Languages

I have been something of a linguomane since my early teens, and this class is meant to attract fellow linguomanes especially.

When I started secondary school in Birmingham, UK, Latin and French were compulsory languages, and I soon became keen on both. How mysterious these languages were! Did French people really think that everything in the world was either masculine or feminine? The Romans must have been even more odd - although they had neuter as well, inanimate things were just as likely to be masculine or feminine instead. Later I got on to German and Russian at school, and they were just as odd as Latin.

At university I studied Turkish and Arabic for a while, and they were just as mysterious in different ways. But now that I have perhaps become fully adult, I think that I can see some reasons why human languages are as they are, and I'd like to discuss them with you. But remember this class is about languages as interesting and fun, nothing to do with formal linguistics.

There will be no examinations - your grades will be decided by the quality of the essays you will need to write every two weeks or so. There will be no textbook either, but handouts which you will be able to download from this website. If you click on the appropriate part of the timetable, you will find a link to the first handout to bring to class with you, and also details of the first assignment.