College Bulletin 2015-2016 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
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LING 052. Historical and Comparative Linguistics
This course is an introduction to the study of linguistic history in the following sense: (i) The languages we are speaking are constantly changing. Over longer periods of time, these small changes build up to significant changes. (ii) As groups of speakers whose ancestors once spoke the same language become separated, their languages diverge. This leads to a split into separate daughter languages, which often end up being mutually incomprehensible. The question is, how is it possible to figure out and reconstruct the changes and splits that occurred in the distant past in languages that are no longer spoken and were perhaps never recorded? The method applied by historical linguists to solve this problem, the main focus of this course, is called the ‘comparative method.’ We will draw on material from a wide range of languages, focusing mainly on sound change and morphological analogy.
Prerequisite: LING 001 or LING 045 or permission of the instructor.
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Spring 2016. Sanders.
Fall 2016. Staff.
Catalog chapter: Linguistics
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/linguistics
Access the class schedule to search for sections.
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