Credit Hours - 3
This course explores theoretical issues that underlie phonological patterns and processes.
Attention is given to various phonological approaches and representations within linear
segmental phonology, Autosegmental Phonology and Optimality Theory. Data from a variety
of languages are used to evaluate these approaches and their relative strengths in the analyses
of various aspects of phonology. Areas covered include feature theory, segmental processes,
and theoretical issues in prosody such as syllabification, tone, stress, and intonation.
Credit Hours - 3
This course will introduce students to some of the basic concepts in the study of meaning in
language and the ways in which meaning is conveyed. Issues in connection with word and
sentence meaning as well as the relationship between sentence structure and
meaning/interpretation will be explored. Some of the topics to be discussed are: semantic
relations (such as synonymy, antonymy, polysemy and homophony); semantic relations
involving sentences (such as paraphrase, entailment, and contradiction); structural ambiguity
and thematic roles.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is aimed at helping students to acquire advanced knowledge in syntactic analysis
using data from a wide variety of languages and to prepare them for further work in any
syntactic theory. Students may be introduced to any of the competing theories of syntax such
as functional grammar, relational grammar, the principles and parameters, framework and/or
the minimalist programme.
Credit Hours - 3
This course delves into the various theoretical approaches to the analysis of word structure.
The implications of the approaches for our understanding of the architecture of the grammar
will be assessed. As part of the course, students will be expected to apply the various
theoretical frameworks to the analysis of a morphological pattern in a language other than
English. Topics to be discussed include Construction Morphology, Distributed Morphology,
Word and Paradigm Morphology and Word Grammar.
Credit Hours - 3
In the fast changing world of the workplace, effective communication has become an essential
tool for successful career practice. The idea of this course is to guide students to appreciate the
relevant connection between language analysis and the world of work. Topics covered in the
course include business-writing skills, word building strategies, effective use of words,
presentation skills, cross-cultural business and communications.
Credit Hours - 3
The course deals with the relationship between language and politics. It exposes students to
language and negotiation and the maintenance of political power relations in traditional and
contemporary societies. Topics include the grammar/linguistics and stylistics of power
negotiation, language and colonial dominations, linguistic determinism, free speech, language
and political persuasion, campaign and propaganda language, language and governance, as
well as language and the resistance of dominant ideology.
Credit Hours - 3
The course will cover various pidgins and creoles of the world, including those of Haiti,
Jamaica, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. It exposes students to theories of their
origin, their socio-cultural significance and their use in the modern world. Their linguistic
features will be compared with those of other languages. Other topics include: structural
characteristics, pidginization, and creolization.
Credit Hours - 3
The course looks at the orientations and processes of language planning and their relation to
the socio-economic development of a nation. Ghana‘s language situation and the type of
language policy options available and their consequences will be discussed. The topics
include: the language planning process, orientations, underlying ideologies, language planning
and socio-economic development, and Ghana‘s language situation.
Credit Hours - 3
This course exposes students to advanced techniques and principles of translation. It also
examines the assumed co-operation between source author and translator and target receiver, in
relation to coherence and readability. Topics to be covered include embedded, parallel, and
sequential propositions, textual presentation, cohesion and prominence within information
structure.
Credit Hours - 3
This course aims at providing advanced knowledge of the syntactic structures of a particular
Ghanaian language (e.g. Akan, Dagaare, Dagbani, Dangme Ewe, Ga, and Guren). It assumes
some level of proficiency on the part of students in the language concerned. Topics include
serialization and other multiverb constructions, complementation, interrogative constructions,
relative clauses, reflexivisation, grammaticalisation, and focus constructions.
Credit Hours - 3
This course addresses the issue of how meaning is expressed in a Ghanaian language (e.g.
Akan, Dagaare, Dagbani, Dangme Ewe, Ga, and Guren). It provides students with the
knowledge of sense relations. Each of this set of courses concentrates on the semantics of
aspect and aspectual constructions, including the relations between the semantics of the root
and the semantics of the affix. Verb valency and semantic argument roles, the semantics of
derived verbs, topicalization, focus and related phenomena may be considered.
Credit Hours - 3
This course provides students the opportunity to appreciate some of the advanced issues in the
syntax of English. Informed by advances in various theoretical approaches to the structure of
English beyond the word level, the course examines topics such as grammatical relations,
complementation, transitivity, relative clause formation, reflexivisation, interrogatives, and
identificational and existential constructions.
Credit Hours - 3
In this course, the basic semantic unit, the proposition, is analysed into a central predicate plus
various participant‘s roles and circumstances, which may be negated. Propositions may be
linked in parallel, in sequence, or with embedding. Other topics include information units,
topic, focus, presupposed information, expression of a sender‘s attitude, second-language
varieties of Standard English.
Credit Hours - 3
The course will expose students to the relevance of insights from linguistic research to the
development of methods of language teaching. Various methods of language teaching and
their effectiveness will be explored. Topics to be covered include the Audio-lingual method,
Communicative Language Teaching, Total Physical Response and the teaching of reading,
comprehension and spelling.
Credit Hours - 3
The course deals with theoretical issues involved in the definition of the concept of style.
Current advances in the theory of style will be treated. Topics to be dealt with include the
definition and functions of literature, stylistics and literature, foregrounding, euphony,
imagery, flashback, and style in advertising and political speeches.
Credit Hours - 3
The course examines notions of meaning and usage that are exploited in the legal field. Its
main focus is on language as a tool for understanding legal matters. As part of the course, a
number of actual legal cases that illustrate the various linguistic notions of ambiguity,
vagueness, metaphor, etc. will be examined. Topics include: features and structures of legal
language, notions of status, states and acts, relevance of speech act theory in hearsay, contract
formation and language crimes.
Credit Hours - 3
In this course, students will gain an insight into the relationship between language behaviour
and the psychological processes that underlie it. It examines crucial issues in the interaction
between the brain and language as well as theoretical issues on how language is acquired,
stored and processed. Topics include the information processing system, language articulation
and production, language processing, bilingualism and aphasia
Credit Hours - 3
The course will build upon what was taught in LNGS 322. It will focus on the syntax and
semantics of sign language at the theoretical level, and on interpreting at the practical level.
There will be two hours of practical work each week during which students will learn how to
interpret for the deaf. The topics to be covered include: clause types, grammatical facial
expressions, classifier constructions, aspect inflection on verbs and aspectual particles, the role
of sign language in deaf culture and deaf education, sign language and spoken language
interpreting, subordination and the sociolinguistics of the deaf community.
Credit Hours - 3
The course is designed to study the gap between word/sentence meaning and utterance
interpretation. It considers the variation, style, and interpretation of language use and strategies
of communication. Topics to be studied include truth versus non-truth conditional meaning,
role of context in utterance production and interpretation, implicit and explicit language use,
presupposition, entailment, speech acts, politeness, deixis, and relevance. Others are linguistic
routines, request, apology and compliments.
Credit Hours - 3
The course provides a historical overview of language and gender theory and research. It
examines the ways in which language is used by men and women, and the linguistic means by
which they are portrayed, in order to understand the process of gender (re)construction in
society. Topics include: essentialist and constructionist views on sex and gender, essentialist
and constructionist approaches to language and gender, construction of gender identities,
notions of femininity and masculinity, and representation of gender and language use in
specific domains. It also involves critical analyses of gendered texts from various domains.
Credit Hours - 3
The course introduces students to how speech sounds are organised across languages. It deals
with the identification of distinctive sounds, the combination of these sounds into unique
patterns and the changes that take place when sounds are combined. Data from a wide range of
languages will be used in problem solving sessions. Topics to be treated include: phonemes,
distinctive features, phonological processes, suprasegmental features and phonological rules.
Credit Hours - 3
In this course, we will be discussing some of the more recent developments in syntactic
analysis. Students will be expected to know the different lexical and grammatical categories
and their morphological and syntactic behaviours. They will be expected to demonstrate
knowledge of phrase structure rules and the different types of clauses and clause combinations
and be able to apply this knowledge to the analysis of simple problems in various languages.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to enable students apply the principles of phonetics and phonology to
the description of the sounds and sound patterns of a Ghanaian language (e.g. Akan, Dagaare,
Dagbani, Dangme Ewe, Ga, and Gurenɛ). It assumes some level of proficiency on the part of
students in the language concerned. Topics include: segmental phonemes (vowels, consonants)
and their distribution, syllable structure, tone, and phonological processes.
*This course is not available to students of the English Department.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to enable students apply the principles of morphology and syntax to the
description of the words, phrases and sentences of a Ghanaian language (e.g. Akan, Dagaare,
Dagbani, Dangme Ewe, Ga, and Gurenɛ). It assumes some level of proficiency on the part of
students in the language concerned. Some of the topics to be treated are: word classes, word
formation processes, and basic phrase and sentence structure.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to enable students apply the principles of phonetics and phonology to
the description and analyses of English. In this course, L1 and L2 accents of English are
discussed. The course covers the following areas: consonants and vowels, the syllable, stress,
intonation and some phonological processes.
*This course is not available to students of the English Department.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to enable students apply the principles of morphology and syntax to the
description and analyses of the English language. Some of the pertinent areas to be covered
include word classes and their morphological and distributional properties, word formation
processes, inflection, derivation, phrase structure and basic clause patterns.
Credit Hours - 3
This course surveys various forms of oral literature in Africa, and discusses theories of
composition and aesthetic formations. It will examine the dynamics of form, language, style,
content and performance of verbal genres including: libation poetry, praise appellations, abuse
poetry, dirge, narrative forms, proverbs, riddles, drum poetry, traditional songs, and popular
music. It also considers how such genres are perceived and evaluated in the contexts in which
they occur, and how they have been adapted to deal with contemporary and emerging trends.
Credit Hours - 3
This course discusses the social and cultural norms governing communication in general,
dwelling on Dell Hymes‘ advocacy for the study of language beyond grammar. Topics
discussed include: linguistic relativity, linguistic determinism, cultural attitudes to speaking,
the power of the spoken word, secret languages, silence, indirection, norms of speaking in
various forums, non-verbal communication and verbal taboos.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to help students (a) gain insight into the social dynamics of language
use and (b) understand certain basic concepts and issues in sociolinguistics. Topics include:
definition and scope of sociolinguistics, linguistic varieties, speech communities/communities
of practice, communicative competence multilingualism,, politeness and solidarity, language
and gender, and language attitudes.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to introduce students to theories that explain how and when children
achieve proficiency in the language they are exposed to without receiving deliberate instruction
in the rules of language. Students will be required to design and administer simple
experiments to test children‘s knowledge of aspects of the grammar of their language. Topics
include: linguistics and language acquisition, phonological acquisition, morphological
development and innovation, acquisition of syntax, syntactic and semantic development,
cognition, environment and language learning.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is meant to introduce students to the principles of translating from one language to
another. Students will be exposed to variations in the connotative and figurative use of words
across languages, which are necessary for doing translation in an efficient manner. Topics to be
covered include: types of translation, analysis of lexical items into semantic features, meaning
variation in lexemes, semantic propositions and negation.
Credit Hours - 3
This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn the tools for text
analysis and evaluation. By the end of the course, students should be confident in analyzing
and evaluating a wide variety of written and spoken texts. Topics include: nature and scope of
discourse analysis; thematic structure; information structure; cohesion; coherence; critical
discourse analysis.
Credit Hours - 3
The course examines theories of second language acquisition and learning and current issues in
the field. Socio-cultural, cognitive and personality variables affecting second language
learning will be examined. Topics include: creative construction, interlanguage hypothesis,
cognitive dimension of second language acquisition, personality variable in second language
acquisition and contexts of learning.
Credit Hours - 3
This course deals with the study of the acoustical properties of speech sounds including the basic
physical principles involved in the generation and propagation of sound energy and the
phenomenon of resonance. It also focuses on an acoustic model of sound production by the vocal
tract and the principles and techniques of acoustic analysis of speech. Topics to be covered
include the physical structure of sound waves, the human vocal tract as a sound producing device,
computer tools for speech processing and acoustic properties of speech sounds in English and
other languages.
Credit Hours - 3
The course will introduce students to the phonology and morphology of sign language in
general as well as some practical aspects of Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL). The course will
combine theory with practical work. There will be two hours of practical work each week
during which a sign language instructor will teach students how to sign. Topics to be treated
include: simple statements, adjectival predicates, kinship terms, polar questions, content
questions, negation, directional verbs, possession and modals.
Credit Hours - 3
This course introduces students to the basics of doing linguistic research. It focuses on research
design, data collection methods and analysis. It also deals with practical issues in fieldwork as
well as the ethics of research. Topics include sources of linguistic data and literature, research
report writing, referencing and issues regarding plagiarism and academic dishonesty. This course
is a requirement for all students intending to write a Long Essay
Credit Hours - 3
In this course, we will consider what morphology is and its place in relation to other areas of
linguistics such as phonology and syntax. The course will also examine certain morphological
phenomena found among the world‘s languages. Topics to be discussed include the
classification of morphemes according to position, distribution and function. We will also
discuss such morphological processes as inflection, derivation, compounding, reduplication,
and other word-formation processes.
Credit Hours - 3
The goal of the course is to introduce students to the general principles that underlie how words are combined into larger syntactic units. The course deals with the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses and sentences as well as how languages differ in the structure of these units. Topics to be treated include: word classes, phrase structure, sentence structure and syntactic processes.
Credit Hours - 3
The course introduces students to phonetics as a branch of Linguistics. It focuses on the mechanisms behind the production of speech sounds. It also deals with the description, classification and transcription of speech sounds. It will further provide students the opportunity to practise the production of speech sounds. Topics include: speech organs, airstream mechanisms, phonation types and articulation, vowels, consonants and suprasegmentals.
Credit Hours - 3
This course provides an overview of the language situation in Ghana, within the context of the West African sub-region. It aims to give students a working knowledge of the genetic and typological groupings of languages spoken in Ghana. Issues of language development, language in development, and national language policy will also be examined.
Credit Hours - 2
The goal of this course is to help students expand their vocabulary. It looks at the structure of English words with classical roots. It examines some of the common roots and the morphological rules that determine the combination of such roots, and rules of meaning change. Students are also introduced to the history of the English language.
Credit Hours - 3
The main purpose of this course is to make students aware of how the study of language can be done in a rigorous scientific manner and the application of linguistic knowledge to different aspects of human endeavors such as language learning and teaching, human communication, and many more. Some of the topics to be discussed are, the nature of language, the origins of human language, the sounds of language (phonetics) the structure of words (morphology), the structure of sentences (syntax), the study of meaning (semantics), language and the brain and others.
Credit Hours - 3
Carbohydrates Metabolism: Digestion of carbohydrates, glycolysis and fate of pyruvate in different organisms; tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle; pentose phosphate pathway and fate of reduced coenzymes; catabolism of monosaccharides other than glucose; gluconeogenesis, Calvin Benson cycle, Cori cycle, glyoxylate cycle; glycogenesis and glycogenolysis; regulation of carbohydrate metabolism; Diseases of carbohydrate metabolism. Aerobic metabolism of pyruvate, starvation and obesity. The coenzyme role of B vitamins. Changes in nutritional requirement and metabolic rate in injury and disease. Lipids Metabolism: Digestion of triacylglycerols; the different lipases (lipoprotein lipase, hormone-sensitive lipase); fate of glycerol; beta-oxidation of fatty acids; fate of products (acetyl and propionyl CoA, ketone bodies, reduced coenzymes); synthesis of fatty acids triacylglycerol, cholesterol; regulation of metabolism. Protein Metabolism: Digestion of proteins, transamination, deamination and decarboxylation of amino acids and the fate of ammonia (urea cycle) and carbon skeleton; metabolism of specific amino acids (aromatic and sulphur-containing amino acids); synthesis of amino acids; in-born errors of amino acid metabolism; regulation of metabolism. Enzymes as biological catalyst: Enzyme kinetics and concept of rate-determining step. Enzyme specificity and allosteric regulation. Mechanisms of enzyme action and examples. Coenzymes and vitamins. Drugs and their effect on enzymes.
Credit Hours - 3
Carbohydrates Metabolism: Digestion of carbohydrates, glycolysis and fate of pyruvate in different organisms; tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle; pentose phosphate pathway and fate of reduced coenzymes; catabolism of monosaccharides other than glucose; gluconeogenesis, Calvin Benson cycle, Cori cycle, glyoxylate cycle; glycogenesis and glycogenolysis; regulation of carbohydrate metabolism; Diseases of carbohydrate metabolism. Aerobic metabolism of pyruvate, starvation and obesity. The coenzyme role of B vitamins. Changes in nutritional requirement and metabolic rate in injury and disease. Lipids Metabolism: Digestion of triacylglycerols; the different lipases (lipoprotein lipase, hormone-sensitive lipase); fate of glycerol; beta-oxidation of fatty acids; fate of products (acetyl and propionyl CoA, ketone bodies, reduced coenzymes); synthesis of fatty acids triacylglycerol, cholesterol; regulation of metabolism. Protein Metabolism: Digestion of proteins, transamination, deamination and decarboxylation of amino acids and the fate of ammonia (urea cycle) and carbon skeleton; metabolism of specific amino acids (aromatic and sulphur-containing amino acids); synthesis of amino acids; in-born errors of amino acid metabolism; regulation of metabolism. Enzymes as biological catalyst: Enzyme kinetics and concept of rate-determining step. Enzyme specificity and allosteric regulation. Mechanisms of enzyme action and examples. Coenzymes and vitamins. Drugs and their effect on enzymes.
Credit Hours - 3
Carbohydrates Metabolism: Digestion of carbohydrates, glycolysis and fate of pyruvate in different organisms; tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle; pentose phosphate pathway and fate of reduced coenzymes; catabolism of monosaccharides other than glucose; gluconeogenesis, Calvin Benson cycle, Cori cycle, glyoxylate cycle; glycogenesis and glycogenolysis; regulation of carbohydrate metabolism; Diseases of carbohydrate metabolism. Aerobic metabolism of pyruvate, starvation and obesity. The coenzyme role of B vitamins. Changes in nutritional requirement and metabolic rate in injury and disease. Lipids Metabolism: Digestion of triacylglycerols; the different lipases (lipoprotein lipase, hormone-sensitive lipase); fate of glycerol; beta-oxidation of fatty acids; fate of products (acetyl and propionyl CoA, ketone bodies, reduced coenzymes); synthesis of fatty acids triacylglycerol, cholesterol; regulation of metabolism. Protein Metabolism: Digestion of proteins, transamination, deamination and decarboxylation of amino acids and the fate of ammonia (urea cycle) and carbon skeleton; metabolism of specific amino acids (aromatic and sulphur-containing amino acids); synthesis of amino acids; in-born errors of amino acid metabolism; regulation of metabolism. Enzymes as biological catalyst: Enzyme kinetics and concept of rate-determining step. Enzyme specificity and allosteric regulation. Mechanisms of enzyme action and examples. Coenzymes and vitamins. Drugs and their effect on enzymes.