Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.
Module 1 in
Languages on the Edge of Magic
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Cluster
Lecture-based
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Low intensity
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 shown below.
The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below.
| Outline | 8-Session Structure |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | 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? | |
| Week 2 | Lecture 2: Agreement, ergativity |
| Discussion 2: Problem set and identifying parts of unusual phenomena | |
| Week 3 | Lecture 3: Evidentiality, Genders |
| Discussion 3: Noun class, word gender exercise | |
| Week 4 | Lecture 4: Taboo language and word classes, and shape |
| Discussion 4: Word class and shape puzzle |
Required Texts
There are no required texts for this module. The preceptor will supply all the material.
This class needs more votes to get confirmed.
This module is a standing candidate which means it will be ready to launch as soon as it gets enough interest. Token holders can set aside a Token to reserve their seat for (next run of this) this candidate and help it get confirmed.
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This will be a Hybrid class (4 lectures & 4 discussion sessions). Each week will consist of 1 hour of recorded lecture and 1 hour of live discussion (not recorded) for a total of 8 class hours over the course of the month.
Delivery Plan
1. The first session each week will be a pre-recorded lecture sent to students at least 2 days before the live discussion session.
2. The second session each week will be a live discussion session (not recorded).
Delivery Plan
1. The first session each week will be a pre-recorded lecture sent to students at least 2 days before the live discussion session.
2. The second session each week will be a live discussion session (not recorded).
Days and Times
As soon as we obtain enough interest in this class we will be in touch to work out a meeting time that works for the group. Thank you for keeping your Blackberry availability up to date!