Double negatives (e.g. “there ain’t no justice”) are a feature typical of African American Vernacular English and Southern English. When people say double negatives “don’t make sense” or “sound dumb”... what do they really mean? The purpose of this class is to investigate linguistic prejudice: prejudice toward someone’s particular dialect or language. We will look at linguistic prejudice toward nonstandard accents and nonstandard grammar, examine our implicit biases and address misconceptions, illustrate why linguistic prejudice is a serious problem, and discuss how we can begin to address linguistic prejudice.

How can you learn languages without any lessons? In this class, we will do exactly that, exploring language puzzles from the simple to the mind-bendingly complex. You will learn how to take sentences in a foreign language and translate them without knowing any of the words, read words in a writing system you don't know, and discover grammar rules that we don't have in English (for example, in Japanese, different verbs are used to say “wear/put on” depending on where the item is worn). No prior knowledge of languages or linguistics is required — just analytical thinking! A quick example puzzle: Yaqui is a language indigenous to North America. Here are some sentences in Yaqui: 1. Inepo enchi aniak 2. Aapo enchi vichak 3. Inepo enchi vichak 4. Empo nee aniak Here are their English translations, in random order: a. He saw you b. I saw you c. You helped me d. I helped you Match each sentence with its correct English translation. (Hint: the words don't go in the same order in Yaqui!) ɔ 'q 'ɐ 'p :sɹǝʍsu∀

How can you learn languages without any lessons? In this class, we will do exactly that, exploring language puzzles from the simple to the mind-bendingly complex. You will learn how to take sentences in a foreign language and translate them without knowing any of the words, use a writing system you don't know, and discover grammar rules that we don't have in English. For example, did you know that in Japanese, different verbs are used to say “wear/put on” depending on where the item is worn? No prior knowledge of languages is required — just logical reasoning! A quick example puzzle: Yaqui is a language indigenous to North America. Here are some sentences in Yaqui: 1. Inepo enchi aniak 2. Aapo enchi vichak 3. Inepo enchi vichak 4. Empo nee aniak Here are their English translations, in random order: a. He saw you b. I saw you c. You helped me d. I helped you Match each sentence with its correct English translation. (Hint: the words don't go in the same order in Yaqui!) ɔ 'q 'ɐ 'p :sɹǝʍsu∀

How can you learn languages without any lessons? In this class, we will do exactly that, exploring language puzzles from the simple to the mind-bendingly complex. You will learn how to take sentences in a foreign language and translate them without knowing any of the words, read words in a writing system you don't know, and discover grammar rules that we don't have in English (for example, in Japanese, different verbs are used to say “wear/put on” depending on where the item is worn). No prior knowledge of languages or linguistics is required — just analytical thinking! A quick example puzzle: Yaqui is a language indigenous to North America. Here are some sentences in Yaqui: 1. Inepo enchi aniak 2. Aapo enchi vichak 3. Inepo enchi vichak 4. Empo nee aniak Here are their English translations, in random order: a. He saw you b. I saw you c. You helped me d. I helped you Match each sentence with its correct English translation. (Hint: the words don't go in the same order in Yaqui!) ɔ 'q 'ɐ 'p :sɹǝʍsu∀

How can you learn languages without any lessons? In this class, we will do exactly that, exploring language puzzles from the simple to the mind-bendingly complex. You will learn how to take sentences in a foreign language and translate them without knowing any of the words, read words in a writing system you don't know, and discover grammar rules that we don't have in English (for example, in Japanese, different verbs are used to say "wear/put on" depending on where the item is worn). No prior knowledge of languages or linguistics is required -- just analytical thinking! A quick example puzzle: Yaqui is a language indigenous to North America. Here are some sentences in Yaqui: 1. Inepo enchi aniak 2. Aapo enchi vichak 3. Inepo enchi vichak 4. Empo nee aniak Here are their English translations, in random order: a. He saw you b. I saw you c. You helped me d. I helped you Match each sentence with its correct English translation. (Hint: the words don't go in the same order in Yaqui!) ɔ 'q 'ɐ 'p :sɹǝʍsu∀