminar in Historical and Comparative Linguistics

Selected topics either in Indo-European comparative linguistics or in historical and comparative method.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6110Comparative Indo-European Grammar I

A survey of phonology and grammar of major ancient Indo-European languages and the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. A knowledge of at least one ancient Indo-European language is required. Two Term Class, Student must enter ﬁrst term; credit given after both terms are complete 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6120Comparative Indo-European Grammar II

A survey of phonology and grammar of major ancient Indo-European languages and the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. A knowledge of at least one ancient Indo-European language is required.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6170Topics in the Cultural Evolution of Language

Readings in the cultural evolution of language. This encompasses research on the contribution of processes of cultural change to the emergence of language in the human species, the emergence of new languages, and language change viewed as a cultural-evolutionary process. There will be an emphasis on research employing empirical methods, particularly experimentation. Otherwise focus varies from term to term. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6200Topics in Phonetics

Topics in PhoneticsNot Offered Every Year1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6300Topics in Phonology

Topics are chosen from such areas as featural representations; syllable theory; metrical structure; tonal phonology; prosodic morphology; interaction of phonology with syntax and morphology. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 5310 OR LING 5320

LING 6400Seminar in Morphology

Readings in modern morphological theory and evaluation of hypotheses in the light of synchronic and diachronic evidence from various languages. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu
Prerequisite: LING 5310

LING 6500Topics in Natural-Language Syntax

Detailed study of topics in syntax and semantics, e.g., pronominalization, negation, complementation. Topics vary from term to term.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6580Topics in the Syntax-Semantics Interface

Topics in the Syntax-Semantics Interface

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6600Research Seminar in Sociolinguistics

Students approaching the dissertation level will explore with faculty frontier areas of research on linguistic change and variation. Topics addressed in recent years include: experimental investigation of the reliability of syntactic judgments; the development of TMA systems in creoles; transmission of linguistic change across generations. The course may be audited by those who have ﬁnished their course work or taken for credit in more than one year. Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6620Topics in Experimental Sociolinguistics

Topics in Experimental Sociolinguistics Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6700Topics in Psycholinguistics

Topics in Psycholinguistics1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6730Discovery Procedure

The fundamental goal of linguistics is to provide a discovery procedure for language, a practical and mechanical method for constructing a grammar given a corpus of utterances. This was deemed a premature endeavor at the beginning of modern linguistics. Indeed, at that time there were no linguistic corpora, no modern theory of computation and learning, and no understanding of what properties languages have or how children learn them. Several decades of advances in linguistics, psychology, and computer science have made it possible to develop a concrete theory of discovery procedure. In this class we will survey mechanistic accounts of learning and their applications to language acquisition, with the aim of providing a formal and distributional account of all structural aspects of language from phonemes and upward. Such an approach in turn raises important questions about the scope and limit of language and its place in cognition. 1 Course Unit 2026-27 Catalog | Generated 08/03/26

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6750Language and Cognition

This is a seminar on how language relates to perception and cognition. The seminar pays particular attention to the question of whether and how language might affect (and be affected by) other mental processes, how different languages represent the mental and physical world, and how children acquire language-general and language-speciﬁc ways of encoding human experience. The course incorporates cross-linguistic, cognitive and developmental perspectives on a new and rapidly changing research area.

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6770Topics in Cognitive Science

This seminar extends the methods and models from the formal study of language to other domains of cognition and perception including learning, memory, development, judgement and decision making, and organizational behavior in social networks. The aim to restore the centrality of language in the study of the mind and artiﬁcial intelligence 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6800Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics

Topics in Semantics & Pragmatics Not Offered Every Year 1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6960Pragmatics Workshop

Pragmatics WorkshopNot Offered Every Year1 Course Unit

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6999AIndependent Research Project

PhD students undertake an independent research project over the course of a year. Designed to be optionally paired with LING 6000A/B, Second Year Seminar. Two Term Class, Student must enter ﬁrst term; credit given after both terms are complete 0.5 Course Units

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 6999BIndependent Research Project

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 9900Master's Thesis

Credit for working on a Master's Thesis with a faculty advisor

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 9950Dissertation

Total Course Units 23

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

LING 9999Independent Study and Research

Independent Study and Research

Subject: LING
Type: course
Edition: 2026-2027
Source: catalog.upenn.edu

Source: University of Pennsylvania's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59