Admission requirements
None.
Description
Almost all languages of Europe and a large number of languages in South-West and Central Asia are related to each other. Together they form the Indo-European language family and derive from a single ancestor language that we call Proto-Indo-European. With its approximately 3 billion speakers it is the largest language family in the world. Which languages belong to this language family? How do we know that these languages are related to each other? Which are the oldest known texts in Indo-European languages and what are these texts about? How can you reconstruct the proto-language and what did this proto-language look like? To what extent does our knowledge of the historical development of the Indo-European languages provide an insight into the lives of the prehistoric speakers of the proto-language? Can we reconstruct aspects of their culture and habitat? In this course we will try to answer these and other questions about Indo-European language and culture.
Course objectives
General knowledge of the results of comparative Indo-European linguistics.
General knowledge of the extralinguistic history of the most important older Indo-European languages.
Basic knowledge of a number of linguistic changes that shaped some of the daughter languages of Proto-Indo-European.
Familiarity with the basics of comparative linguistics and linguistic reconstruction.
General knowledge of the culture and prehistory of the speakers of ancient Indo-European languages and Proto-Indo-European.
Timetable
Visit MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lectures (1 hour weekly) and seminars (1 hour weekly).
Assessment method
Written examination (mid-term, 25%) and final written examination (75%). There is a resit covering the entire material (100%) if the weighted average of the two exams is insufficient.
Reading list
The reader must be purchased through Readeronline before the start of the course.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on this website
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
For questions related to the content of the course, please contact the lecturer, you can find their contact information by clicking on their name in the sidebar.
For questions regarding enrollment please contact the Education Administration Office Reuvensplaats
E-mail address Education Administration Office Reuvensplaats: osz-oa-reuvensplaats@hum.leidenuniv.nl
For questions regarding your studyprogress contact the Coordinator of Studies
Remarks
This course is open to students from the BA Linguistics only.
First year’s students BA Linguistics will be enrolled in the seminars of this course by the Education Administration Office.