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School of Culture History and Language · ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
This course is an introduction to Austronesian languages, exploring the history, and the linguistic and socio-cultural-political diversity of the Austronesian world. Austronesian is the world's largest language family in terms of geographical spread, spanning more than half the globe: from Madagascar to Easter Island, and from Taiwan to New Zealand. This vast and diverse language family is also one of the best documented. It includes both major world languages with millions of speakers, like Indonesian and Tagalog, and tiny Oceanic languages spoken on remote islands with only a couple of hundred speakers. During the course, students will learn about the migration and dispersion of the Austronesian people and salient features characterising their languages, social organisations and cultures. Case studies are used to represent certain salient Austronesian features in relation to particular (sub)regions and societies to cover topics in Austronesian sound systems and grammars, writing systems, ritual language and religions, language contact and change, language ecology, the politics of language, language landscape and verbal arts.
Two problem sets, each comprising 1500 words (excluding data).
Learning outcomes 1, 4
Research plan (1000 words max)
Learning outcomes 4, 5
Critical summary (1000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
Oral presentation
Learning outcomes 2, 3, 4, 6
Research essay (3250 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
The total workload for this 6-unit course is 130 hours. This workload is distributed across approximately 10 hours per week for various activities, encompassing 3 contact hours (2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of tutorials), and approximately 7 hours dedicated to weekly self-directed study time (including readings, tutorial preparation, and completion of assessment items such as problem sets and term papers). Lectures are designed to equip students with background knowledge and skills relevant to the weekly topics, while tutorials offer practical exercises and facilitate further discussions on the subjects covered in lectures, addressing specific problems, issues, and crucial points. Home assignments, typically in the form of problem sets and basic research, are assigned to assess students' progress in learning and acquiring new knowledge and skills. Students are expected to complete these assignments, showcasing their understanding and application of the course material.
Blust, Robert. 2013. The Austronesian languages (the revised edition). Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics