Vv3 Austroasiatic linguistics

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Michal Schwarz, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Michal Schwarz, Ph.D.
Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Michal Schwarz, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Linguistics and Baltic Languages – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
recommended (but not required) previous study of Vu3 History of Vietnamese Studies or Vv7 Languages of Southeast Asia
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course goal is knowledge of the history, main authors and content of the most important works in Austroasiatic linguistics as well as its present state of the art. Relatively new field of study and comparative research of Austroasiatic languages is crucial for the history of Vietnamese language and development of the major. Lexical research of smaller and endangerend members of Austroasiatic family has its practical use in ethnology and as a preparation for fieldwork.
Learning outcomes
At the end of this course a student is able to:
- explain ways of application of the methodology of comparative linguistics in the case Austroasiatic languages
- describe the history and development of this field of study (main linguists and their publications)
- enumerate main sub-groups of Austroasiatic languages + describe their distribution and sociolinguistic development
- compare phonetical and morphological peculiarities of particular sub-groups
Syllabus
  • 1. Name "Austroasiatic" and its first occurrences in scholarly works.
  • 2. Other names of language family and its most detailed hierarchy (tree diagram).
  • 3.-4. Overview and location of branches (Aslian, Bahnaric, Katuic, Khasian, Khmeric, Khmuic, Monic, Munda, Nicobaric, Palaungic, Pearic, Vietic).
  • 5. First cases of inner classification.
  • 6. Classifications by neogrammarians and lexicostatistics.
  • 7. Attitude of Paul Sidwell.
  • 8. Newest comparative studies in phonetics and development of tones.
  • 9. New results of lexicological and etymological studies.
  • 10. Main studies of grammar and syntax of selected sub-group members.
  • 11. New data from fieldwork and sociolinguistic data.
  • 12. Identification of understudied topics in Austroasiatic linguistics.
Literature
  • Pinnow, H.-J. 1959. Versuch einer historischen Lautlehre der Kharia-Sprache. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
  • Sidwell, Paul. 2015. The Austroasiatic language phylum. A typology of phonological restructuring. In: The Routledge Hanbook of Historical Linguistics. Ed. C. Bowern & B. Evans. London-New York: Routledge. 675-703.
  • Haudricourt, A. G. 1949. La Place du Vietnamien dans les langues austroasiatiques. Bull. de la Société de linguistique de Paris. Fasc. I., 122-128.
  • Ferlus, Michel. 1998. Les systèmes de tons dnas les langues viet-muong. Diachronica 15/1, 1-27.
  • Sidwell, Paul. 2009. Classifying the Austroasiatic languages: History and state of the art. Muenchen: Lincom Europa.
  • Diffloth, G. 2005. The contribution of linguistic palaeontology to the homeland of Austroasiatic. In. The Peopling of East Asia: Putting together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. Ed. L. Sagart, R. Blench and A. Sanchez-Mazas. London-NY: Routledge.
  • Diffloth, G. 1975. Les langues Mon-Khmer de Malaisie: classification historique et innovations. Asemi 6(4), 1-19.
  • Xu, Shuhua et al. 2010. Genetic evidence supports linguistic affinity of Mlabri – a hunter-gatherer group in Thailand. BMC Genetics 11:18, 1-13.
  • Sidwell, Paul. 2013. Southeast Asian mainland: linguistic history. In: Immanuel Ness & Peter Bellwood (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. Vol. I. Prehistory. Malden – Oxford – Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 259-268.
  • Shorto, Harry. 2006. A Mon-Khmer Comparative Dictionary. Eds. Paul Sidwell et al. Canberra: Australian National University – Pacific Linguistics.
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
Written test - at least 50 % of correct answers is needed to pass the course.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every other week.
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