International Summer School on
Language Documentation and Description

Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden

5 July - 17 July 2010

Areal course: Topics in Austronesian and Papuan Languages

In the eastern part of Indonesia, an estimated 300-500 languages are spoken. These languages are astonishingly diverse, belonging to Austronesian and Papuan families, barely known to science, and face the threat of extinction without trace in the coming century. This course will cover a number of analytical and typological issues of these languages. It includes (i) an introduction to the linguistic landscape (history, issues in classification, typology, sociolinguistics, research traditions), (ii) a discussion of patterns and typological features found in the area, for example semantic alignment, verbal derivation and argument structure, ditransitive constructions, expressive words, deictic and directional systems, and expressions for emotion, cognition, and reported speech. One aim of the course is to learn more about the topics involved and to get an idea of the linguistic diversity of the area. Another aim is to inspire new students to work in this underdocumented, fascinating linguistic contact zone. Practical issues relating to doing fieldwork in the area will therefore be interwoven in the discussion.