20001. This course offers a brief survey of how linguists analyze the structure and the use of language. Looking at the structure of language means understanding what phonemes, words, and sentences are, and how each language establishes principles for the combinations of these things and for their use; looking at the use of language means understanding the ways in which individuals and groups use language to declare their social identity and the ways in which languages can change over time. The overarching theme is understanding what varieties of language structure and use are found across the world's languages and cultures, and what limitations on this variety exist. John Keane, Autumn. Rebekah Baglini, Winter. Julia Thomas, Spring.

 

20101. PQ: LING 20001. This course is an introduction to the study of speech sounds and their patterning in the world’s languages. The course will focus on how speech sounds are described with respect to their articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual structures, as well as fundamental notions that have always been central to phonological analysis and that transcend differences between theoretical approaches: contrast, neutralization, natural classes, distinctive features, and basic phonological processes (e.g., assimilation). Martina Martinovic, Spring.

 

Introduction to Syntax
20201. PQ: LING 20001. This course is an introduction to basic goals and methods of current syntactic theory through a detailed analysis of a range of phenomena, with emphasis on argumentation and empirical justification. Major topics include phrase structure and constituency, selection and subcategorization, argument structure, case, voice, expletives, and raising and control structures. Karlos Arregi, Autumn.

 

20301. PQ: LING 20001. This course is designed to familiarize undergraduate students with what it means to study meaning and use in natural language. By "meaning" we refer to the communicative contents of words and combinations thereof (semantics), and by "use" we intend to capture how meaning is constructed and interpreted in discourse, and what kinds of additional or non-literal interpretations may arise from context (pragmatics). Students are introduced to some core concepts used in the analysis of meaning and context-based interpretation:  denotation, reference, quantification, propositional meaning (compositionality), presupposition, speech acts (il-locution, perlocution), implicature, and context vs. contextual domain,. The main goal is to familiarize students with basic topics in semantics and pragmatics and to help them develop fundamental skills in semantic and pragmatic analysis. Itamar Francez, Winter.

 

29700. PQ: Consent of instructor and undergraduate adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

 

29900. PQ: Consent of instructor and undergraduate adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

30101. This course introduces cross-linguistic phonological phenomena and methods of analysis through an indepth examination of fundamental notions that transcend differences between theoretical approaches: contrast, neutralization, natural classes, distinctive features, and basic non-linear phonological processes (e.g., assimilation, harmony, dissimilation). Alan Yu, Autumn.

 

30102. PQ: LING 30101. This course is a continuation of Phonological Analysis 1 focusing on topics of current interest in phonological theory. Topics vary. Jason Riggle, Spring.

 

30201. This course is an introduction to basic goals and methods of current syntactic theory through a detailed analysis of a range of phenomena, with emphasis on argumentation and empirical justification. Major topics include phrase structure and constituency, selection and subcategorization, argument structure, case, voice, expletives, and raising and control structures. Jason Merchant, Autumn.

 

30202. PQ: LING 30201. This course is a continuation of Syntactic Analysis-1. It expands our examination of the locality of various syntactic dependencies, especially the nature of unbounded dependencies in a wide variety of languages. Topics include A'-movement and nonmovement in interrogatives, relatives, and comparatives, partial wh-movement, wh-expletives, resumptivity, islands (selective and strong), reconstruction effects, intervention effects, and the nature of successive cyclic movement. The course will have a strong cross-linguistic aspect to it, examining data from Korean, Irish, Hungarian, Turkish, Tzotzil, Swahili, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages, Chamorro and other Austronesian languages, and varieties of Arabic, among others. Greg Kobele, Spring.

 

30301. This is the first in a two-course sequence designed to provide a foundation in the scientific study of all aspects of linguistic meaning. The first quarter focuses primarily on pragmatics:  those aspects of meaning that arise from the way that speakers put language to use, rather than through the formal properties of the linguistic system itself, which is the domain of semantics. However, a central goal of the course will be to begin to develop an understanding of the relation between pragmatics and semantics, by exploring empirical phenomena in which contextual and conventional aspects of meaning interact in complex but regular and well-defined ways, and by learning analytical techniques that allow us to tease these two aspects of linguistics meaning apart. Anastasia Giannakidou, Autumn.

 

30302. PQ: LING 30301 This is the second in a two-course sequence designed to provide a foundation in the scientific study of all aspects of linguistic meaning. The second quarter focuses on the  syntax-semantics interface and cross-linguistic semantics. The class will introduce in detail a theory of the way in which the meaning of complex linguistic expressions is formed compositionally from the meaning of constituent parts, and the interaction of semantic and syntactic composition. This theory will form the basis for exploring some empirical questions about the systematicity of cross-linguistic variation in the encoding of meaning. Chris Kennedy, Winter.

 

20721/30721. (=PHIL 20721/30721.) PQ: Knowledge of first-order logic with identity strongly recommended. Students will benefit most if they have taken classes in semantics or philosophy of language. An introduction to the foundations and applications of dynamic approaches to natural language semantics. We will study the formal details and empirical motivations of various major dynamic semantic frameworks such as File Change Semantics, Discourse Representation Theory, Dynamic Predicate Logic, and Update Semantics, and see how they address a number of puzzling natural language phenomena such as donkey anaphora and presupposition projection. In parallel to the formal component, the empirical and theoretical advantages and drawbacks of dynamic semantics will come under scrutiny, and we will also pay close attention to the philosophical repercussions of a dynamic approach to discourse and reasoning. Malte Willer, Autumn.

 

Morphology
21000/31000. (=ANTH 37500). PQ: LING 20001. Looking at data from a wide range of languages, we will study the structure of words. We will consider the nature of the elements out of which words are built and the principles that govern their combination. The effects of word structure on syntax, semantics, and phonology will be examined. We will think critically about the concepts of morpheme, inflection, derivation, and indeed, the concept of word itself. John Goldsmith, Winter.

 

31010. This course is an introduction to formal tools and techniques which can be used to better understand linguistic phenomena.   A major goal of this course is to enable students to formalize and evaluate theoretical claims. Greg Kobele, Winter.

 

21310/31310. An introduction to the comparative study of the Indo-European languages.  We will survey the major branches of the Indo-European family and discuss various aspects of PIE

grammar as it is currently reconstructed. Yaroslav Gorbachev, Autumn.

 

31410 (=AANL 30701).  This course aims at introducing linguistic approaches to the study of extinct languages, with strong emphasis on the languages of ancient Anatolia (especially Hittite, Luwian, and Lycian).  We will explore three topics from different linguistic sub-fields:

 

 

Each section starts with an introduction of the topic from a non-theoretical point of view, followed by an overview of the treatment of this topic in different linguistic frameworks.  Based on our own analyses of selected texts, we will try to develop a method for applying linguistic models to the Anatolian material, and as a corollary assess the descriptive adequacy of previous approaches in the secondary Hittitological literature (mainly in English, German, French, and Italian).  Because of the long history of several of the Anatolian languages, ca. 1500 years, we will be able to use the methods of comparative and historical linguistics to trace and explain possible changes.  All texts will be offered in transliteration and translation but without glosses.  However, the availability of good grammars and dictionaries will allow students from other disciplines with linguistic interests to participate.  Petra Goedegebuure, Spring.

 

21600/31600. (=PSYC 23200/33200/43200, HUDV 31600).  This course addresses the major issues involved in first-language acquisition.  We deal with the child’s production and perception of speech sounds (phonology), the acquisition of the lexicon (semantics), the comprehension and production of structured word combinations (syntax), and the ability to use language to communicate (pragmatics).  Susan Goldin-Meadow, Spring.

 

31720. PQ: LING 20101 or Graduate Student Standing. This course examines the phonetic aspects of sociolinguistic variation and the social significance of phonetic variation, from the perspectives of both theory and methodology. By examining the relationship between social factors and phonetic detail, we also investigate how these different types of information are stored in the mind and accessed during the production and perception of speech. This course will focus on experimental techniques and mental representations of linguistic information.

 

This course will give students hands-on experience with designing and conducting experiments. As part of the empirical foundation of this course, we will focus on sociophonetic variation across Chicago neighborhoods. For the final project, students are required to conduct a small-scale study investigating a research question of relevance to phonology and/or sociolinguistic theory. Alan Yu, Autumn.

 

23920/33920. In this course we will examine the language of deception and humor from a variety of perspectives: historical, developmental, neurological, and cross-cultural and in a variety of contexts: fiction, advertising, politics, courtship, and everyday conversation. We will focus on the (linguistic) knowledge and skills that underlie the use of humor and deception and on what sorts of things they are used to communicate. Jason Riggle, Winter.

 

26400/36400 (=SLAV 20100/30100). The main goal of this course is to familiarize students with the essential facts of the Slavic linguistic history and with the most characteristic features of the modern Slavic languages. In order to understand the development of Proto-Slavic into the existing Slavic languages and dialects, we focus on a set of basic phenomena. The course is specifically concerned with making students aware of factors that led to the breakup of the Slavic unity and the emergence of the individual languages. Drawing on the historical development, we touch upon such salient typological characteristics of the modern languages such as the rich set of morphophonemic alternations, aspect, free word order, and agreement. Yaroslav Gorbachev, Autumn.

 

27201/37201.  Exploring links between synchronic usage preferences and diachronic change.  We begin by considering accounts of language change, as seen primarily in English constructions (e.g. declarative and interrogative constructions, genitive constructions, degree modifier constructions, some comment clauses, and clefts), that are couched in terms of Minimalist Syntax, Construction Grammar, or Grammaticalization.  Drawing on results from psycholinguistics and corpus studies, we then address the question of whether synchronic usage preferences can lead to, or result from, change in grammatical structure.  The course has an emphasis on combining corpus and experimental evidence, and on quantitative methods of linguistic analysis.  Joanna Nykiel, Spring.

 

27920/37920. This course provides an overview of the methods currently in use in the fields of sign language and gesture research. Readings will include studies that use experimental methods that have been used in similar ways in spoken and sign language research, as well as studies that use methods that have required some type of innovation of technology or approach in order to be useful in work on sign and gesture. We will consider how advances in technology have allowed linguists to address theoretical questions concerning sign language and gesture in new ways. Since this course is a lab course, it will meet once a week to discuss the readings, and then in small groups in order to work on projects that will provide more in-depth understanding of the course's topics and related issues. Diane Brentari, Winter.

 

38000. We will study how some lexical items and syntactic constructions specialize for specific grammatical functions. While critiquing some of the current literature on the subject matter, we will examine trends followed by different languages. Part of the critique will involve determining how theories of grammaticization are connected to the traditional practice of historical linguistics and what major issues arise today. Salikoko Mufwene, Autumn.

 

28860/38860 (=ANTH 27420/37420).  Language is often imagined to inhabit a symbolic realm autonomous from other aspects of social life, including power.  This class starts from the contrary position that language and power are intrinsically intertwined.  We will discuss how linguistic practices reflect and shape large-scale power relations, sometimes through explicit attempts to pursue particular linguistic projects, and sometimes through means more subtle and covert.  How, we will ask, can we take these relations of power into account and still make room for the agency and imagination of the speaking subject?  Our texts will be varied, encompassing sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology as well as history and social theory.  Special attention will be paid to the influence of capitalism, but our purview will be broad, and will also encompass everyday institutional interactions, colonial legacies, and questions of gender, as well as class, globalization, and the new work order.  Suzanne Cohen, Spring.

 

Biological & Cultural Evolution
11100/39286. (= BIOS 29286, BPRO 23900, CHSS 37900, HIPS 23900, NCDV 27400, PHIL 22500/32500). PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing or consent of instructor. Core background in evolution and genetics strongly recommended. This course draws on readings and examples from linguistics, evolutionary genetics, and the history and philosophy of science. We elaborate theory to understand and model cultural evolution, as well as to explore analogies, differences, and relations to biological evolution. We also consider basic biological, cultural, and linguistic topics and case studies from an evolutionary perspective. Time is spent both on what we do know, and on determining what we don't. Salikoko Mufwene, William Wimsatt, Spring.

 

29903/39903 (=RUSS 23001/33001). Topics to be covered in this course include agreement, case usage, and word order in Contemporary Standard Russian.  Major syntactic features of modern colloquial Russian are also examined. Lenore Grenoble, Winter.

 

40301, 40302. The field methods course is a two-quarter course, taken by graduate students and advanced undergraduates. (Students may elect to take the course more than once.) This course is devoted to the elicitation, transcription, organization, and analysis of linguistic data from a native speaker of a language not commonly studied. Students will also gain practical experience in the use of fieldwork equipment. Language chosen may vary from year to year. Amy Dahlstrom, Alan Yu; Winter, Spring.

 

Experimental Methods
40310. This course will cover the basic methods for experimental studies, including experimental design, data collection and statistical analysis. To demonstrate different design and analysis tools, we will look at data set from different types of studies, including self-paced reading, acceptability judgment, ERP, etc. Students will also gain hands-on experience on different paradigms. Ming Xiang, Autumn.

 

41000. Theoretical linguists describe the relation between sentences and their meanings, and psycholinguists the relation between behavior and linguistic stimuli. In order for these two groups to interact, linking theories must be formulated to relate grammars to behavioral data. This course explores linking theories in a rigorous way. We begin with the classic competence/performance distinction, and the relationship between grammar and parser. The classical cognitive science approach to this latter takes them to be descriptions of the same process. Computational linguistics allows us to make this precise, and we explore the relation between grammar and parser in the simple case of context-free grammars. We then formulate explicit linking theories which relate either memory burden (stack size) or non-determinism (surprisal; entropy reduction) to behavioural data. The predictions of these linking theories are extremely dependent on the underlying grammatical assumptions, and we examine how to use them to decide between competing grammatical analyses. Greg Kobele, Ming Xiang; Autumn.

 

The goals of this course are to get you:

 

-thinking about the relation between theoretical and psycholinguistics

-stating explicit linking hypotheses

-able to use behavioral data to decide between grammatical analyses

 

The Evolution of Language
41920. How did language emerge in the phylogeny of mankind? Was its evolution saltatory or gradual? Did it start late or early and then proceed in a protracted way? Was the emergence monogenetic or polygenetic? What were the ecological prerequisites for the evolution, with the direct ecology situated in the hominine species itself, and when did the prerequisites obtain? Did there ever emerge a language organ or is this a post-facto construct that can be interpreted as a consequence of the emergence of language itself? What function did language evolve to serve, to enhance thought processes or to facilitate rich communication? Are there modern “fossils” in the animal kingdom that can inform our scholarship on the subject matter? What does paleontology suggest? We will review some of the recent and older literature on these questions and more. Salikoko Mufwene, Winter.

 

 

Topic: Inferential Meaning

Itamar Francez

Winter

 

42100. This seminar examines expressions which give rise to implications and inferences not easily categorizable as presuppositions or conversational implicatures. These include some cases that have been argued to be either conventional implicatures or pragmatic presuppositions, as well as cases that do not clearly fall into any established category. We will look at how compositional meaning, pragmatic reasoning, and contextually encoded information contribute to the `inferential profiles' of the relevant expressions and constructions. Topics include implicative verbs, temporal prepositions 'before' and 'until', and various kinds of conditionals. Itamar Francez, Winter.

 

Topic: Aspectual Composition

Chris Kennedy

Spring

 

42100. This seminar will investigate the way that the expressions that make up the verb phrase interact to determine the aspectual properties of an event description, with particular focus on the interaction between lexical and compositional aspects of meaning in verbs, nouns, and the morphology that links them together.

 

25360/45000. PQ: graduate student in Linguistics or consent of instructor. A survey of linguistic phenomena typical of the Algonquian family of languages, including animacy-based gender, obviation, inverse verbs, deixis, noun incorporation, complex predicates, discontinuous constituents, separable preverbs, discourse conditions on word order, and templatic inflectional morphology.  Amy Dahlstrom, Spring.

 

47900. The course aims to guide students on their research in a structured way and to present professionalization information crucial to success in the field. The course is organized largely around working on the research paper, with the goal of making it a conference-presentable and journal-publishable work. Topics covered include abstracts, publishing, handouts, presentation skills, course design, creating and maintaining a cv, cover letters, webpages, and in general everything that is required for you to successfully compete for jobs in linguistics. Karlos Arregi, Winter.

 

 

50111 (=PHIL 50111).  In this class we will draw together work on vagueness that has been done, over the last forty years, within philosophy, linguistics and formal logic. The overarching aim is to develop a coherent picture of what may appear to be (increasingly) diverging approaches to a single central theme.  Among those from whose work we will draw are (in alphabetical, not thematic, order): Dummett, Edgington, Fine, Graff-Fara, Greenough, Raffman, Shapiro, Van Rooy, Varzi, Williamson, Wright.  I will also draw on my own work, distant as well as more recent.  Through much of the course the context dependence of vague predicates will play a prominent part.  Students enrolled in the course will be expected to write an essay (of about 3000 words), which will be due at the end of the quarter. Hans Kamp, Autumn.

 

 

Topic: Prosody

Diane Brentari

Winter

 

52400. PQ: LING 30102 or consent of instructor. This seminar will address work on prosodic structure. Research in the contemporary literature on marking prominence and constituent boundaries will be central to the discussion, and readings will include those that concern acoustic prosodic cues as well as those of the visual channel. In addition, some readings will address how work on prosody has evolved methodologically and historically, both as an autonomous grammatical component and as a set of phenomena that are studied for potential effects at the interfaces of other grammatical components.

 

Topic: Computational Phonology

Jason Riggle

Spring

 

22460/52400. PQ: LING 30102 or consent of instructor.  This seminar will focus on computational implementations of generative phonological models with an emphasis on constraint-based theories of phonology.  We will use computational implementations to evaluate phonological models from the perspectives of complexity, learnability, and typological adequacy.  The course will involve light programming in Python but prior programming experience is not required.

 

 

Topic: Distributed Morphology

Karlos Arregi

Spring

 

52900. This course covers recent trends in the framework of Distributed Morphology and related theories. The topics include allomorphy and locality, the syntax-morphology interface, syntactic vs. postsyntactic accounts of syncretism, and the typology of postsyntactic operations.

 

53450. (=CDIN 53350, PSYC 43350). PQ: Consent of instructor. The notion of gesture has been used in many ways and in a variety of disciplines. The study of sign languages has allowed us to raise a new series of questions about the role of gesture in language and communication. It is well established that gestures play an important role in spoken languages. What is the relationship between gestures used as an entire language (i.e., sign languages), and those used as a parallel part of a spoken language (i.e., the gestures of hearing people)? What cognitive mechanisms underlie the use of gesture in its various forms? How does the study of gesture shed light on the emergence of language? Scholars already working on gesture in the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions may be invited to be guest lecturers in the course as time permits. Diane Brentari, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Autumn.

 

 

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ASLG)
 

American Sign Language I, II, III
10100-10200-10300. American Sign Language is the language of the deaf in the United States and much of Canada. It is a full-fledged autonomous language, unrelated to English or other spoken languages. This introductory course teaches the student basic vocabulary and grammatical structure, as well as aspects of deaf culture. Drucilla Ronchen. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Intermediate American Sign Language I, II, III
10400-10500-10600. PQ: ASLG 10300. In this course we continue to increase grammatical structure, receptive and expressive skills, conversational skills, basic linguistic convergence, and knowledge of idioms. Field trip required. Drucilla Ronchen. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
 

 

BASQUE (BASQ)

 

12000. The Basque language is spoken in the Basque Country, a region in Northeastern Spain and Southwestern France. It is a language isolate: as far as we know, it is not related to any other language in the world. This course offers an introduction to reading, writing, and speaking in Basque. The teaching methodology will take on a communicative perspective – we will work on vocabulary, comprehension and communicative skills in pragmatic and strategic ways. Students will acquire basic Basque language skills that will enable to master the communicative functions which have been set for the course. The lessons will have a sense of continuity, and, in that context, the main aim will be for the students to witness and take command of their own progress. Amaia Gabantxo, Autumn.

 

12100. A continuation of Elementary Basque 1, advancing the students’ knowledge of grammatical structure and their receptive, expressive and conversational skills. The module uses a task-based approach to learning Basque. By means of this methodology, the accumulation of task cycles promotes the acquirement of communicative goals. We will work on different tasks on each lesson, and the progressive build-up of those tasks will cause the gradual improvement of the students’ communicative skills and overall fluency. By the end of the quarter the student should be able to produce grammatically accurate short texts in Basque, interact with speakers of Basque at a basic level while employing a variety of complex cases and tenses, understand a range of basic written and oral texts in Basque, and understand a range of cases and the difference between them. Amaia Gabantxo, Winter.

 

12200. A continuation of Elementary Basque 2, with more emphasis in reading/writing and conversation. To consolidate linguistic competence in Basque and expand knowledge of specific areas of grammar. Emphasis will be placed on oral and written competence. Teamwork and personal input will be essential aspects of this module. We will work on practical objectives, and will enact real-life situations in groups. Our final aim will be to achieve a relevant and useful command of the Basque language. Amaia Gabantxo, Spring.

 

22000. PQ: BASQ 12200. This course is continuation of Elementary Basque-3, and its aim is to increase and build up communicative skills in speaking, reading, writing and listening. The Intermediate Basque course will further the study of grammatical structures, vocabulary and verbs. Students will be expected to understand and be able to produce a range of basic and not-so-basic written texts in Basque, and to make fluent use of a range of cases – in writing and conversation. Classes will be conducted in Basque, and students will be expected to read short stories and news items in Basque and work with them, discussing them in class. Amaia Gabantxo, Autumn.

 

24700. When people hear the word Basque it usually brings to mind adjectives

such as primeval, ancient, mysterious, isolated, unknown. But, although the Basque Country has maintained its cultural and historical legacy throughout the ages it is nowadays an open, modern and dynamic society. In this course we approach Basque culture from two perspectives: in Bernardo Atxaga's words (an internationally renowned Basque writer) will take a “perspective from within and from outside the city walls.” The perspective from within the city walls will observe Basque culture as it manifests in the works of Basque writers, cinema directors, improvised verse singers, musicians, artists, anthropologists and gastronomists – through their books, films, verses, songs, art, and research into anthropology and gastronomy. We will concentrate on contemporary figures – so that the students become acquainted with the Basque Country as the modern old country that it is today. The perspective from outside the city walls will concern the Basque diaspora in the US: The nomadic Basque shepherds who inhabited California and left their mark on that landscape with their etchings on rocks and trees, on the one hand, but also the pelota courts that are present everywhere in New York and Boston, for example, and further down in Miami – where jai-alai, “the fastest sport in the world,” is such a phenomenon. In other words, we will explore the Basque American legacy. Amaia Gabantxo, Winter.

 

24800. In this course we will be studying the paradoxical case of this old new literature, its history, drawing from the sources available to us in English translation. In the process, we will also consider issues such as minority or small literatures, micro and macro translation strategies (on the page and at the world stage), the role of the literary translator and translation publishing policies. Euskera, the Basque language, is possibly the oldest language in Europe, with a strong and popular oral literary tradition that drives tens of thousands of people to attend the improvised poetry (bertsolaritza) championships that take place every four years. But in terms of its written literary legacy, paradoxically, Basque literature can be said to be very, very young. Although the first book in Basque, Linguae Vasconum Primitiae, by Bernat Etxepare, was written in 1545, the few efforts that followed it were mostly religious in nature and moralizing in intent, and they cannot be said to amount to a solid written literary tradition, although there are gems along that sparsely populated road, such as Axular’s Gero or the poetry of Lizardi and Lauaxeta. Much has been done since the arrival of democracy in Spain in 1975 to nurture written Basque literature. As a result, the tradition of contemporary Basque fiction can be said to be going from strength to strength, counting amongst its heroes writers of the stature of Bernardo Atxaga, the internationally renowned author, as well as Ramon Saizarbitoria, Anjel Lertxundi, Lourdes Oñederra, Arantza Urretabizkaia, and younger promises like Harkaitz Cano, Kirmen Uribe or Unai Elorriaga, amongst others. Poetry is a more established genre in Basque, perhaps as a consequence of the strength of bertsolaritza and, also, the balladic traditions; some of the strongest contemporary voices would Miren Agur Meabe, Joseba Sarrionaindia, Ricardo Arregi and, also, Bernardo Atxaga. This course will be conducted in English. It is not necessary to have prior knowledge of Basque language or culture to take this course. Amaia Gabantxo, Spring

 

29850/39850.  A decade ago the Guggenheim Museum embarked on an ambitious project to create a transnational museum with franchises in Venice, Bilbao, Berlin, and Las Vegas.  It was the opening of the spectacular Bilbao franchise, designed by Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry, that brought to the world’s attention the true scope of the Guggenheim’s aims under its director Krens.  The new building not only put Bilbao on the map, but it showed to everyone what architecture could do to change the image and the touristic appeal of a postindustrial city.  Suddenly every city in the world wanted a Guggenheim Bilbao.  Thus, the study of such “Guggenheim effects” has become mandatory in the departments of architecture, museum studies, urban renewal, or tourism.  Bilbao’s fin de millennium has become the paradigmatic example of the interdependencies between museum culture, the international art market, spectacular architecture, tourism, the politics of local identities, urban regeneration discourse, the media, late capitalist strategies, and the promotional selling of national images in a postmodern world.  The approach of the course is multidisciplinary: cultural studies, anthropology, urbanism and architecture, museum and popular culture.  These fields will all be brought in for contextualizing the creation, decline, and regeneration of cities.  The student must read the literature perceptively, get an understanding of the relevant issues, and develop a perspective from where to view and judge the contemporary cultural and political transformations brought about by architecture and the new cultural industries.  We will also look comparatively at other American and European cities with similar problems of urban regeneration.  Joseba Zulaika, Winter

 

 

GEORGIAN (GEOR)

 

22100/32100, 22200/322000, 22300/32300. Georgian is a non-Indo European language that belongs to the small South Caucasian language family. It is a less-commonly-taught language that is only taught regularly at the University of Chicago. This is a three-quarter course that covers basic Modern Georgian grammar and includes writing, reading, listening, and speaking activities. We'll be referring to Howard Aronson's textbook (Georgian: A Reading Grammar) and supplementing with additional authentic texts, audio, and video materials that will be provided in class. Tamra Wysocki-Niimi, Autumn, Winter, Spring.

 

22400-22500-22600/32400-32500-32600. This course reviews and reinforces the grammar principles presented in Elementary Georgian through the reading and analysis of selected texts written by influential Georgian authors and poets. Additional class exercises are provided to

strengthen listening and speaking skills. Tamra Wysocki-Niimi. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

 

21700. This one-quarter course will provide students with a rare opportunity to learn more about the history of the Republic of Georgia and its culture through a selection of literature and poetry (in translation), films, lectures, and class discussions and activities. We will survey Georgian history from its prehistory through its Golden Age in the 12th century up to the present day. Discussions of culture will include music, art (including metalwork and cloisonné), traditional dance, religious and pagan practices, and Georgia’s wine and toasting culture. Throughout the course we will consider issues of Georgian identity and nationhood, especially in relation to influences from surrounding regions. Tamra Wysocki-Niimi, Autumn.

 

 

SWAHILI (SWAH)

Swahili I, II, III
25200-25300-25400/35200-35300-35400. This course is designed to help students acquire communicative competence in Swahili and a basic understanding of its structures. Through a variety of exercises, students develop both oral and writing skills. Fidele Mpiranya. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

 

27200-27300-27400/37200-37300-37400. PQ: SWAH 27000/37000 or consent of instructor.

This course is focused on advanced listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, with long textual or audiovisual materials.  Exercises in class include discussion about various topics in relation with East African cultures and societies, text rewriting, dialogue production and performance, and essay presentation.  Students are assigned advanced readings and essay writing based on their own interests. Fidele Mpiranya. Autumn, Winter, Spring.