The development of present English through the stages of Old English, Middle English, and early Modern English. Study of elementary phonetics, phonemics, sound change, and dialect variation.
ENGL/LING 4005/6005 Spring 2023 Kretzschmar
History of the English Language TTh 9:35-10:50, Park 145
Office: 313 Park. Email: kretzsch@uga.edu. Office Hours: TTH 8:30-9:30 in person, via Skype (bill.kretzschmar), and by appointment (email me to set one up).
Catalog: The development of present English through the stages of Old English, Middle English, and early Modern English. Study of elementary phonetics, phonemics, sound change, and dialect variation.
Texts: W. Kretzschmar, The Emergence and Development of English: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018; C. S. Lewis, Studies in Words, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1967.
Course Conduct: Lecture/discussion, in person. There will be five in-class tests and no final exam ("continuous assessment"). There will be one short paper (5 pp) and a major paper due at the end of the term (c. 10-15 pp undergrad, c. 20 pp. grad). Papers will be argumentative essays prepared according to standard practices for academic papers, and include appropriate use of the scholarly literature. There will be a proposal (2-3 pp) for the final paper due in early November. Grades will be based on class attendance (90 pts), the five in-class exams (250 pts), the short paper (100 pts), and the final paper (50 pts proposal, 150 pts final paper). 640 total points. Course info will be on the Web at the UGA eLC (elc.uga.edu).
Goals and Topics: This course will introduce students to some basic concepts of language study and to the history and present status of the English language. It will be intensive: we have much ground to cover. We will examine texts to illustrate changes. Sound recordings will be played in class to illustrate different varieties of English. At the end of the course, students will have gained perspective with which to evaluate common questions regarding language and linguistics in the modern world.
eLC reading: 1: M. Tomasello, Origins of Language, Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition (Cambridge: Harvard UP), 8-42; 2: Languages in Paradise, in U. Eco, Serendipities (New York: Columbia UP, 1998), 23-52; 3: Grammar and Complex Systems, in W. Kretzschmar, Language and Complex Systems (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015); 4: Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book 1:1-23 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994); 5: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entries from 870 to 1016, ed. Swanton (London: Routledge, 1998); 6: W. Kretzschmar and M. Stenroos, Evidence from Surveys and Atlases in the History of the English Language, in T. Nevalainen and E. Traugott, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the History of English (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 111-122; 7: J. Milroy, Historical Description and the Ideology of the Standard Language, in L. Wright, ed., The Development of Standard English 1300-1800 (Cambridge, 2000), 11-28.
Schedule:
Jan 10, 12 T: Course intro. Th: EDE Intro, Ch 1
Jan 17, 19 T: App 1: words, sounds Th: eLC 1: Tomasello Origins
Jan 24, 26 T: App 1: sounds Th: eLC 2: Eco Languages
Jan 31, Feb 2 T: App 2: syntax Th: App 2: discourse, EX 1
Feb 7, 9 T: Ch 2 Th: eLC 3: Kretzschmar Grammar
Feb 14, 16 T: Ch 3 Th: how to write a paper, incl authoritative info, citation, structure, argument, license
Feb 21, 23 T: Ch 4 Th: eLC 4, 5: Bede EH, ASC; EX 2
Feb 28, Mar 2 T: Ch 5 Th: eLC 6: Kretzschmar/Stenroos Evidence
Mar 7, 9 No class, Spring Break
Mar 14, 16 T: Ch 6 Th: Lewis, Ch 1
Mar 21, 23 T: Ch 7, short paper due Th: App3, EX 3 (withdrawal deadline)
Mar 28, 30 T: App3, Lewis Free Th: Ch 8, App3
Apr 4, 6 T: Ch 8: GVS, Ch 9 Th: Ch 9 OED, proposal due
Apr 11, 13 T: Ch 10 Th: eLC 7: Milroy, EX 4
Apr 18, 20 T: Lewis, Sense, Conscience Th: Lewis World, Life
Apr 25, 27 T: Ch 11 Th: Th: Ch 12, EX 5
May 5 No class; Paper due by email.
UGA Student Honor Code: "I will be academically honest in all of my academic work and will not tolerate academic dishonesty of others." A Culture of Honesty, the University's policy and procedures for handling cases of suspected dishonesty, can be found at www.uga.edu/ovpi. Every course syllabus should include the instructor's expectations related to academic honesty.
The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.
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