Delivered at:: School of Linguistics

Course type:: Compulsory course

When:: 4 year, 3, 4 module

Instructor

Nasledskova, Polina

Full Syllabus Ask Question

Abstract

This course is dedicated to linguistic features of Austronesian languages from a typological perspective. The main focus of the course is on Indonesian language. We will discuss which linguistic features of Indonesian are typologically common and which are rare or challenging to the typologists. Apart from Standard Indonesian, we will discuss various dialects, their differences from the standard language and typologically uncommon features they have. Other Austronesian languages can add to our understanding of linguistic features of Indonesian, so they will be discussed as well. The goal of this course is to give a broader typological perspective on Indonesian language and to familiarize the students with linguistic literature on Austronesian languages.

Learning Objectives

Familiarize the students with the field of linguistic typology (focusing on Austronesian languages), teach the students to use typological tools.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students have general understanding of linguistic typology as a field, its main goals and problems, its relation to comparative linguistics, areal linguistics and studies of language contact.
Students are acquainted with main terms and problems in phonetic and phonology and the diversity of phonological systems in languages of the world.
Students are acquainted with main terms and problems of morphology and are able to navigate typological literature on topics such as wordhood, affixes, clitics, paradigms.
Students are acquainted with the diversity of nominal grammatical categories such as case, gender, number and definiteness.
Students are acquainted with the diversity of verbal grammatical categories such as tense, aspect and modality.
Students are acquainted with main morphosyntactic phenomena and their diversity across languages of the world and are able to navigate general typological literature on such topics as phrase structure, agreement, alignment and word order.

Course Contents

Introduction to linguistic typology
Phonetic typology
Morphology
Nominal grammatical categories
Verbal grammatical categories
Typology of morphosyntax

Assessment Elements

Participation
Group presentation
Essay
Independent work

Interim Assessment

2025/2026 4th module
0.3 * Essay + 0.3 * Group presentation + 0.2 * Independent work + 0.2 * Participation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

The Oxford handbook of linguistic typology, , 2011

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Introducing language typology, Moravcsik, E. A., 2013

Authors

DYACHKOVA ANNA EVGENEVNA
NASLEDSKOVA POLINA LEONIDOVNA

Bachelor’s Programme 'Southeast Asia: Languages, History, Cultures'

Contacts

Research Seminar “Typology of Austronesian Languages”