This course will examine the so-called Papuan languages, which are the 800 or so languages of Melanesia and surrounding areas (from Timor to the Solomon Islands) which do not belong to the Austronesian family – and which are famed as coming from the most linguistically diverse region on earth. These 800 languages belong to perhaps 45 distinct language families and, in around 1% of the world's land area, exhibit a degree of genetic and typological diversity found for the whole of Eurasia. The course will serve both to initiate students into the descriptive and comparative typological study of the Papuan languages and to consolidate and advance their understanding of the principles of language analysis and linguistic theory based on the data from the Papuan languages. It will run along two tracks: (i) a language-specific track, where we will gain in-depth familiarity with one Papuan language (choice will vary from year to year), and (ii) a broad survey of the nature of Papuan languages and the special analytic challenges that they raise for all areas of linguistic science, from phonetics/phonology through morphosyntax and semantics to studies of multilingualism, typology and the mechanisms that create linguistic diversity.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the skills and knowledge to:1. Recognise linguistic characteristics and analyse problems raised by Papuan languages, the most significant publications tackling these issues, and their genetic and typological diversity2. Assess arguments pertaining to the typology, history and theoretical analysis of selected issues found in Papuan languages3. Create an in-depth, synthetic analysis of how one Papuan language works, with the ability to parse, analyse and understand texts in the language with the help of a glossary4. Analyse raw linguistic data5. Collaborate with other students in the selection and analysis of data for a project on a given variety6. Research, present and justify the results of their collaboration with other students with respect to the project