Enrollment year
2015/2016
Academic discipline
L-LIN/01 (GLOTTOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS)
Department
DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES
Curriculum
PERCORSO COMUNE
Period
(21/09/2015 - 23/12/2015)
Lesson hours
36 lesson hours
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Learning outcomes
The course will provide an overview of the structural diversity of human langages, and how the relevant structures develop over time.
Course contents
The course will provide an overview of the structural diversity of human langages, and how the relevant structures develop over time. The grammar of human languages is not static. Rather, the structures attested in individual languages (e.g. case markers, prepositions, particular types of verbal forms, coonjunctions, articles, possessive constructiions) develop over time through the reinterpretation of preexisting constructions, which typically have different meanings and functions. Such processes of reinterpretation will be illustrated based on data from ancient and modern European languages, as well as languages from
different families and geographical areas (such as African,
Australian, American, Austronesian, and South-East Asian
languages). While the structures attested in the world languages are diverse, and often very different from those familiar from European languages, the mechanisms underlying the development of these structures are
usually the same from one language to another, independently of
geographical location or genetic affiliation. This makes it possible
to define a number of general principles that govern the way in which
languages evolve over time.
Teaching methods
Lectures
Reccomended or required readings
Classroom materials will be presented providing a detailed description
of all course topics and relevant references (these materials will
also be made available on the web). References will include a number
of standard textbooks covering exam topics, as well as several
reference works that can optionally be used for in-depth study of
specific topics. Classroom materials can be used as a basic reference,
and should be combined with selected parts of one or more of the textbooks indicated in
the reference list. Students are welcome to chose any of the latter,
through the following are particularly recommended:
Anttila, Raimo
1989 An introduction to historical and comparative
linguistics. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 2 ed.
McMahon?, April S.
1994 Understanding language change. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Assessment methods
Student assessment is made through exam papers consisting of exercises
and questions on course topics. Some of the course lectures will be
devoted to solving exercises of the same type as those in the exam
papers.
Further information
Student assessment is made through exam papers consisting of exercises
and questions on course topics. Some of the course lectures will be
devoted to solving exercises of the same type as those in the exam
papers.
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