LING2009 Languages of the World: Syllabus (2008-09)


1. January 16 Counting and classifying languages: genetic and typological classification (Lyovin, ch.1)

        Language isolates: Basque

2. January 23 Europe: language families (Lyovin, ch. 3)

Indo-European

 

Tutorial 1 (Feb 3 – 5)

 

3. February 6 The Uralic languages

Finnish and Hungarian

4. February 13 Typological classification: morphological types (Lyovin, ch.1)

       Thai, Hungarian, Latin, Russian, Ainu

The Altaic languages and word order typology (Lyovin, ch.4)

       Manchu, Mongolian, Japanese and the Altaic problem

5. February 20 Oceania and the Austronesian languages (Lyovin, ch.6)

       Hawaiian

Tutorial 2 (Feb 24 – 26)

6. February 27Australia: aboriginal languages (Lyovin, ch.6)

       Dyirbal

========= Reading Week ==========

7. March 13 Guest lecture: Sino-Tibetan and Southeast Asian languages (Lyovin, ch.4)

8. March 20 Midterm quiz; (multiple choice + short questions)

Tutorial 3 (March 24 – 26)

9. March 27  Linguistic and biological diversity: endangered languages and their habitats

10. April 3 The Americas; Navajo (Lyovin, ch.7)

       Navajo

Tutorial 4 (April 14 – 16)

11. April 17 Review and preview; Course evaluation

12. April 24 Final quiz (multiple choice + short questions)


Internet Links:

Ethnologue on-line catalogue of languages
Terralingua: Partnerships for Linguistic & Biological Diversity