UCL - Caucasian Languages I (Armenian, Georgian)

[GLOR1651]

[30h] 6 credits

This two-yearly course is taught in 2008-2009, 2010-2011,...

Teacher(s): Bernard Coulie

Language: French

Level: First

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

Armenian and Georgian belong to different linguistic systems but to societies with similar cultural and religious values. In combination with the course GLOR 1652 this course will introduce students to the linguistic systems of Ancient Armenian and Georgian languages, and to the reference tools (dictionaries, grammars and studies). It will enable them to read and understand sources written in these languages in the original. By the end of both courses, students should be able to read and translate Ancient Armenian and Georgian texts of basic and intermediate difficulty, using basic reference tools.

Main themes

Armenian and Georgian belong to different linguistic systems but to societies with similar cultural and religious values. These courses (GLOR 1651 and GLOR 1652) examine the Ancient Armenian and Georgian languages as used from the Vth century A.D. onwards in a geographical area comprising the Caucasus but also the entire Near-East (the Byzantine world and the Christian Orient). The courses will investigate the linguistic systems of the two languages (Indo-European in the case of Armenian and Caucasian in the case of Georgian), compare the two systems and examine the morphological and syntactic structure of Armenian and Georgian.

Content and teaching methods

Armenian and Georgian belong to different linguistic systems but to societies with exactly the same cultural and religious values. This course examines the Ancient Armenian and Georgian languages as used from the Vth century A.D. onwards in a geographical area comprising the Caucasus but also the entire Near-East (the Byzantine world and the Christian Orient).
For each language, the course will cover the following topics : the general linguistic system involved; morphology ; lexis ; history of the language ; an introduction to the main research and reference tools ; a critical analysis of original texts. The relative importance attributed to one or the other language in the course will vary according to the particular interests of the students.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Course entry requirements: none.
Evaluation: continuous assessment. The end-of year oral examination involves reading and translating a text and grammatical explanation.
Course material: either a course handout provided by the lecturer or a recommended course manual.