BA Latin and Linguistics

Syntax is often thought of as being one of the more stable areas of any language. Nevertheless, syntactic change frequently occurs. This course aims to provide students with the means to investigate it, drawing for the most part on data from the history of English. Key questions include: How do we analyse the syntax of dead languages without access to judgement data? Why does syntax change? Is syntactic change a ‘random walk’, or does it follow fixed pathways?

No formal prerequisite, but some background knowledge of either historical linguistics or syntax or both is desirable in order to get the most out of this course – if in doubt, please consult with the course convenor.

 The principal aims of the course unit are as follows:

• Familiarize students with the key issues in diachronic linguistics, with specific reference to syntax.
• Build bridges between linguistic theorizing and historical linguistic argumentation and evidence.
• Challenge students to critically assess existing theories and proposed explanations for syntactic change.
  
   

See specific categories below.

 By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Assess different approaches to syntactic variation and change.
• Recognize attested pathways of syntactic change.
• Assess appropriate methods of data collection and quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Relate syntactic change to other linguistic subdisciplines such as syntactic theory, corpus linguistics, sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, and typology.

 By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Apply syntactic theory in diachrony.
• Draw appropriate conclusions from linguistic evidence of syntactic change.
• Contribute to the discourse on the history of languages and the nature of language change.

 By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Read and assess primary research literature, and present their findings orally.
• Construct an argument and/or present research findings with bearing on current debates in historical linguistics.
• Interpret historical corpus data and assess it for completeness and coherence.

 By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Analyse data from historical texts and corpus sources.
• Condense, summarize and present written material on a complex topic.
• Formulate constructive comments and feedback for peers.

McMahon, April. 1994. Understanding language change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Harris, Alice C., & Lyle Campbell. 1995. Historical syntax in cross-linguistic perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Roberts, Ian G. 2007. Diachronic syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Further reading will be suggested during the semester.