Exploring Linguistics: Learn to Reconstruct Dead Languages

Course Description

How do we know what Latin sounded like? How do we know that English, French, Polish, Persian, and Punjabi are all related? How do we know that Korean and Japanese are not? Can we predict language change?

In this course, you’ll learn how linguists can figure out how a language was spoken thousands of years ago, even if we don’t have records of that language today. You’ll be given real language data to work with to determine which languages are related, and reconstruct what their shared ancestor might have sounded like. You’ll learn to use the tools and methodologies of historical linguistics, especially how to use the comparative method, which has often been described as “detective work”. If you like logic puzzles, solving real world mysteries, or are curious about how languages change, this is the course for you!

Come learn about the field of linguistics, and you just might resurrect a dead language along the way!