Course syllabus

Welcome to African Language Structures and Typology!

This course forms a continuation of AF1111 Introduction to Linguistics and African Languages. You will deepen your knowledge of phonology and grammar, taking a typological perspective. Typology is the systematic study and comparison of different aspects of language, such as phonology and morphology, in order to find out what is common in the languages of the world, what is rare, and what (if any) are the limits of human language?

This means that we will focus on African languages and their structures, while comparing them to the languages of the world.

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.

Syllabus and reading list 

Introduction week at the department 

Activate your student account and Register for the course

Schedule Spring Term 2024

Course instructor is Rasmus Bernander

Course outline VT 2024

NB! The Zoom link for the lessons is found in the course guide. The chapters from the main book are given below per lesson but there will be other readings as well. Everything will be available through the university library, so make sure that your log-in is working. You do not have to buy any literature. Further details will be published in Modules on the date listed here for each lesson.

Start date 15 January

Lesson 1;

      • introduction
      • how do linguists get their data?
      • the work of the descriptive linguist
      • the work of the typologist    Zoom Tuesday 23 January 10.00

Lesson 2; Velupillai 4 - 29 January

      • phonetics
      • phonology; vowels and consonants

Zoom Thursday 8 February 10.00

Lesson 3 - 12 February

      • phonology; prosody
      • morphophonology

Zoom Thursday 22 February 10.00

Test 1 open Thursday 22 February 17.00 until Sunday 25 February 17.00

Lesson 4, Velupillai 5 - 26 February

      • morphology; kinds of morphological systems

Zoom Thursday March 7 10.00

Lesson 5 - 11 March

      • morphology; inflection
      • morphology; derivation

Zoom Thursday 21 March 10.00

Lesson 6, Velupillai 7 - 25 March

      • morphology; noun class systems and agreement, animacy

Zoom Thursday 4 April 10.00

Test 2 open Thursday 11 April 17.00 until Sunday 14 April 17.00

Lesson 7, Velupillai 8 - 15 April

      • Verbal categories; tense and aspect

Zoom Thursday 18 April 10.00

Lesson 8, Velupillai 9 - 29 April

      • Simple clauses and valency. Negation

Zoom Thursday 2 May 10.00

Lesson 9, Velupillai 10 - 13 May WITH SPECIAL GUEST LECTURER Simon Msovela

      • Word order
      • Information Structure

Zoom Thursday 23 May 10.00

1-4 June

Exam, the test will be open to take any time starting Saturday 1 June 08.00, with deadline Tuesday 4 June 23.59

10-13 Aug

Retake exam, the test will be open to take any time starting Saturday 10 August 08.00, with deadline Tuesday 13 August 23.59

 

Study counselling

If you have questions or concerns about your studies, degrees and careers, please contact your study counsellor.  The study counsellor is also the contact person for pedagogical support and adjustments of studies.

Email: studievagledning.afrikanska@sprak.gu.se

More information on study counselling: https://www.gu.se/en/languages/study-here/study-guidance

Pedagogical support

Information: https://studentportal.gu.se/en/service-and-support/disability-study-support

If you have a NAIS decision about adjustments of studies, please read the information above carefully. 

For information on pedagogical support at the Department of Languages and literatures, click on Department of Languages and literatures: https://studentportal.gu.se/en/service-and-support/disability-study-support?f_hn=1&i_spl=1#information-from-faculties-and-departments

Information about being a student at the Faculty of Humanities, GU.