Spring

This course introduces the student to the spoken language of Egypt, particularly of Cairo. Through extensive engagement with films, songs, talk shows, and other media, as well as productive student activities (skits, songs, riddles, etc.) the student will improve their listening and speaking skills. In addition, the course will introduce the student to the new phenomenon of written colloquial, found on social media as well as in some new literature.

This sequence concentrates on the acquisition of speaking, reading, and aural skills in modern formal Arabic.

In this class, we will read texts from the ancient Syrian site of Ebla, where thousands of texts dating to about the 24th century BCE were found. We will focus on those texts that were written in the local Semitic language, Eblaite, and discuss the grammar and orthography of these texts, especially in the light of how this language/dialect relates to Akkadian and other Semitic languages.

Selected readings of Akkadian texts in the Standard Babylonian dialect of the 1st millennium BC

This is the first in a three-quarter sequence that covers the basic grammar and cuneiform writing system of the Hittite language. It also familiarizes the student with the field’s tools (i.e., dictionaries, lexica, sign list). Readings come from all periods of Hittite history (1650 to 1180 B.C.).

An introductory course in the written language of the Orkhon Inscriptions, dating back to the 5th-8th Century Kök Türk State of Central Eurasia, and of related inscriptions from the Yenisei River area, Mongolia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The language of the inscriptions is considered to be the ancestor of the majority of Turkic languages spoken today, and uses a distinctive alphabet sometimes known as the Old Turkic Runiform Alphabet. The course covers a brief historic overview, basic grammar, reading selections from the inscriptions in the original and in translation, and familiarization with the alphabet itself. 

Continued reading of texts in the Ugaritic language.