Introduction to Language and Linguistics

By Prof. Dripta Piplai (Mondal), Prof. Bornini Lahiri | IIT Kharagpur

Learners enrolled: 796 | Exam registration: 176

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The course tries to give an idea about the knowledge of language and different levels of linguistic analysis, keeping in mind various types of linguistic data. After attending the course, one will be able to conduct basic linguistic analysis in phonology and morphology; transcribe using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), draw basic syntax trees and do parsing. Additionally, the course gives an overview of relevant topics like language and script, linguistic areas, dialects etc.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: B.Tech and masters students interested in linguistics, PhD scholars who need basic idea of linguistics

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Companies working in computational linguistics, e.g. Google, Microsoft

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	22 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	02 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: What is Knowledge of Language? What is Plato’s problem? What do we do in Linguistics?

Week 2: Competence and Performance Universal Grammar, Rules of Language

Week 3: Phonetics and Phonology, IPA

Week 4: Morphology

Week 5: Introduction to Syntax

Week 6: Syntax and Semantics

Week 7: Pragmatics, Computational Linguistics, Introduction to Typology

Week 8: Linguistic Typology and Linguistic Area

Week 9: Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Week 10: Sociolinguistics and Endangered Languages

Week 11: Language Documentation and Language Teaching

Week 12: Summing up

Books and references

1. Carnie, A. 2013. Syntax: A Generative Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.

2. Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. and Hyams, N. 2003. An Introduction to Language. Thomson/Heinle.

3. Haegeman, L. 1994. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory. Wiley- Blackwell.

4.Katamba, F. 1993. Morphology. Palgrave-Macmillan.

5. Yule, G. 2006. The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press.

6. Akmajian, A., Demers, R.A. and Harnish, R.M. 2001. Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication. MIT Press.

7. Jurafsky, D.and Martin J.H. 2008. Speech and Language Processing: An Introduction to Speech Recognition, Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing. Pearson.

Instructor bio

Prof. Dripta Piplai (Mondal)

IIT Kharagpur

Prof. Dripta Piplai (Mondal): Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur. Ph. D in Linguistics from University of Delhi. Her research interests include language conflict, linguistic discrimination, language variation, language policy and planning for classrooms among others. She has done extensive field work in different rural areas for the last 15 years and published in several journals.

Prof. Bornini Lahiri

Prof.Bornini Lahiri: At present, she is anAssistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur. She has completed her PhD in linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. She has worked largely in minor and endangered languages of West Bengal. Many of her works have been published in various journals and books. She has recently published her work on typology of cases of eastern Indo Aryan languages with Routledge.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: November 2, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team