Mi’kmaw and Latin in Dialogue: Towards a Textbook

3 credits · Undergraduate

While historically unrelated, Mi’kmaw and Latin have more in common that you might think: both feature a complex grammar, a subtle syntax, and a rich vocabulary; both are quite unlike English. They are also languages that are very hard to learn immersively: you can’t vacation in ancient Rome and pick up Latin at the café, while it is hard to learn Mi’kmaw orally unless one has an expert teacher or fluent relatives. For mass education, both languages need textbooks. In this class, you and your peers will serve as researchers, aiming to contribute to the eventual development, by Mi’kmaw experts, of a classroom Mi’kmaw textbook. We will examine a wide variety of Latin textbooks from the last 150 years and report back every week on what might work for that future challenge. Some background in either Mi’kmaw or Latin language is required, but fluency is not. PREREQUISITES: INDG 2901.03 (Mi’kmaw Language for Non-Speakers I) or equivalent or CLAS 2401.03 (Introductory Latin Part I) or equivalent. CROSSLISTED: INDG 4080.03 FORMATS: Seminar