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HI-LING
LINGUISTICS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL
Introduction to Comparative Linguistics
What is this field of linguistics all about? This lesson provides some context before you deep dive into the other subfields.
Lesson 1: Comparative Linguistics
How do languages change over time? Are different languages related to each other and if so, how can we tell? Are there general rules and structures that all or most languages share and what are they? These are some of the questions that Comparative Linguists seek to answer. The kinds of principles that are studied in Comparative Linguistics cover the nature of the language and the architecture of grammar, the evolution and history of language families, and the relationship of languages with social and cultural structures as well as with patterns in cognition and the brain.
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In this lesson, we focus on language families, specifically the Indo-European language family, as well as the comparative method.
Lesson 2: Typology
Comparative linguistics often involves the examination of language typology, which categorizes languages based on their structural features. In other words, typology is the classification of languages or language components of languages based on shared formal characteristics. This can help linguists understand the broader patterns of language evolution across languages.
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In this lesson, we focus on typological features shared across languages such as relative clauses, universal tendencies, word order, etc., and how such findings have lead to categorizations of languages.
Lesson 3: Writing Systems
A writing system is a way of visually representing language or verbal communication. They are a combination of a script and an orthography, and surrounding sets of rules regulating the use. Writing systems require a shared understanding between speakers/readers/users of the language to make sense of this visual instead of spoken use of language.
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In this lesson, we focus on writing systems, more specifically the alphabet and morphosyllabaries, and give you some insight into how they work, some of the inconsistencies they have, and how written language differs from spoken language.