Course Description

This is an Osher Online course, created and offered through the Osher National Resource Center.  These courses are different from our regular OLLI at Emory program.  These are six-week courses and live attendance is required.  You must also have an active OLLI at Emory membership and to register. Currently all classes are limited to 13 seats.

This class is supported by the NRC and participation details can be found on our website.

Instructor: Asya Pereltsvaig, PhD

Explore the world’s linguistic diversity. With more than 7,000 languages spoken today, their variety offers insight into the evolution of human language, thought, and civilization.

This course examines how languages develop, change, and interact over time. Through a journey across six mystery locations — one per week — we will uncover the historical relationships among languages and the migrations, splits, and connections that have shaped them. By studying the languages spoken in these regions, we will gain a deeper understanding of human history and what it means to be human.

Bio: Asya Pereltsvaig, PhD earned her degree in English and history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in linguistics from McGill University. She has taught at Yale and Stanford. An expert in language, history, and their intersections, Pereltsvaig is the author of Languages of the World: An Introduction.