A good knowledge of the basic notions of general linguistics is required.
The course aims at providing theoretical and methodological knowledge about the diachronic development of languages. At the end of the course, the student will be familiar with the fundamental aspects of the historical development of languages and will be able to recognise and describe the phenomena of linguistic change taken into account during the course.
The course is an introduction to historical linguistics and the study of language change. The fundamentals of language classification and types of change at all levels of linguistic structure (phonetic, morphological, semantic, syntactic change) will be discussed. The course includes an introductory part, which is devoted to the description of the methods of historical linguistics and types of change, and a monographic part, focusing on grammaticalisation processes.
Frontal lessons, exercises and discussion of scientific articles. Particular emphasis will be given to discussion and direct dialogue with the students, who will be invited to formulate proposals for further study or debate.
The examination takes place orally and the evaluation is expressed in thirtieths. The acquisition of the course content as well as argumentation skills and mastery of specialist terminology will be tested.
There are no syllabus differences between attending and non-attending students.