Global Arc

This course is a hands-on exploration of language typology. Each student will work with a different endangered language to help us, as a class, answer typological questions across various domains of language (sounds, words, sentences, etc.). Along what lines do languages vary? How much can languages differ from each other? Are any linguistic properties shared across all human languages, and if so, how do we explain them? How do signed languages fit into this picture, and what is all that buzz about Pirahã? Through answering these questions, we will build up and engage with various models and theories of language variation.

This course will familiarize majors with research questions and practices in various subfields of linguistics, common linguistics research methodologies (including experimental, fieldwork, text-based, and ethnographic), and writing conventions specific to linguistics. Throughout, students will connect with on-campus resources and explore research questions of their own choosing, supported by readings from linguistics textbooks and handbooks. The goal of this course is to prepare majors for success in their junior and senior independent work.

This course offers an intensive study of phonological theory and analysis, following the introduction offered in LIN 301. Both rule-based and constraint-based approaches will be introduced. The course will explore the typology of phonological properties and processes (assimilation and dissimilation, vowel and consonant harmony, tonal processes, syllable structure, stress), with examples from geographically, typologically, and genetically diverse languages. The focus will be both on description and theory.

This course builds on the foundation provided by LIN 306 to delve much more deeply into the subfield of morphology. We will compare competing morphological theories, question the basic primitives of morphology (morphemes, words, structure), and contend with challenging data from a wide variety of languages. At least one empirical phenomenon will be explored at length during the semester, e.g., compounding, infixation, reduplication, or mobile affixation. Throughout the course, students will engage directly with advanced scholarship on morphology.

This course develops students' syntactic reasoning abilities beyond the introductory level, providing new tools for analyzing the syntactic components of linguistics phenomena. We read and discuss both classic and contemporary syntactic research on a variety of topics, including syntactic issues in word order, pronunciation, and interpretation. Students apply these tools to a broad set of linguistic data, from a variety of languages, both in and out of the classroom. The course culminates in each student writing a "squib," in which they test multiple hypotheses on a syntactic phenomenon of their choice.

Advanced issues in linguistic semantics. Topics will include quantification, vagueness, presupposition, implicature, genericity, information structure, and event structure.

An overview of the history of the Middle East from the rise of Islam to the present day with a focus on the "core" of the Middle East, i.e., the region defined by present-day Turkey and Egypt to the west, Iran to the east, and Arabia to the south. Issues raised include difficulties in the study of foreign cultures, religion and society, the interplay between local and global processes, identity formation, and the Middle East in the broader world. One lecture, two classes.

The Arabian Nights (The Thousand and One Nights) is a masterpiece of world literature. However, its reception and popularity are fraught with challenges and problems. This course traces the origins of this authorless collection, examines its transmission in the Arabic tradition, and its entry into Europe. Students will read some of its most famous story cycles and become familiar with the major debates surrounding them. Besides reading related literary works from medieval Arabic literature, we will look at the influence of the Nights on modern authors and filmmakers. All readings will be in English.

The course will introduce students to the history of the Iranian world through the lens of memory. Organized by theme, students will be introduced to a wide variety of ancient, medieval, and modern sources as they investigate the history of the various elements that are frequently invoked as essential to Iranian identity. The course will attempt to interrogate the notion of "Iranian civilization" through an investigation of a variety of themes ranging from geography and ethnicity to art and humanism to kingship and revolution. Students will work closely with archival and visual material in collections in and around Princeton.

Jerusalem is considered a holy city to three faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this course, students will learn the history of Jerusalem from its founding in pre-biblical times until the present. Over the course of the semester, we will ask: What makes space sacred and how does a city become holy? What has been at stake - religiously, theologically, politically, nationally - in the many battles over Jerusalem? What is the relationship between Jerusalem as it was and Jerusalem as it was (and is) imagined?