Secondary PhD Field in Celtic Medieval Languages and Literatures The Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures offers a Secondary Field in Celtic Medieval Languages and Literatures for Ph.D. students enrolled in other departments at Harvard. The Celtic languages, once spoken over much of Europe and Asia Minor, are of great linguistic interest, and the splendid medieval literatures of Ireland and Wales constitute a hugely rewarding field of study. Students of comparative literature, of other medieval languages and literatures, of history, of historical linguistics, and of religion may wish to consider this secondary field. Students, for example of medieval epic and romance, and of genres such as prophecy and vision poetry may wish for comparative purposes to read texts in the Celtic languages. The Celtic material offers invaluable sources for medieval historians of the Western Church, and of secular institutions and customs as well. Students of historical linguistics will know that a thorough knowledge of Old Irish is important for the investigation of Indo-European. The Secondary Field affords an opportunity to achieve professional competence in one of the Celtic languages, the range of its literature, and the scholarship in the field. Requirements: The Secondary Field is organized in two separate tracks, Early and Medieval Irish, and Medieval Welsh. Each of them requires the student to take four half-courses in the department, the distribution of which is as follows: |
