units

ATS3666

Faculty of Arts

18 September 2017 01 May 2024
Monash University

Undergraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 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

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

LevelUndergraduate
FacultyFaculty of Arts
Organisational UnitLinguistics
OfferedClayton First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)Dr Anna Margetts, Dr Simon Musgrave

Synopsis

The unit introduces students to Eastern Austronesian languages and cultures of Indonesia, East Timor and Oceania, covering issues in linguistic structure (comparative linguistics, phonology, morphology, syntax), sociolinguistics, and anthropological linguistics. Students will learn about the linguistic structure of Eastern Austronesian languages as well as the history of the Austronesian language family and the dispersal of the Austronesian people by examining linguistic, archaeological, anthropological, and genetic evidence. The unit will discuss issues such as language contact (including with neighbouring languages groups of Indonesia and New Guinea), special registers, language endangerment and language socialization.

Outcomes

After successfully completing this unit, students should be able to:

  1. describe and analyse data from Austronesian languages from the relevant geographic area,
  2. identify key features of the phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics of these languages,
  3. discuss the relationships between languages in this geographical area and identify phenomena resulting from contact between them,
  4. use linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological evidence to evaluate theories of the history of Austronesian languages and of the dispersal of the Austronesian people.

More generally students are expected to develop their abilities to:

  1. use analytic and interpretative skills in dealing with language data
  2. read critically
  3. assess evidence supporting various theories and thereby evaluate these theories
  4. present logical, coherent arguments both orally and in writing.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 75%
Exam: 25%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Anna Margetts

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Linguistics

Prerequisites

One of ATS2676, ATS2681 or ATS2683 if taken as a capstone unit
OR
ATS1338 and ATS1339, and 12 credit points in Linguistics, Indonesian or Anthropology at level 2 units

Prohibitions

ATS2666