Many people do not realize the variety of language structures and strange language phenomena that exist in the world's languages. This class will introduce a number of features that can be found across the globe. These include object agreement, verbs that necessarily encode the shape of items, ergativity, discourse particles, languages with 20 grammatical gender classes, pronoun hierarchies, circumfixes and infixes, and the complex systems of taboo words that arise in some languages. We will look at a number of these, at what is rare, common, surprising, but all of which are real. Language families from Africa, the Caucasus, Siberia, Australia, and the Americas.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as follows:
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• Lecture 1: Introduction to languages, English, linguistics, and glossing
• Discussion 1: How to we make sense of English and what else to expect in the world's languages?
• Lecture 2: Agreement, ergativity
• Discussion 2: Problem set and identifying parts of unusual phenomena
• Lecture 3: Evidentiality, Genders
• Discussion 3: Noun class, word gender exercise
• Lecture 4: Taboo language and word classes, and shape
• Discussion 4: Word class and shape puzzle