Linguistics of Turkic Languages

Catalog description

In this course we look at languages from within a single language group, Turkic. Turkic languages are spoken across continental Asia and include such languages as Turkmen, Tatar, Kazakh, Uighur, and Uzbek. In this course we concentrate especially on Yakut (Sakha) and Azerbaijani. Modern Turkish will provide a reference language. We look at various linguistic systems within each language (phonology, morphology, syntax, and writing systems) both to understand each particular language and to see how the languages are related. We consider the impact of diachronic factors on the synchronic study of language. This course can be seen as an extended case-study for applying concepts and analytical strategies from basic linguistics, as taught in Introduction to Linguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, Invented Languages, and other relevant courses. Prerequisite: 80-180