Browse Hierarchy LIN6016: Unfamiliar Languages

Students will work in elicitation sessions with a native speaker of an unfamiliar language, i.e., one not commonly studied in linguistic theory. The language is decided on a year-by-year basis and can come from any part of the world. Previous years have studied Biak, Georgian and Hawaiian. The purpose of the module is to apply knowledge of the parameters of linguistic variation acquired in previous linguistics modules to form and test hypotheses about the grammatical structure of an unknown language. Assessment will emphasize the method of discovery (including elicitation, data organization, and hypothesis formation and testing) as well as the discoveries themselves.