An English professor brought back a previously discontinued linguistics class for the fall semester.
Professor Rob Hurd will teach ENG 161 for the first time since the pandemic. Hurd said the class stopped during the pandemic because an online setting did not suit the course.
“It was a fairly popular course, I think,” Hurd said. “Many times it would be full. … I … tried to run it once as an online course during the pandemic and no one signed up for it. I don’t think it’s a course that lends itself to online modality. … Towards the beginning of the course we really study, like, the different aspects of language, like the sounds of language, or the way that we create words, or the way that we put sentences together.”
According to Hurd, the course has been popular with English students and others.
Hurd added that part of adapting the course to a modern setting involves talking about artificial intelligence.
“There’s other applications too,” Hurd said. “Such as, like AI for people interested in computer science and how, you know, computers can model language. … This will be the first time I’ve taught it since a lot of the new AI applications have become available.”
The class meets the arts and humanities general education requirement.