About Linguistics

Linguistic courses at Bucknell address the following universal questions of human nature:

• Are humans the only species that can talk?
• Can chimpanzees and dolphins talk, too?
• What is special about human being that demands meaning and means of self-expression?
• How did languages originally emerge?
• Do all languages derive from one original language or more than one?
• Why do different peoples speak different languages?
• Do we think differently depending on the language we speak?
• How do children learn their native language so easily-- unconsciously, in fact--when learning a second language is so difficult?
• What role do parents play in language acquisition?
• What is required to learn a second language?
• How can a second language be acquired more easily?