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Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics


Charles University, Czech Republic
Faculty of Mathematics and Physics

ÚFAL
NPFL100
SIS code: 
NPFL100
Semester: 
winter
E-credits: 
2/3
Instructor: 
Magda Ševčíková
Anna Nedoluzhko
Zdeněk Žabokrtský

Variability of languages in time and space

Variabilita jazyků v čase a prostoru

 

SIS code: NPFL 100 (the course's site in SIS)

 

Teachers: Magda Ševčíková, Anja Nedoluzhko, Zdeněk Žabokrtský

Fall term 2023/2024: Thursday 14:00-15:30 in S10

Course completion requirements (1+2+3):

  1. Successful completion of 3 homework assignments
  2. Attendance and participation in the class
  3. Successful completion of the final in-class test at the end of the term

 

Did you know that...

  • there are languages with less than three vowels and more than 30 consonants?
  • stress can be totally unbounded?
  • there may be up to 7 consonants in one syllable?
  • there may be a special case for doing something without someone?
  • Hungarian has 19 cases, while old French has only two?
  • a protolanguage can be reconstructed?
  • inflection and derivation are quite close to each other?

How to compare languages if they are so different?

The course is an introduction to how multiple languages can be approached by linguistic analysis. First, different approaches to classification of the world’s languages will be summarized (genealogical classification, areal typology, language typology). Referring to existing resources containing information on many languages, we will focus on language typology of phonological, morphological, and syntactic features. Recent approaches to typology of word formation will be presented too.

 

Course schedule

 

  • 5 October 2023 - Intro: Description and objectives of the course, lecture topics, course completion requirements

 

  • 12 October 2023 - Topic 1
    • Basic facts on the world's languages
    • Linguistic typology, genetic classification of languages, areal linguistics

 

  • 19 October 2023 - Topic 2 
    • Phonological Typology, Consonant and Vowel inventories

 

  • 26 October 2023 - Topic 3
    • Syllable structure and patterns, Suprasegmentals (stress, length, tones)

 

  • 2 November 2023 - Dean's Sports Day (no classes)

 

  • 9 November 2023 - Topic 4
    •  Syllable structure and patterns, Suprasegmentals (stress, length, tones)

 

  • 16 November 2023 - Topic 5
    • Morphological typology

 

  • 23 November 2023 - Topic 6
    • Word formation across languages. Approaches to cross-linguistic study of word-formation

 

  • 30 November 2023 - Topic 7
    • Lexical resources

 

  • 7 December 2023 - Topic 8
    • Typology of syntactic features. Comparing word order across languages (S-V-O, V-O, S-V, word order in nominal groups)

       

  • 14 December 2023 - Topic 9
    • Text corpora

 

  • 21 December 2023 - Topic 10
    • Language universals - are there any? Statistical vs. absolute universals

 

  • 4 January 2024
    • tba

 

  • 11 January 2024 - Final test

 

References:

  • Jan Bičovský: Vademecum starými indoevropskými jazyky. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Filozofická fakulta, 2009.
  • Lyle Campbell: Historical linguistics: An introduction. 2004.
  • Bernard Comrie: Language universals and linguistic typology. 1989.
  • Terry Crowley – Claire Bowern: An introduction to historical linguistics. 2010.
  • František Čermák: Jazyk a jazykověda (Přehled a slovníky). Praha: Karolinum, 2004.
  • Jiří Černý: Dějiny lingvistiky. Olomouc: Votobia, 1996.
  • Jiří Černý: Úvod do studia jazyka. Olomouc: Rubico, 1998.
  • Tomáš Duběda: Jazyky a jejich zvuky. Univerzálie a typologie ve fonetice a fonologii. Praha: Karolinum, 2005.
  • Adolf Erhart: Základy jazykovědy. Praha: SPN, 1984.
  • Victoria Fromkin – Robert Rodman – Nina Hyams: An Introduction to Language. International Student Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 2006.
  • Eva Hajičová – Petr Sgall – Jarmila Panevová: Úvod do teoretické a počítačové lingvistiky. Svazek 1: Teoretická lingvistika. Praha: Karolinum, 2002.
  • Martin Haspelmath et al. (eds.): Language typology and language universals. 2001.
  • Hans Henrich Hock: Language history, language change, and language relationship: an introduction to historical and comparative linguistics. 2009.
  • Jakov G. Testelec: Vvedenie v obščij sintaksis. Moskva: Izdatel'stvo RGGU, 2001

Online resources: