NORW 260
Introduction to Germanic Linguistics, interim 2021 (sophomore year)
Course Description
This course explores linguistic and social processes that underlie language change with a focus on the Germanic language family. Students learn the fundamental methods of comparative historical linguistics to analyze the development of modern Germanic languages (e.g., English, German, Norwegian, etc.) from a common ancestor. These processes concern how language operates as a cognitive system, as well as core social factors that impact language practices. Students also learn to critically engage with linguistic scholarship and develop their research and writing skills through a project on a topic of their choosing.
Course Content
Rationale
From my original proposal: As a fluent speaker of both English and Norwegian, germanic linguistics heavily applies to my areas of study. Rather than focusing on just one language, this course incorporates theory from an entire group of languages and teaches about the common ancestor between them. This results in an examination of the origin of certain languages and, in turn, why certain linguistic patterns may emerge in speech.
Reading Presentation
The following is a presentation summarizing a class reading from the book How “Bad English” Works Against Us (Peterson, 2019) about language discrimination in the U.S. The presentation is linked below.
Final Presentation
The following is another presentation I completed on the Norwegian multiethnolect. This presentation came after my presentation for LNGST 245 (Roles of Language in Equity and Diversity), but before my original research for NORW 396 (Directed Undergraduate Research: The Norwegian Multiethnolect) and LNGST 301 (Germanic Multiethnolects). The presentation is linked below.
Final Exam
The final exam for this course consisted of a few short essay prompts on a variety of topics covered in this course, including linguistic theory, sociolinguistic implications, and more. The full final can be found below.
Takeaways
I mainly learned a lot of historical information in this course. We covered the development of Germanic languages from their ancient common ancestors and examined systematic language shifts that occurred, explaining why Germanic languages are the way they are today. This was quite relevant to my understanding of historical linguistics. Additionally, this course touched on heritage Germanic languages in the U.S., which I had not read any scholarship on prior to this course. This interested me a lot and became the foundation of my senior project.
Connections
After this second presentation on the Norwegian multiethnolect, I went on to study NMET in-depth and conducted original research using corpus data in two courses: NORW 396 (Directed Undergraduate Research: The Norwegian Multiethnolect) and LNGST 301 (Germanic Multiethnolects), both of which are linked below.
As mentioned above, this course also sparked my interest in heritage languages in the U.S., which was the focus of my senior project (the Rand Scholar Award project). Full information about the project can be found on that page.