Comparative Philology

Students who are interested in language "as a phenomenon" or who want the use of language "as a tool" will find an extremely competent department--one of five or six of its kind in the country--ready to serve them in the form of Comparative Philology.

Headed by Professor Joshua Whatmough, who is the only appointed member, composed of 11 Harvard and three Radcliffe students, and aided by experts from the University's language departments, this field makes it possible for concentrators to combine the study of one or more ancient or modern languages with the study of linguistics.

Only honors candidates may enter the department, and these men must have under their belts two or more years of high school preparation in two or more ancient or modern languages. Unlike honors men in other fields, the student in Comparative Philology need meet only a minimum of six full courses for concentration--two in the department proper, two in another language field, and two in "related" subjects.

Room for Other Languages

Many men take advantage of this less-than-usually-crowded schedule to delve into the workings of additional languages or to take extra courses in Comparative Philology.

Two elementary half-courses in the department are required of all concentrators: Comparative Philology 10 is an Introduction to the History of Language and Whatmough does a brilliant job here, well equipped with superb scholastic facilities, antedotes and amusing idiosyncrasies that keep the concentrators and numerous non-concentrators in the audience on their toes at all times.

Comp. Phil it is the other necessary number (Practices Phonetics), which was given by Rogers (Romance Languages and Literatures) last fall and will not reappear until 1948-49. Rogers knows his material well, and the course serves to give students a background in linguistic change and a chance to try out orally some of the knowledge gained, especially in the Romance languages.

Undergraduates In Grad Courses

Other courses available this year are Comp. Phil. 30 (Whatmough on Indo-European Languages: Phonology) and numerous "Primarily for Graduates" courses, which undergraduates are frequently allowed to enter.

One half-course of tutorial is given to every man while he is writing his honors thesis (not more than 10,000 words), and although this is as far as tutorial goes, individual supervision is taken care of by two factors: the department's small size and Whatmough's interest in his students.

Concentrators must write, in addition to the thesis, an examination in their own linguistic field and an exam in general linguistics. An oral test is also required. None of these exams, however, cover the literature of any language.

Do One Thing Well

"Related" fields include Anthropology 31, Philosophy 3, and Social Relations 52 and 58. Whatmough allows students a liberal amount of discretion in picking these courses, but warns that concentrators should "get one job done well" and not spread themselves too thin over courses that are not essentially linguistic.

Anyone who isn't quite sure what Comp. Phil. concentration will involve can get a pretty good idea by taking or auditing Comp. Phil. 10. And for someone who finds his interest aroused in language, but isn't overly enthusiastic about analyzing literature--for that student Comparative Philology could stand looking into.