TTh 4:00-5:50 SH 211
Office Hours: Wed 2:00-4:00 & by appointment webpage: http://web.pdx.edu/~connjc/
Historical linguistics deals with how languages change over time. The study of individual words is, of course, an important component of this study, but represents a relatively minor component of change in terms of the overall grammar of a language. In addition to changes in the lexicon, we will look at sound change as well as changes in morphology and syntax; each of these grammatical sub-components can be considered evolutionary systems in and of themselves. Equally as important to the study of language change is the methodology used. Some say linguistics began with the work of the Brothers Grimm and the Neogrammarians, but much has changed in the analysis of language and how it changes since that time. Much has been learned about the relevance of social factors in language change as represented in the work of William Labov and his co-workers. Particularly important has been the study of pidgins and creoles, where change is telescoped and thus more susceptible to observation and analysis. The most important question we will consider is why languages change, a perhaps unanswerable question. Although we will be using English for most of our examples, we will also consider change in languages unrelated to English. In addition to the examples discussed in the text, graduate students will introduce the class to language groups genetically and areally distant from Germanic and even Indo-European.
The computer labs should be equipped with some IPA font or another in Microsoft Word, but you can download them for free at:
http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/Lang/silfonts.html
Or here: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/fonts.htm
For extra Phonetics help, visit Peter Ladefogeds website: http://phonetics.ucla.edu/
Campbell, Lyle. 2004. Historical
Linguistics: An Introduction (2nd Ed).
Hock, Hans Heinrich. 1986. Principles of
Historical Linguistics.
Joseph, Brian D.
and Janda, Richard D. (Editors).
2005. The Handbook of Historical Linguistics.
Labov, William. 1994. Principles of
Linguistic Change, vol. 1: Internal Factors.
Labov, William. 2001. Principles of
Linguistic Change, vol. 2: Social Factors.
Final grades are determined on the following basis:
|
Undergrads |
Grads |
|
|
10% |
10% |
Class participation |
|
30% |
25% |
Problem Sets |
|
30% |
25% |
Homework |
|
30% |
30% |
Final exam |
|
|
10% |
Language family report |
Class participation. The mark for class participation depends first of all on regular attendance. More importantly it depends on being prepared and actively contributing to class discussion. Students will be regularly asked to contribute in class, and are encouraged to ask questions. Participation is based on the following:
· Class attendance
· Preparation of homework and readings
· Active involvement
Problem Sets. Problem Sets are the graded version of the homework. Late Problem Sets will be reduced by 10% of the total grade, and they will not be accepted once the answers have been distributed/discussed. Grad students are required to do all 5 Problem Sets, while undergrads are only required to do 3 (will take best 3 out of 5).
Homework. Homework exercises will come from the book and other sources. These exercises are turned in, discussed in class, but not graded for correctness. You get credit for just doing them, but neglecting to turn them in will hurt your grade. Each homework is worth 10 points. Any homework turned in late will receive only 5 points. There are 10 possible homeworks only 9 are required for grads and 8 for undergrads. Can do 1 extra for 5 points extra credit if you turn in a late homework or you can skip one.
Language Family report (graduate students only). Graduate students will pick a language family on which to report to the class, presenting oral reports at the end of the course. These are designed to investigate the topics in class/text into other languages not discussed. The topics will include at least the following:
Final exam. The exam covers all of the course material and is fairly objective in its nature.
Students with
disabilities: ITh you are a student with a disability in need of academic
accommodations (including alternate testing accommodations), you should
register with
TTh 4:00-5:50 SH 211
Office Hours: Wed 2:00-4:00 & by appointment webpage: http://web.pdx.edu/~connjc/
|
Week |
Tue |
Thu |
|
1 |
1 (T 2 Apr) Introduction Bureaucratic preliminaries |
2 (TH 4 Apr) Read 1 - Introduction (1-10); 2 - Sound Change (16-49) |
|
2 |
3 (T 9 Apr) Ch 2 Sound change HW1: Ch 1 Ex 1.1
(Choose 2), pp. 10-15 |
4 (TH 11 Apr) Ch 2 Sound change HW2: Ch 2 Ex 2.1 pp. 52-53 |
|
3 |
5 (T 16 Apr) Ch 2 Sound change Also discussing Labov HW3: Ch 2 Ex 2.4,
2.6 pp. 52-61 |
6 (TH 18 Apr) Ch 7 Models of Ling Change Also discussing Labov |
|
4 |
7 (T 23 Apr) Ch 7 Models of Ling Change HW4: Ch 2 Ex 2.7 pp.
52-61 Problem Set 1 due |
8 (TH 25 Apr) Ch 11 Explaining Ling Change |
|
5 |
9 (T 30 Apr) Ch 11 Explaining Ling Change Ch 3 - Borrowing Problem Set 2 due |
10 (TH 2 May) Ch 3 - Borrowing HW5: Ch 3 Ex Choose 1 from: 3.2, 3.3, 3.5 |
|
6 |
11 (T 7 May) Ch 4 Analogical Change |
12 (TH 9 May) Ch 4 Analogical Change HW6: Ch 4 Ex 4.2 Problem Set 3 due |
|
7 |
13 (T 14 May) Ch 5 - Reconstruction |
14 (TH 16 May) Ch 5 - Reconstruction HW7: Ch 5 Ex TBA |
|
8 |
15 (T 21 May) Ch 5 - Reconstruction Ch 8 Internal Reconstruction Problem Set 4 due |
16 (TH 23 May) Ch 5 - Reconstruction Ch 8 Internal Reconstruction HW8: Ch 8 Ex TBA |
|
9 |
17 (T 28 May) Ch 9 Semantic/Lexical Change Problem Set 5 due |
(TH 30 May) Ch 9 Semantic/Lexical Change HW9: Ch 9 Ex 9.4 Ch 10 Syntactic Change |
|
10 |
18 (T 4 June) Ch 10 Syntactic Change HW10: Ch 10 Ex TBA Grad students report |
19 (TH 6 June) Whats next for Language Change? REVIEW Grad students report |
|
|
Final Exam: Th 12
June, 12:30-2:20 PM |
|