Course Information and Requirements
Old Tibetan Grammar and Texts
Course Description:
This course introduces Old Tibetan through basic grammar and guided reading, using transliteration throughout, so no knowledge of Tibetan script is required. We begin with the core grammatical topics needed for reading actual texts, including noun phrase structure, case markers, pronouns, and important features of the verbal system such as tense and clause-linking. From the beginning, students read short selected passages, gradually moving towards more sustained text reading. The main focus is narrative material, especially Old Tibetan versions and adaptations of the Rāma story, with occasional non-narrative documents. By the end of the course, students should be able to analyse typical Old Tibetan sentences and recognise frequent grammatical markers using standard reference tools. No prior knowledge of Tibetan is required, although familiarity with basic grammatical terminology is assumed.
Requirements:
None
Old Chinese Phonology and Reconstruction
Course Description:
This course offers an introduction to the methods and evidence used to reconstruct the phonology of Old Chinese, the earliest stage of the Chinese language that can be systematically reconstructed from the historical record. Students will begin with the Middle Chinese phonological system and work backwards, examining how patterns and gaps in the medieval system provide evidence for distinctions that had already been lost. The course will then relate these findings to the rhyme evidence of the Book of Odes, showing how the Middle Chinese reflexes of Old Chinese rhyme categories can be used to recover earlier vowel contrasts. Particular emphasis will be placed on the six-vowel analysis of Old Chinese, with students working through the empirical arguments that motivate the reconstruction. The course will also consider xiéshēng (phonetic series) as evidence for aspects of Old Chinese phonology that cannot be recovered from Middle Chinese finals alone. By the end of the course, students will gain both a theoretical and practical understanding of how Old Chinese phonological reconstructions are argued for from later Chinese evidence and early textual sources.
Requirements:
Some knowledge of a modern Chinese language and Chinese script is preferred
Yi Script
Course Description:
Students will become familiar with the Classical Yi script, a logographic writing system used by the Yi people in pre-modern times to write four related languages from the Lolo-Burmese branch of the Trans-Himalayan family: Nuosu, Nisu, Nasu, and Sani. Attention will also be given to research methodologies in Yi manuscript studies and how scholars interpret pre-modern texts written in the Yi script. The course will highlight the linguistic information about pre-modern Yi languages that can be gleaned from the texts, such as Hua-Yi Yiyu.
Methods in Gyalrongic and Tangut Historical Linguistics:
Course Description:
This course introduces students to the comparative historical linguistics of the Gyalrongic languages, a complex branch of the Trans-Himalayan family both phonologically and morphologically. Primarily spoken in Western Sichuan, these languages provide key insights into the evolution of Trans-Himalayan populations. The course also covers Tangut, an extinct language once used in the Western Xia (西夏) regime, recently identified as part of the Gyalrongic branch. Students will explore the historical development and key features of Gyalrongic varieties, focusing on their conservatism within the family. The course includes comparative data from modern Gyalrongic languages and Tangut to trace key sound correspondences and phenomena, and reconstruct aspects of their proto-language. We will also focus on typical morphological developments, such as argument indexation, stem alternation, and orientation systems. In addition, students will gain experience in language subgrouping, using Gyalrongic as a representative example. By the end of the course, students will have a general understanding of Gyalrongic and Tangut comparative linguistics, as well as insights into their common ancestor and prehistory.
Requirements:
Basic knowledge of phonology and the International Phonetic Alphabet is necessary to fully understand the course. A foundational understanding of Chinese is preferred.
Kiranti Languages:
Course Description:
This course provides an introduction into the Kiranti languages, a bundle of approximately 30 Trans-Himalayan languages spoken in Eastern Nepal and mostly critically endangered. Kiranti is one of the morphologically most complex Trans-Himalayan subgroups and therefore of paramount importance for Trans-Himalayan historical phonology and morphology. After an introductory survey of the demographics, anthropology and typology of Kiranti languages and Kirantology, the main part of the course will focus on Kiranti historical linguistics and cover the following topics: history, methods and challenges of historical-comparative Kirantology; state of the art of phonological and morphological comparison & reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti and intermediate proto-languages; state of the art of subgrouping, including the question of the monophyly and exact extent of Kiranti; significance of Kiranti for Trans-Himalayan historical linguistics, and state of the art of Kiranti philology. Specific case studies will serve to discuss in more detail certain aspects and topics.
Requirements:
None. Basic knowledge of the terminology and methods of historical-comparative linguistics (comparative method, internal reconstruction, subgrouping) and some knowledge of Nepali could be helpful but are not mandatory.