Undergraduate Course: Historical Linguistics (LASC10021)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Detailed introduction to descriptive and theoretical aspects of historical linguistics, covering phonetic, phonological, morphological and syntactic change from a crosslinguistic perspective. The course also looks at sociolinguistic influences on language change and the consequences of language contact including language convergence, creolisation and language death. |
| Course description |
This course introduces the type of changes that a language may undergo, on every level of linguistic description: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and discourse, and the theoretical frameworks that are available to discuss them. We also look at language birth and language death.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Linguistics/Language Sciences courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
| To know, describe and recognise common types of linguistic change; to understand issues relating to current theories of language change; to accurately describe and analyse primary data; to reason critically; to identify and solve problems; to independently formulate and test hypotheses.
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Reading List
Campbell, L. (2004, 2013). Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2nd or 3rd edition.
Kroch, A.S. (1989). Reflexes of grammar in patterns of language change. Language Variation and Change 1, 199-244.
McMahon, A. (1994). Understanding Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thomason, S. G. (2001). Language Contact: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Teaching Contact Time: 9 weeks out of 11 at 3 hours/week = 27 hours |
| Keywords | Historical linguistics; language change. |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Bettelou Los
Tel: (0131 6)51 1842
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Susan Hermiston
Tel: (0131 6)50 3440
Email: |
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