Diachrony and Reconstruction

The course "Historical Linguistics and Reconstruction: Romance Languages (Diachrony and Reconstruction)" consists of two main parts:

• The principles of historical-comparative linguistics and the historical linguistics of Romance languages.
• Characterization of the history and typology of Romance languages (with reading and commentary on ancient texts).

Languages covered during the CM-sessions: Late Latin, Mozarabic, Judeo-Spanish, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.

• Reconstruction of forms in comparative grammar.
• Principles of diachronic linguistics.

The TD session concentrate on the input of the students (assignments and presentations). The students must make a choice from a Romance language that is generally less well-known, often minority languages, such as Aragonese, Gascon, Gallo, Aromanian, Sicilian, Romansh, etc.).

On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• The aim is not to provide a synchronic description of the features of this language, but rather the primary objective is to describe the historical development of several phonological, (morpho)syntactic, or lexical evolutions or changes—in short, a diachronic approach is central. Students are also required to choose a second Romance language for comparison.
• The student must demonstrate familiarity with the methodology and tools for research in the field of Historical Linguistics.
• The student must be able to theoretically substantiate a chosen topic, using the relevant literature. Through the chosen case study, the student demonstrates the ability to apply this theoretical framework.
• The student is expected to demonstrate scientific skills in the presentation and the final project, such as correct citation, paraphrasing, summarizing, analyzing, and referencing sources.
• The student is expected to apply the theoretical foundation analyzing old Romance texts (one of the following subfields has to be chosen: phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon).

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