Donald Ringe
607 Williams Hall
898-6046
dringe@unagi.cis.upenn.edu
This course covers the principles of language change and the methods of historical linguistics on an elementary level. The systematic regularity of change, the reasons for that regularity, and the exploitation of regularity in linguistic reconstruction are especially emphasized. Examples are drawn from a wide variety of languages, both familiar and unfamiliar. Since there are no prerequisites, the course includes mini-introductions to articulatory phonetics, basic phonology (especially the principle of contrast), and basic morphology (especially inflection), all of which must be understood in order to understand the ways in which they change. The course counts toward the general requirement in the History and Tradition sector.