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The History and Geography of Language Families Lecturers: Martin W Lin13, Public Syllabus Stanford Continuing Studies | Lin13 The History and Geography of Language Families Lecturers: Martin W. Lewis & Asya Pereltsvaig Course Grading: You have three options: - No Grade Requested (this is the default option) - If you elect to Credit/No Credit, attendance will determine your grade (a sign-up sheet will be passed around in class) - If you elect to obtain a Letter Grade, it will be determined by attendance and a short paper/map project (due last class meeting) Paper/Map Projects For those electing to take the course for credit, a short (8-10 page) paper or a map project of the same length is required. A wide variety of topics are suitable for papers and map projects, provided that they deal in some manner with the history and geography of language families. Map projects should be built around 6-8 maps reproduced from a variety of sources (atlases, books, articles, websites, etc.). Together, these maps should illustrate a particular case study in the history and geography of language families. Roughly two paragraphs of text should accompany each map, the first of which should describe the most pertinent features of the map, and the second of which should link the map in question to the other maps in the project. We are happy to discuss your ideas for papers or projects after class or by email. Topics should be cleared via email with one of the instructors by end of the eight week of classes. Weekly Outline: Week 1: Introduction to the world’s language families. How are languages shown to be related to one another? How are language families differ from human families or biological genera? Early discoveries in the phylogenetic classification of languages. Week 2: How were some languages shown to belong to the Indo-European family? Comparative method and lexicostatistics. Comparing words vs. comparing grammars. Week 3: Controversy around Indo-European origins and expansion. When and where was Proto-Indo- European spoken? Why is the issue of Indo-European origins important? History of “races” vs. history of languages. Week 4: The origins and spread of Turkic language family. Turkic invasions and states. The role of horses in the spread of Eurasian languages. Equestrian domination. Yakut migration. The role of language contact in language diversification (Uzbek). Week 5: The origins and spread of Austronesian language family. Languages of the Philippines. The Polynesian controversy. The mystery of Malagasy. Correlating genetic and linguistic evidence. Week 6: Language families of the Caucasus. How many indigenous families in the Caucasus? The role of topography in language spread and diversification: mountains as refuge areas. The history of Alans/Ossetians. Lin13, Public Syllabus Week 7: Afroasiatic languages of the Middle East and North Africa: Semitic, Egyptian, Berber languages. Deciphering ancient texts: discoveries and challenges. “Reviving” ancient languages: Hebrew, Aramaic. Week 8: Main languages of sub-Saharan Africa. Niger-Congo (Bantu) languages. Bantu states and migrations. Interactions with Khoisan languages. The spread of the click sounds. The story of Hadza and Sandawe. The Pygmies: their DNA and language. Week 9: Sino-Tibetan languages and languages of East and Southeast Asia. Areal features of languages. Are Chinese and Tibetan languages really related? Week 10: Languages and language families of the Americas. Controversy around the peopling of the Americas. Possible connections to Old World languages. Are Native American languages so different from Old World languages because their speakers think differently? .
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