about this tutorial...

This is one in a series of tutorials on intercultural communication.You may create a print version by clicking on the "print all" link at the top of the page. Anticipated completion time for this tutorial: approximately 90 minutes. If you are completing this tutorial for a course, your score on the included exercises will be recorded. Note that you can stop and come back and your score on completed items will be retained.

Learning Objectives

The objectives below can be achieved through working with the assigned readings, watching the presentations, doing the tutorial exercises, and posting to the discussion forums.swahili.png
By successfully completing this unit, students should be able to...

  • Discuss the unique nature of human language
  • Explain the relationship between language and culture
  • Explain the principle of linguistic relativity/determinism
  • List and define different branches of linguistics
  • List and define areas of descriptive linguistics
  • Discuss different ways to classify languages
  • Discuss issues in language learning today

Key concepts for this unit

Select an item to see its definition...

Accent
Version of language distinguished by pronunciation

Key concepts (PDF)