AP/LING 3040 3.00

Historical Linguistics

This course is an introduction to the study of languages as they change through time, and to the related topics of dialect geography and linguistic prehistory. We will study methods for constructing earlier stages of a language, such as the comparative method and internal reconstruction. Processes of changes in phonology, syntax and lexicon will be addressed. The main languages emphasized are English, French and their Indo-European relatives, but examples and problems will cover a variety of languages and language families.

Prerequisite: AP/LING 1000 3.0 with a grade of C or better, or permission of the department