This module is an introduction to linguistic fieldwork. We will do hands-on investigation of the phonetic, phonological, morphological and syntactic structure of a Tsova-Tush and we will explore the techniques used in the elicitation and analysis of such linguistic data. Our main focus is on the following three concerns related to fieldwork: i) how to discover the grammatical structure of a language and test hypotheses about that structure, ii) practical issues surrounding the collection of linguistic data from native speakers, including ethical, technological, and anthropological questions, and iii) linguistic typology.
The goal of this module is to introduce students to the basics of morphosyntactic theory and show its applications to Tsova-Tush. The lectures will cover the basics of argument structure, case (with a special emphasis on ergativity), agreement, and core clause types.
Preliminary schedule (subject to change)
Day 1: Faculty introductions. Connection between morphosyntactic theory and field work. Argument structure and basic verb types, with a special emphasis on Tsova-Tush.
Day 2: Case; ergativity. Agreement.
Day 3: Binding. Clause types. General wrap up.
In this module, students will be introduced to basic tools of phonetic and phonological description, including: the international phonetic alphabet (IPA), short descriptions of the consonants and vowels of Tsova-Tush, and of their prosodic properties (syllables, stress), basic descriptions of the major (morpho-)phonological processes occurring in the language.
Preliminary schedule
Day 1: Introductions. The IPA and basic phonetic description. Transcription tutorials. Basic principles of phonology - minimal pairs, phoneme, allophone, the syllable.
Day 2: Tsova-Tush case studies: morpho-phonological processes, umlaut, pharyngeals and laryngeals.
Day 3: Prosody, stress. Wrapping up.
Description TBA