This course aims to provide a general introduction to the Austronesian language family, the world’s second largest language family with more than 1,200 languages spoken in great territorial range extending some 206 degrees of longitude from Madagascar in Africa to Easter Island/Rapa Nui in the Pacific, and over 70 degrees of latitude from Taiwan/Formosa to the South Island of New Zealand.
Topics to be covered include (but are not limited to the following):
(a) a bird’s-eye view of the geographical, cultural, demographic, and historical background to the Austronesian language family;
(b) classification: internal groupings of Austronesian languages and external relationships of Austronesian languages;
(c) Typology of Austronesian languages—Sound Systems;
(d) Typology of Austronesian languages—Morphosyntax;
(e) language in society: speech style/register (e.g. speech levels in Island Southeast Asia; respect language in Micronesia and Polynesia; gender-based speech differences; hunting languages, fishing languages, and territorial languages; ritual languages)
***It is NOT available for auditing.
This course provides an overview of the similarities and differences that underlie the vast array of human languages through examining major grammatical categories and constructions in the world’s languages. Topics to be covered include: morphological typology; word order typology; grammatical relations; case-marking and agreement systems; valency and transitivity; tense, aspect, and mood (TAM); etc.
The overall goals are:
(i) to develop the skills necessary to analyze the structure of language, and
(ii) to provide a general training in analytic thought.
By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:
(i) analyze first-hand field data independently;
(ii) recognize the diversity of language systems and their fundamental similarities;
(iii) understand and use the basic terminology of linguistic typology.
***Policy on Auditing
The auditing option is available only to graduate students from the Institute of Linguistics at Tsing Hua. If you would like to audit my class, please make sure that you e-mail me to get my approval before the first class meeting. Auditors are expected to do the reading, to do all the homework assignments, and to participate in class discussions.
Courses regularly offered in the Spring semester
LING 500500: Historical Linguistics (graduate-level; mandatory elective)
HSS 330100: Languages of the World (undergraduate-level; required course for HSS students with a minor in Linguistics; elective GE)
Undergraduate-level courses offered in the Fall semester (not regularly)
HSS 331300: Grammatical Structures of the World's Languages (undergraduate-level; elective GE)
HSS 332100: Language and History (undergraduate-level; elective GE)
HSS332300: Southeast Asia: Languages and Cultures (undergraduate-level; elective GE)
HSS 230000: Linguistic Analysis (undergraduate-level; required course for HSS students with a minor in Linguistics)
Graduate-level courses offered in the Fall semester (not regularly)
LING 594000: Language Contact
LING 595000: Language Contact II
LING 582600: Topics in Historical Linguistics: Language Contact
LING 704400: Language Contact: East and Southeast Asia
LING 592900: Areal Linguistics: Southeast Asia
LING 592900: Areal Linguistics: Southeast Asia II
LING 581600: Language Contact in the Austronesian World
LING 595800: Austronesian Linguistics
LING 701800: Austronesian Historical Linguistics
LING 702700: Austronesian Historical Linguistics II
LING 582300: Austronesian Historical Phonology
LING 582500: Austronesian Historical Phonology II
LING 582100: Topics in Austronesian Historical Linguistics
LING 582200: Topics in Austronesian Historical Linguistics II
LING 581500: Comparative Austronesian Morphosyntax
LING 581800: Topics in Austronesian Morphosyntax
LING 580600: Comparative Studies of Formosan and Philippine Languages
LING 534800: Morphosyntactic Typology
LING 560100: Language Universals and Linguistic Typology
LING 505900: Topics in Historical Linguistics: Distant Genetic Relationships
LING 506100: Topics in Historical Linguistics II: Language and Culture
LING 703600: Endangered Languages and Language Documentation
LING575900: Methods of Language Documentation
LING 500800: Research Methods
LING 50100: The Comparative Method
GPTS 530200: Comparative Linguistics
GPTS 530100: Introduction to Languages of Taiwan
GPTS 500200: General Linguistics
LING500/900/GPTS 510000: Introduction to Linguistics--Advanced-level
Course title: Comparative-Historical Linguistics
Event: First Philippine Linguistic Institute
(hosted by University of the Philippines--Diliman, Linguistic Society of the Philippines, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, and SIL International (Philippines)
Venue: University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, the Philippines
Time: March 31-April 12, 2008
ENG535M: Foundations of Language Sciences
ENG622M: Grammatical Structure of English
LIN625P: Current Syntactic Theory: Minimalist Program
LIN626P: Advanced Grammar of Philippine Languages
LIN835P: Introduction to Historical Linguistics
LIN836P: Austronesian Linguistics I--Morphosyntax
LIN837P: Austronesian Linguistics II--Phonology and Lexicon
LIN838P: Linguistic Prehistory of the Philippines
LIN839P: Comparative Studies of Western Austronesian Languages
LIN840P: Comparative Studies of Eastern Austronesian Languages
Ling 422: Introduction to Grammatical Analysis (core course of MA students in Linguistics; offered in Fall 2003)
Ling 640x(2): The Syntax of Ergative Languages (elective course for graduate students; offered in Fall 2002)