COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course is intended to provide a basic appreciation of the overall picture of the Austronesian language family for students who have some knowledge of one or more Austronesian languages. We will cover (1) an overview of the geographical, cultural and historical background to the Austronesian language family, and (2) selected topics in Austronesian syntax from a typological perspective, with particular emphasis on issues related to voice systems, word order, case marking and reduplication etc. Students who register this course are required to attend a series of lectures by Professor Bernard Comrie.