This course aims to teach the basic methods of historical reconstruction of languages, in particular, Proto-Indo-European, drawing primarily on English and Armenian cognates and etymologies. Topics covered include sound change, analogy, borrowing, loan translation, linguistic variation and its role in language change, kinds of phonological and morphological change, use of linguistic evidence for prehistory, modern theories on the origin and spread of the Indo-European languages. Explore the uses of etymology as an approach to vocabulary building for Armenian-speakers learning English language.
At the end of the course students should be able to analyze a sample of cognates, explain the phonological evolution, know the basic phonological rules of Indo-European for English and Armenian and have a working knowledge of several hundred etymologies as well as the basic on-line reference tools in this field
