History of the English Language

Catalog description

This course provides an accessible overview of the English language from its earliest beginnings as an insular language to its current place as a global language. One central issue will be the ways in which the external history (culture, political power, geography) of the language has impacted its internal history (spelling, pronunciation, dialect) over time. In the process, we will examine several representative English texts which illustrate significant moments in this long process of language change. Other topics will include the traces of early English vocabulary and structures in modern English, sound changes and pronunciation, English's heavy lexical borrowing from other languages, the politics of language and language use, longstanding debates over what constitutes standard English, the impact of prescriptive language guides, varieties of spoken and written English, the English language and colonialism, English as a global language, and the influence of technologies.