Course syllabus

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Welcome to Comparative linguistics and language typology!

Course instructor: Eva-Marie Bloom Ström (course coordinator), Malin Petzell and Sebastian Dom

This course concerns itself with the systematic investigation of cross-linguistic variation. Linguists are interested in formulating hypotheses about the unity, diversity, potentials and limits of human language, and to do this we need to know what human language is capable of. This involves the systematic study and comparison of language structures in a diverse range of languages, with the aim of identifying recurrent patterns of linguistic systems. The goal of this course is both to give an introduction to linguistic unity and diversity, and to delve deeper into certain aspects of the following domains: phonology, morphology, syntax and information structure.
The course will be taught in English, and the readings are in English.
The course requires active participation by students and consists of lectures, discussions seminars, student presentations and peer review of your writings. We meet on Zoom on a regular basis. The end product is an essay of around 5000-7000 words.
Further information about the course and its set-up can be found in the course guide and in modules, in which you will find all the material and the structure of the course.
Introductory Zoom meeting/seminar 1: 26 January at 17.00 CET
The following is a preliminary time line, in which meetings are scheduled roughly every other week, on Wednesdays. Meeting times will be discussed in the introductory meeting.

Time line spring 2022

Module 1 introduction

26 January 17.00-18.00

Seminar 1 – Introduction to the course, to each other. Lecture: relationships between languages from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. What is typology?

7 February 16.15-18.00

Seminar 2 – presentations of languages chosen

23 February NB new date 22 February 16.15-18.00

Seminar 3 – Lecture: glossings; morphological typology.

The seminars following this, dive deeper into the typology of different aspects of grammar.

Module 2 Verbal categories

9 March NB new date 14 March 13.15-15.00

Seminar 4 – TAM lecture - Chapter 8, verbal categories

16 March 16.15-18.00

Seminar 5 – Presentations: Verbal categories

Module 3 Nominal categories and syntax

30 March 16.15-18.00

Seminar 6 – Noun classes, gender systems, animacy - Chapter 7: Nominal categories and syntax

6 April 16.15-18.00

Seminar 7- Presentations: nominal categories and syntax

Module 4 Simple clauses

20 April 16.15-18.00

Seminar 8 – Valency - Chapter 9: Simple clauses

27 April NB the time: 15.15-17.00

Seminar 9 – Simple clauses presentations

Module 5 Essay and peer review

8 May

Submission of draft essay > peer review

15 May

Submission of peer review

22 May

Deadline submission of essay

Kursplan

Syllabus

Litteraturlista/Reading List

Schema/Schedule

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Course summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due