This course is a high-altitude exploration of the grammar of natural human languages. We will examine how the small(er) building blocks of language–morphemes, words, and phrases–behave across dialogues and monologues. What new patterns emerge when grammar operates beyond the sentence? How do language structures vary across genres and why? What counts as an obligatory rule of language, and how do speakers creatively bend the rules? Special attention is given to spoken texts in non-Indo-European languages, expanding our knowledge of linguistic diversity and pushing us to rethink even very familiar grammatical systems.
