In this course we will be tracing the development of the English language from its Indo-European beginnings to the Middle English period. We will deal with the internal development of the language (its ‘structure’) on all levels: sounds (phonology), grammar (morphology & syntax), word meaning (semantics) and orthography and some select pragmatic features (language in use). We will also explore the most important events in the language-external history (‘political, social and cultural history’) that shaped the language. As we are covering a period of more than a thousand years, our aim is to put the various stages of development in relation to each other: what happened when and with what results – and, if possible, why. Along the way we will be dealing with texts from different periods.
Requirements:
- Group presentation
- Etymology research project
- Midterm and final exams
Core Readings:
- Knooihuizen, Remco. 2023. The Linguistics of the History of English. Cham: Springer.
- Brinton, Laurel J. and Leslie K. Arnovick. 2016. The English Language: A Linguistic History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.