LING/ASIAN 344: The Languages of South Asia

Provisional schedule of topics for discussion, reports and exams.

  1. 7 January. Introduction and description of course. Names and places 
(map).

  2. 12 January. Writing systems, phonetic inventories and transcription.

  3. 14 January.  S. Asian language families. 

  4. 19 January. Martin Luther King Day.

  5. 21 January. Pre-history of South Asian languages. Report #0 (phonetic
inventory) due. (not for a grade)

  6. 26 January. Basic word order in the clause, adpositions. Typological 
correlations.

  7. 28 January. Word order and the South and Central Asian Linguistic 
Area. Report #1 (word order) due.

  8. 2 February. Read Emeneau 
on India as a Linguistic Area. Read Gumperz and Wilson on IndoAryan - 
Dravidian convergence. 

  9. 4 February. Discussion of subject-object marking (ergative-absolutive
vs.  nominative-accusative vs. other systems) Report #2 (Kashmiri word
order) due. 

 10. 9 February. Case systems. 

 11. 11 February. Participant roles. Print out "Devanagari 2" from
Coursetools and bring to class.  Report #3 (subject and object marking) 
due.

 12. 16 February.  Dative of experiencer. 

 13. 18 February. Relative clauses and phrases. Print out "Devanagari 3"  
from Coursetools and bring to class. Report #4 (Dative or "experiencer"  
subjects) due.

 14. 1 March. The NP-Hierarchy in South Asian languages.

 15. 3 March. Causal sets. Review. Print out "Devanagari 4"
from Coursetools and bring to class. 

 16. 8 March. Midterm exam.  Report #5 (relative phrases & clauses) due.

 17. 10 March. Vedic and "classical" Sanskrit grammar, poetry, culture.  
Print out "Devanagari 5" from Coursetools and bring to class.

 18. 15 March. Conjunctive participles, serial verb. Vectors and compound 
verbs.

 19. 17 March. Panini's "aSTaadhyaayii". (guest lecture by Prof. Madhav 
Deshpande). Report #6 (causal sets) due.

 20. 22 March. Print out "Devanagari 6" from Coursetools and bring to
class. More on Panini. Report #7 (Serial verbs and compound verbs) due.

 21. 24 March. Reduplication and echoics.

 22. 29 March. Gender and agreement. Hypotaxy in Sanskrit and Tamil. Print
out "Devanagari 7" from Coursetools and bring to class. Optional report #8
(reduplication and echoics) due.

 23. 31 March. Ferguson's diglossia
 and Wilce's critique of it with reference to Bangla. (Parts One and
Two.

 24. 5 April. Language politics in South Asia. Oral presentations begin.

 25. 7 April. Social relations reflected in South Asian languages.

 26. 12 April. Devanagari (or Nastaliq) quiz. Language and caste.

 27. 14 April. Language and education. The English language in South Asia.

 28. 19 April. No class. (Individual meetings instead).

 29. 21 April. Summations. Course evaluations.

=> 28 April. Coursepapers due in
Frieze 3070 by 5 pm. <=

Policy on lateness and make-ups. Written assignments lose one grade (10%) 
for each session they are late (for the final coursepaper, for each day 
late), unless a medical excuse is provided. If delay in taking the midterm 
exam is excused it must be taken within a week of the student's return to 
class. 

Regular attendance is required.

Note: Reports and papers must be double-spaced. Use a font size no smaller 
than 10 point and no larger than 12 point. No electronic submissions; 
paper submissions only.

To description of course.

Last updated on 29 March 2004.