ANT 389 Topic 2 / LAS 391 Fall l997 Brian Stross
________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
Some 30 Mayan
languages are spoken in Guatemala and Mexico.
I expect to present materials regarding distribution, history, culture,
folklore, and languages of the Mayan societies; to organize comparative
linguistic materials of various sorts (pronoun systems, sound patterns, etc.);
to deal briefly with decipherment of Maya glyphs; to show some visual materials
to provide visual familiarization with the Mayan peoples.
My own primary
interest is in linguistic prehistory--in the use language data to reconstruct
cultural and linguistic facts through time--from Proto-Mayan through the
historical diversification of the Mayan cultures to the present. Language data includes folklore, sound
systems, systems of meaning, word formation morphology, lexicon, syntax, and so
on.
A specific emphasis
(folklore, archaeology, epigraphy, etc.) may emerge from the composition of the
class. Apart from that, each individual
(or group of up to 3 individuals) will develop and pursue a specific project
culminating in a term paper (1/4 of grade).
REQUIREMENTS: Homework exercises, a few special projects.
TEXTBOOKS: Materials at the Student Union in the Copy
Shop; other materials on reserve.
PREREQUISITES: Consent of Instructor must be Obtained. Graduate standing required. A linguistics background is not
required or presupposed.
==========================/
07/27/2000