802 Historical Linguistics II G 5
Prereq: 801 or permission of instructor
Advanced work in the comparison and reconstruction of morphological and syntactic systems, primarily Indo-European; detailed examination of some of the results of past and current scholarship.
This course concentrates primarily on the methods and techniques employed in the reconstruction of morphological systems. Special attention is given to the ways in which these systems have
changed and the general principles of change which can be extracted from developments in Indo-European morphology. As in 801, the main focus is Indo-European, but data from other families is also considered.
801 is the formal prerequisite for this course, but it can be taken independently of 801. Together with 801, this course provides the student with a background in I-E linguistics and a basis from which to carry out historical work in any language family.
Topics to be covered include: the role of analogy in language change; interactions among changes in phonological, morphological, and syntactic components of a grammar; morphological changes in current theories of morphology; simplification and complication of morphological systems; speculations on the origin of the PIE nominal and verbal systems; Benveniste's theory of the IE root; etc.
Offered 2007-2008:
Offered 2008-2009 (projected):
Last modified 2001-04-02
If you are a member of our faculty you may click here to edit this page.