There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world. Many of them belong to vast language families, such as the Indo-European languages with which we are most familiar or the Austronesian languages which span the Pacific and Indian Oceans from Taiwan to Madagascar. Some languages are, however, unique, with no known relatives (e.g., Basque spoken in northern Spain or Ainu spoken on a northern island of Japan). In this module we will study the structure of human languages from a global perspective to understand their similarities and differences. We will also explore debates about whether the wide variety of structures we observe have an underlying universal basis.
Pre-requisite modules
Co-requisite modules
- None
Prohibited combinations
- None
Occurrence | Teaching period |
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A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
Typology investigates different structural types in the world’s languages. It determines where languages diverge from one another, and where they share properties which are common or potentially universal. The purpose of this module is to enhance the knowledge of students who have reached an advanced stage in linguistics. It enables them to understand the diversity of structures in the world’s languages, thereby allowing them to put their theoretical work in context.
By the end of the module, students will have:
We will focus on key areas in syntax, morphology and phonology and investigate possible (and by implication impossible) linguistic types, using available online datasets, such as the World Atlas of Language Structures (http://www.wals.info), as well as written resources.
Task | % of module mark |
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Essay/coursework | 70 |
Essay/coursework | 30 |
None
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 70 |
Essay/coursework | 30 |
Written feedback will be made available within the university mandated time limit.
Anderson, Stephen R. 2012. Languages: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Evans, Nicholas. 2011. Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us. Hoboken, NJ. Wiley-Blackwell.
Song, Jae Jung. 2001. Linguistic Typology: Morphology and Syntax. London: Longman.
Song, Jae Jung. 2011. The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Online Resources
Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) 2013. The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (http://wals.info)
Surrey Morphology Group Databases (https://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/databases/).
Hammarström, Harald & Forkel, Robert & Haspelmath, Martin & Bank, Sebastian. 2021.
Glottolog 4.5. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://glottolog.org)