The course gives an introduction into the diversity of the languages of the world, their geographical distribution, genetical relationships, and their typological similarities and differences. The goal of the course is to give a general impression of the linguistic diversity across the world, but also to discuss approaches to classify languages according to their historical relationships or similarities in grammar. In the main part of the course, the student will get to know a variety of recurrent cross-linguistic patterns, many of which can be cast into typological universals. In the accompanying exercises, the student will learn to apply typological methods and concepts to data from unfamiliar languages.

The required textbook is Velupillai, V., 2012. An introduction to linguistic typology. John Benjamins Publishing.

Grading: There will be two mid-terms exams and at the end of the semester, the student will present a personal project (with a final paper).