| Professor: | Jonathan North Washington | |
| Office: | Pearson 105 | |
| Office phone: | x6134 | |
| Office hours: | W 13:30-15:00 & by appointment | |
| Email/messaging: | jwashin1@swarthno scrapers please...more.edu | |
| Lecture Time: | TTh 9:55-11:10 a.m. | |
| Classroom: | Science Center 256 | |
| Course website: | http://jnw.domains.swarthmore.edu/ling052 | |
| Course moodle site: | F26 - LING052.01 | |
You can call me either Jonathan or Professor Washington, and refer to me using any pronoun. Please let me know how you'd like to be addressed and referred to in this space. Let's try to respect everyone's wishes in this regard—don't hesitate to correct me if I ever get any of it wrong!
The central goal of this course is for students to gain an understanding of the main concepts in the field of Historical and Comparative Linguistics and the skills needed to solve the types of problems encountered in this field. Here's the official course description:
This course is an introduction to the study of linguistic change.
Various models of language change are explored to seek to understand how and why languages change. Students will work directly with raw linguistic material from a wide range of languages to find patterns, argue for analyses, and figure out how the past shapes the linguistic present. Changes at all levels of the grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicon) will be analysed, and various factors that can contribute to linguistic change will be explored. We will learn how it is possible to reconstruct linguistic systems that we have no direct record of, and will consider what it means for languages to diverge and converge.
Major themes of the course include the comparative method and the relationship between sociolinguistics and historical linguistics. The topics of language shift; language marginalisation and endangerment; language maintenance, revitalisation, and reclamation; and language planning will also be addressed. Assigned work and projects will develop the skills to conduct historical linguistics research through electronic and library resources.
The following textbook is required, and should be available from the bookstore.
Classroom discussion will often deal with content from the book, so please bring the book to class every day.
Also, you'll need to be able to access Moodle (moodle.swarthmore.edu). This is where you'll take reading quizzes, submit assignments, and view your grades for the course, so make sure you can access it as soon as possible. If you have any trouble with it, let me know as soon as possible.
The course website (listed above, and linked to from the Moodle course) contains the schedule for the semester, which may be updated periodically to reflect changes in the schedule. It's recommended to check the website periodically. I will make announcements about any major changes.
We will have a shared Google Drive folder where we will sometimes work on collaborative activities and where you will share your presentations with the class. I will attempt to give everyone access in the first week of class; let me know if you don't have access by the second week!
We will occasionally use Figma (figma.com) to collaboratively edit maps and diagrams. You may log in with your Swarthmore Google credentials, but you should be able to access course materials without logging in (there will be a password listed on Moodle for accessing them). It's recommended you bring a device to class every day that you can use to do this kind of work—a device with a large touch screen is ideal (such as a tablet or touch-screen laptop), but anything that can access the site should be fine.
I hold regular office hours (listed above), and can be available at other times by appointment—just send me a message letting me know when you might prefer to meet.
If you are having any trouble with class, such as with understanding a concept or completing an assignment, please don't hesitate to ask me for help. I'm here to help you learn, so I encourage you to take advantage of my availability.
But even if you're not having trouble, it never hurts to come to office hours from time to time. We can discuss course content, ideas for the final project, or whatever's on your mind in a more relaxed atmosphere.
I'm also happy to meet online instead of in person.
Show up on time and silence cell phones. You may eat and drink as long as it doesn't disturb other students and the lecturer. If you need to step out of the class for any reason (bathroom, emergency phone call, etc.), please do so with minimum disruption (i.e., don't ask for permission).
If you use a computer, tablet, or other electronic device for taking notes (etc.), please use it only for relevant classroom activities. In other words, please refrain from any sort of non-class-related activities, including messaging (e-mail, social media, etc.), homework for other courses, or even planning for next week's presentation. Even the best multitaskers are still not participating fully when they're engaging in unrelated endeavours. If it's too difficult to avoid the temptation of these other distractions, you may try strategies like turning off the device's wifi, or simply taking notes on paper.
Show up on time and silence electronic devices. Be courteous and cautious with food and drink. If you need to step out of the class for any reason (bathroom, emergency phone call, etc.), please do so with minimum disruption (i.e., don't ask for permission).
Please use devices with screens only for relevant classroom activities. In other words, please refrain from any sort of non-class-related activities, including messaging (e-mail, social media, etc.), homework for other courses, or even catching up on course reading. Even the best multitaskers are still not participating fully when they're engaging in unrelated endeavours. If it's too difficult to avoid the temptation of these other distractions, you may try strategies like disabling the computer's internet connection, using a filter for web usage, or similar.
All material covered during course-related activities—including assignments, discussions, and classmates' presentations—should be assumed to be required course content, and will be assumed background for later activities. It is each student's responsibility to attend all classes to learn the material covered.
That said, please don't come if you are feeling sick. If you must miss a class, it is courteous to notify your professor ahead of time if at all possible. If you are feeling well enough to pay attention but not to attend in person, you are encouraged to contact me at least 15 minutes before class starts, as I may be able to set up a Zoom link for you to join class that way.
Reading quizzes are to be completed online by the beginning of class on the day they are due, and Moodle will enforce this by deactivating the quiz then. If for some reason you won't be able to take an assigned quiz, please let me know ahead of time so an alternative can be arranged; however, because you will usually have nearly a week to complete these quizzes and may do so at your convenience, you will have to have a pretty good excuse to be granted an alternative to a quiz.
Homework assignments will also generally be due on Moodle before class time. Completion of the assignment is necessary for engaging with the day's topic, so it is essential that assignments be submitted on time. Any homework assignment submitted late will be evaluated and feedback will be provided, but only up to half credit will be recorded. This can be good for your grade and even just writing up what we went over in class to submit it can be good for your learning.
If you need to miss class for a medical or personal reason, I'd appreciate you letting me know as soon as you can. I don't need a note from a doctor, and I don't need details about why, just when. Please see the College Medical Note Policy (http://www.swarthmore.edu/student-health/medical-excuse-policy) for additional details.
Using words or ideas from another source without attribution constitutes plagiarism, and misrepresenting another student's work as your own (or allowing another student to misrepresent your work as their own) is cheating. Please see the student handbook for the College's policies on academic misconduct (http://www.swarthmore.edu/student-handbook/academic-policies#academic_misconduct). Suspected cases of academic misconduct will be pursued to the full extent of College policy, including referral to the deans, after which it may go to the College Judicial Committee. Any assignment where academic misconduct is found by these bodies to have occurred will receive a grade of 0 or F, and these bodies may impose additional sanctions.
You are always expected to write up your own assignments. However, you may (and are encouraged to) discuss assignments with one another, unless otherwise specified. Just be sure to cite others' ideas when you use them, and always write the name of anyone you worked with. You are also permitted to use the internet as a resource, unless otherwise specified—as long as you avoid resources that present answers or solutions outright, such as large language models (see LLM policy).
In sum, please always cite any sources you use or other students you worked with on both homeworks and presentations. In the end, you must always do your own work—this means that you must state things in your own words and show that you understand any ideas that you got from another source (while acknowledging the other source).
In short, submitting work that is not your own or providing a classmate with a solution outright will be considered academic misconduct and will be addressed as such (see above-mentioned policies). If you have any questions about what's considered acceptable, ask me first.
It is up to you how you brainstorm and draft your responses on assignments. That said, I advise caution in the use of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs). For one, they often give factually wrong or logically flawed answers, which will be graded as incorrect just as if you’d come up with them yourself. Second, copy-pasting output from an LLM and claiming it as your own work is the same as copy-pasting any other material you didn’t write: it is plagiarism and will be treated as such. Lastly, you’ll learn far more in this course if you do your own thinking and leave the automated mansplainer out of it. (I’m also happy to talk more about the ethical issues involved in generative AI, including its environmental impact — let me know if you want resources!)
That said, for this class, on assignments where it is not explicitly forbidden, you may decide to use generative AI or LLMs to suggest sources or ways of approaching an issue you're having trouble with. But you must (1) invest your own energy into vetting the sources or suggested approaches yourself, (2) cite which tool you used to do what, and (3) present all your work in your own words.
Any work submitted for this class where use of generative AI or an LLM is suspected but not cited will be treated as suspected academic misconduct, as will any work submitted where the majority of the submission appears to have come from one of these tools.
There's a form accessible via Moodle for anonymous feedback on the course. I encourage everyone to periodically consider what's going well and what they would like to see changed about the course and let me know via the form.
There's also a link to a feedback form for anonymous comments to the department. These comments go straight to the TriCo Linguistics department chairs.
We may also have a midterm evaluation, which would give you an opportunity to share feedback about the course that could affect how I teach the second half of the semester.
Most of your assignments will be graded with a fine-grained measure of completion and correctness based on normal letters grades and grade points (A = 4.0, B = 3.0, C = 2.0, D = 1.0, and F = 0.0), with the standard modifiers + (one-third of a grade point higher) and - (one-third of a grade point lower). In addition, intermediate grades using parentheses or a slash may be used, giving the following correspondence between letter grade and grade points:
| A+ | 4.33 |
| A(+) | 4.17 |
| A | 4.00 |
| A(-) | 3.83 |
| A- | 3.67 |
| A/B | 3.50 |
| B+ | 3.33 |
| B(+) | 3.17 |
| B | 3.00 |
| B(-) | 2.83 |
| B- | 2.67 |
| B/C | 2.50 |
| C+ | 2.33 |
| C(+) | 2.17 |
| C | 2.00 |
| C(-) | 1.83 |
| C- | 1.67 |
| C/D | 1.50 |
| D+ | 1.33 |
| D(+) | 1.17 |
| D | 1.00 |
| D(-) | 0.83 |
| D- | 0.67 |
| D/F | 0.50 |
The grade in this course is broken down into the following components. Each component is expounded upon following the table.
| Homeworks (about 12): | 36% |
| Reading quizzes (about 12): | 24% |
| Exams (2): | 20% |
| Presentation: | 5% |
| Engagement: | 15% |
There will be approximately 12 homeworks assigned (i.e., one almost every week). These assignments will be posted to Moodle every week, and must be completed by class on the assigned day. They will be related to the content of the class on that day.
You may collaborate on the problem solving portions of homeworks, but you must write up your own responses, unique from other students'. I suggest you only take notes when working with friends and then write up your responses alone, in your own words. Work identical to another student's, even partially, will be investigated for plagiarism.
The assignments will sometimes be your first chance to apply a skill that we haven't worked on together in class. This is intentional. In thinking through how to approach the problem, you'll at least find where your ability to work on the problem without additional instruction fails.
These assignments will be submitted in the form of a discussion forum, so once you post your response you'll be able to see your classmates' responses. This is intentional—for one, you can see that you're not alone in struggling through something unfamiliar, and also you can (optionally) interact with one another's responses, perhaps building on a response, revising your own, or [politely] debating possibilities. (We'll do some of this in class too.) If anyone finds this format difficult to deal with for any reason, please let me know.
One reading quiz will be assigned approximately each week. Each of these quizzes will cover material from the assigned reading. They are meant to test your understanding of the reading and provide you with materials from which to study. The quizzes will be accessible on Moodle and are to be completed outside of class by the beginning of class they are assigned for; they will be deactivated automatically as class starts. You can take each quiz as many times as you want, and your highest score will be recorded; however, you will not be shown which answers you got wrong. There are generally no make-ups for missed quizzes (see late assignment policy above).
There will be two exams, each worth 10% of the grade: a mid-semester exam involving the material covered up to that point in the course, and a cumulative final exam covering topics starting from the first day of class. Both exams will be take-home exam, open-book, open-notes, open-internet (but academic integrity policy still applies).
You may not work with your classmates on the exams. You may request a small extension if needed. The time that the final exam is due will be posted later in the semester.
A language family presentation will be part of your final exam, and will take place during our final exam period. Students will each choose a language family, which will be used as a platform to incorporate issues touched on throughout the semester. Initial work on this will be part of the midterm exam. More specific guidance on these presentations will be provided later in the semester.
Each student will give one presentation at some point during the semester in addition to the final presentation. It will be on a scholarly article chosen by the student.
I'll provide a list of available articles and dates that each should be presented on, and students will indicate their preference for which article they would like to present. Articles will be assigned to students based on this. You may not get your first choice, but I'll try to make sure everyone gets an article they're happy with. However, since the point is to expand your horizons, it can be a good thing to read on a topic you have a little bit less interest in or context for. Links to articles can be found on the course website, and most of them will be in Moodle too. Only the student assigned each article is required to read it (though everyone else is encouraged to at least have a look!).
Article presentations should walk the class through the main ideas of the article, present an assessment of these ideas, and provide a point of departure for discussion of the ideas (e.g., in the form of discussion questions). Each presenter should consider the presentation to be providing background for a discussion that they will lead, and hence should be prepared to answer questions about the article, as their classmates will [mostly] not have read it. The formal part of the presentation is expected to last more than 10 and up to 20 minutes, and discussion may continue for any amount of time, depending on constraints of the day. Presenters should make use of slides and/or handouts, and should connect the content of the article to the course as a whole and the current topic. Presentations will be graded for completeness (covering all the main ideas), clarity, time, and response (thoughtfulness about the article's content, leading discussion on its ideas).
Presenters are encouraged to schedule a meeting with me and/or a Speaking Associate (http://www.swarthmore.edu/writing/spas-speaking-associates) to discuss the article and their upcoming presentation during the week preceding their presentation.
I do not grade on attendance, but you will be graded on engagement in the class, and this requires attendance. Beyond simply showing up and participating, you're encouraged to contribute to discussions by asking questions, answering prompts, making relevant comments, working with classmates on in-class activities, etc. You will not be ridiculed for asking even simple questions—I want to make sure everyone grasps the concepts, and many are not as straightforward as they may first seem (or as I think they are).
You are also expected to come to class prepared for discussion; this includes having completed readings and assignments due by class.
Included in engagement is participation in any guest speaker presentations.
This course is offered with an honors "attachment". This is taken for an extra credit, normally by students who plan to count this course as an honors seminar.
Taking the honors attachment will result in a paper upon which an honors examiner can create an honors exam. The response to the exam is word-limited but the paper is not. The paper can approach any question or problem related to historical and comparative linguistics.
The internal course grade (not the honors level, which is determined by the examiner) will be assigned based on the following additional work, not expected of students who are not taking the honors seminar:
If you believe you need accommodations for a disability or a chronic medical condition, please visit the Student Disability Services website for details about the accommodations process. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services.
Success in this course depends heavily on your personal health and wellbeing. Recognise that stress is an expected part of the college experience, and it often can be compounded by unexpected setbacks or life changes outside the classroom. Your other instructors and I strongly encourage you to reframe challenges as an unavoidable pathway to success. Reflect on your role in taking care of yourself throughout the term, before the demands of exams and projects reach their peak. Please feel free to reach out to me about any difficulty you may be having that may impact your performance in this course as soon as it occurs and before it becomes unmanageable. In addition to your academic advisor, I strongly encourage you to contact the many other support services on campus that stand ready to assist you.
The Writing Center (Old Science Hall 120) is available to you as an additional out-of-class resource for developing any aspect of your writing, in any discipline—from brainstorming a topic, organizing a draft, to polishing a final submission. Writing Associates hold conferences in-person or through Zoom and can offer you a thoughtful reading of your document and talk with you about next steps. Speaking Associates can also help you prepare to give a presentation or lead seminar discussion. The Center is open Sunday through Thursday evenings and Monday through Thursday afternoons, starting the third week of classes. To set up your WCOnline account and schedule an appointment, sign in here: bit.ly/swatwritingcenter. You can also drop in during open hours. Want to know who is working when? See the Writing Center Schedule. Questions? Check the Writing Center Policies or email writing@swarthmore.edu.
For Multilingual Writers: Students for whom English is an additional language can drop by multilingual office hours or schedule individual consultations with Multilingual Writing Specialist Professor Mera Ford (Old Science Hall 104, nford1). Students can also join monthly Multilingual Writers’ Forums to share experiences, discuss academic resources, and enjoy affirming community. For further information, see the Multilingual Writing Specialist webpage.
| week | date | topic | reading | due | presentations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Sep | Introductions, syllabus What/why is Historical Linguistics Intro to history of English | |||
| 3 Sep | Intro to Historical Ling (ctd) Typology of language change | ||||
| 2 | 8 Sep | Typology of language change (ctd) | HW1 | D'Arcy et al. (2013) - Asymmetrical trajectories: The past and present of -body/-one Hickey (2012) - Early English and the Celtic Hypothesis |
|
| 10 Sep | Lexical and semantic change | ||||
| 3 | 15 Sep | Lexical and semantic change | HW2 | Zenner et al. (2014) - Core vocabulary, borrowability and entrenchment Wales (2004) - Second Person Pronouns in Contemporary English: The End of a Story or Just the Beginning? Thomas Grano (2006) - “Me and her” meets “he and I”: Case, person, and linear ordering in English coordinated pronouns OR Van Engen (2007) - Coordinated Pronoun Variation in American English |
|
| 17 Sep | Sound change | ||||
| 4 | 22 Sep | Sound change | HW3 | Michaud, Jacques, & Rankin (2012) - Historical transfer of nasality between consonantal onset and vowel: From C to V or from V to C? |
|
| 24 Sep | Sound system change | ||||
| 5 | 29 Sep | Sound system change | Haspelmath (2006) - Against markedness Matisoff (2006) - Genetic versus Contact Relationship: Prosodic Diffusibility in South-East Asian Languages |
||
| 1 Oct | Morphological and Syntactic change | ||||
| 6 | 6 Oct | Morphological and Syntactic change | DeLancey (2001) - The mirative and evidentiality Cutler, Hawkins, & Gilligan (1985) - The suffixing preference: a processing explanation Vennemann (2002) - On the Rise of ‘Celtic’ Syntax in Middle English |
||
| 8 Oct | Relatedness between languages | ||||
| 13 Oct | No class — Fall break! | ||||
| 15 Oct | No class — Fall break! | ||||
| 7 | 20 Oct | Relatedness between languages The comparative method | Jacques & List (2019) - Save the trees: Why we need tree models in linguistic reconstruction (and when we should apply them) Matras (2005) - The classification of Romani dialects - A geographical-historic perspective Wichmann et al. (2010) - Homelands of the world's language families: A quantitative approach Georg et al. (1998) |
||
| 22 Oct | The comparative method | ||||
| 8 | 27 Oct | The comparative method | |||
| 29 Oct | Internal reconstruction | ||||
| 9 | 3 Nov | No class — Election day! | |||
| 5 Nov | Internal reconstruction | ||||
| 10 | 10 Nov | The origin and propagation of change | |||
| 12 Nov | The origin and propagation of change | Nagy (2011) - Lexical change and language contact: Faetar in Italy and Canada | |||
| 11 | 17 Nov | Language contact and linguistic areas | |||
| 19 Nov | Language contact and linguistic areas | Thomason & Kaufman (1989) - Contact-Induced Language Change: An Analytic Framework Masica (2001) - The Definition and Significance of Linguistic Areas: Methods, Pitfalls, and Possibilities (with Special Reference to the Validity of South Asia as a Linguistic Area) Haspelmath (2001) - The European linguistic area: Standard Average European Friedman (2006) - The Balkans as a Linguistic Area Matras & Sakel (2007) - Investigating the mechanisms of pattern replication in language convergence | |||
| 12 | 24 Nov | Language shift, planning, and revitalisation | |||
| 26 Nov | No class — Thanksgiving / National Day of Mourning | ||||
| 13 | 1 Dec | Language shift, planning, and revitalisation | McWhorter (2006) - Creole Transplantation: A source of solutions to resistant anomalies Burling (2009) - The Lingua Franca Cycle: Implications for Language Shift, Language Change, and Language Classification |
||
| 3 Dec | Language and prehistory | Garrett (2000) - A new model of Indo-European Subgrouping and Dispersal Ringe (2009) - The Linguistic Diversity of Aboriginal Europe Stemberger (1979) - Reconstructing the Proto-Indo-Europeans Starostin (2012) - Dene-Yeniseian: a critical assessment (and Vajda’s reply) | |||
| 14 | 8 Dec | Historical linguistics in the lab | Sneller & Roberts (2018) - Why some behaviors spread while others don’t: A laboratory simulation of dialect contact | ||
| TBA | Language family presentations |