Spring 2027

Human Language

Human Language covers elementary theory and practical work in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax, with attention to formal grammar.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Laura Horton

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ryan Henke

Exams were straightforward with no trick questions. Students were advised to attend lectures because readings did not cover lecture material, and to complete practice problems for tests.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Read and write phonetic transcriptions of speech using the International Phonetic Alphabet.Describe the mechanisms at work during the production of human speech sounds.

  • Identify the distinctive features of the sounds of English, and be familiar with the phonetic features of many non-English sounds.

  • Analyze and represent the structure of English words and sentences.

  • Apply knowledge of phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax in analyzing linguistic datasets from a wide variety of unfamiliar languages.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forLINGUIS/​ANTHRO 301.

    • not eligible with
    • Not open to students with credit forLINGUIS/ANTHRO 301.
    take all
LINGUIS 101 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • All of
    • Not eligible with
    • Not open to students with credit forLINGUIS/ANTHRO 301.

Professors

Spring 2027
Historical instructors & teaching patterns

REBECCA SHIELDS is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RYAN HENKE is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2000
DIS 403Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 407Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 408Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 401Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 402Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 404Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 405Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 406Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ryan Henke

Students found the lectures fun and engaging, with topics covered in a way that made them easy to understand. The course moved quickly but remained accessible.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.47 GPA, 76.3% A/AB (n=215 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.34 GPA, 67.0% A/AB (n=233 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.67 GPA, 85.1% A/AB (n=114 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ryan Henke

Exams were straightforward with no trick questions. Students were advised to attend lectures because readings did not cover lecture material, and to complete practice problems for tests.

Past student reviews · Ryan Henke

The class was organized so that tough material did not feel overwhelming. Lectures were recorded and posted online, allowing students to review content at their own pace.

Topics

  • Phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and formal grammar.

Skills

  • Reading and writing phonetic transcriptions using IPA; describing speech sound production mechanisms.
  • Identifying distinctive features of English sounds and phonetic features of non-English sounds.
  • Analyzing and representing the structure of English words and sentences.
  • Applying phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax to analyze linguistic datasets from unfamiliar languages.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.17 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
LINGUIS 101 · Spring 2027

Human Language

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:550:011268",
    "course_id": "LINGUIS 101",
    "course_uid": "course_97c2ccf8d6ed1c7d34040f07",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "011268",
    "source_subject_id": "550",
    "title": "Human Language",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "90bbd037ddcc77a46d6a256a3f53ed2f44a2f396011810f363f1ea86779ee7e8",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}