This course aims at familiarizing PhD students of ‘Ancient’ languages or previous stages of modern languages with modern linguistic frameworks, trying to stimulate them to go beyond traditional philological methods. At the same time, it aims to deepen the knowledge of those students who already work within a specific linguistic framework, by bringing them in contact with leading specialists.
During one week of intensive classes, students will be introduced to Corpus Linguistics, Functional & Cognitive Linguistics, Generative Linguistics, Construction Grammar and (Historical) Sociolinguistics. These frameworks will be applied to a broad range of non-spoken languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek, Bantu languages (from a diachronic point of view), Old and Middle English, and early modern Dutch. During each class, students will be encouraged to critically reflect about the applicability of each theoretical framework to the study of languages from the past, and to try to compare and relate the different frameworks, thus developing an inter-disciplinary approach.
Before the start of the course, the PhD students will be expected to describe their research, scientific interests and motivations for participating in the course, as well as their expectations concerning the contents and the knowledge they hope to acquire. During the course, students will have the opportunity to schedule a short session with the lecturer of the day for specific questions concerning their own research or interests.