Undergraduate - UnitATS3667 - Language across time

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2012 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Prof Kate Burridge

Notes

Previously coded LIN3080

Synopsis

All languages are constantly changing - just as other aspects of human society are also constantly changing. How and why do these changes begin? How and why do they take hold and spread? How can we explain them? This subject is an introduction to the study of language over time. It examines changes at all linguistics levels - vocabulary, meaning, sounds and grammar. Examples are drawn from the history of a wide range of languages - Germanic, Romance, Pacific and Asian. Part of the subject also gives students practice in reconstructing lost stages of languages, using the internal and comparative methods of reconstruction.

Outcomes

On successfully completing this subject students should be able to:

Describe language as a dynamic system of communication.
Analyse language data with respect to the evolution of sounds, vocabulary and grammar.
Identify the types of change that occur.
Discuss the factors responsible for these changes and how they interact.
Explain the major processes of language change.
Use the methods of comparative reconstruction to build past linguistic systems.
Integrate language observation and analysis with corresponding literature in the field.