Admission requirements
No requirements, but familiarity with at least one ancient Indo-European language is strongly recommended.
Description
This course offers an introduction to the comparative reconstruction of Indo-European phonology and nominal morphology.
The first part of this course covers the historical phonology of Indo-European. Which phonemes do we reconstruct for Proto-Indo-European and why? Why does Latin actus have a long a, but aptus a short one? When was the RUKI-rule phonemicized? How were the laryngeals pronounced and what type of evidence helps us to answer that question? This is the type of questions that we will be dealing with.
In the second part, we will treat the structure of the Indo-European word and study the reconstruction of nominal endings and paradigms. The concept of ablaut and its relation with lexical accent will receive special attention. Other topics are the categories gender and number in Indo-European, nominal composition, and derivation. We will conclude with a reconstruction of the pronominal system. Recent articles on Indo-European phonology and nominal morphology are discussed during separate reading sessions.
Course objectives
Obtaining knowledge about phonological change between Proto-Indo-European and its daughter languages, including the following sound laws: Brugmann, Bartholomae, Lachmann, Winter, Grimm, Verner, Kluge, Grassmann, RUKI-rule, Sievers, Osthoff.
Obtaining knowledge of the morphological system of the Proto-Indo-European noun and pronoun (including the categories and paradigms), and of the developments of this morphological system in the main daughter languages.
Understanding the arguments for possible phonetic interpretations of reconstructed Proto-Indo-European phonemes.
Understanding the methodology of the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European nominal morphology, and its pitfalls.
Developing reconstructional skills and applying sound laws to reconstructed forms.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Lecture/Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
- Two written examinations (midterm, final) with short open questions
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Weighing
Both written exams make up 50% of the final mark, i.e. the final grade equals the average of both exam results. Both partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
There is a resit option for both written exams.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will be organized.
Reading list
Mandatory reading:
Beekes, Robert S.P. 2011. Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An introduction. Second edition by Michiel de Vaan. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Clackson, James. 2007. Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. (ISBN 9780521653671)
Lundquist, J. and Yates, A. 2017. “Indo-European Morphology”. In: J. Klein, B. Joseph, M. Fritz (eds.), Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, Volume 3, pp. 2079-2195.
All three can be accessed online through the library website. Students must possess a printed copy of the relevant pages and bring them to class.
The articles to be discussed in the reading sessions will be communicated during the first class.
A syllabus with exercises and the slides used during class will be made available through Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Reuvensplaats
Remarks
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