SoSe 18: PS-Historical Linguistics: From the Age of Migrations to the Age of Explorations
Kirsten Middeke
Comments
In this course, we will study the history of the English language from its beginnings in the Migration Period until about the time when English started its spread around the world. We will investigate how the West-Germanic dialects in Britain changed over time, absorbed Latin, Scandinavian and Romance elements, were adapted to the changing requirements and mindsets of their speakers, and eventually turned into the language we know today. With English as our object of investigation, we will study general principles of language change on different levels of linguistic analysis (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicology). Students will be introduced to the aims and methods of diachronic linguistics and gain an understanding of the way human languages change, not just in the past, but also in the present and the future.
Reading material will be made available at the beginning of the course. For the first session, please review your basic knowledge of phonetics and phonology.
Credit requirements are:
- regular attendance
- short answers to small study questions based on reading assignments and/or in-class discussions, to be submitted online before the course each week
- active participation in discussions
- a short academic paper of about 2000 words, to be handed in by the end of the semester
13 Class schedule
Regular appointments