Room # 206 Winter Quarter 1997 T, R 12:55-3:10
Some useful web links appear at the end of this syllabus.
Instructor: Dr. Micheal Crafton
Office #222 Phone: 836-6848
Office Hours: T and Th 3:30-4:30 and by appointment
Home page address: http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton/
Overview of the Course:
This course will begin with an analysis of contemporary
language and an introduction to some of the basic ideas and methods
of linguistic analysis. After the introduction, we shall study
the major periods of the history of language: Indo-European, Old
English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern and
Contemporary varieties. In each of these major periods, we shall
learn to pronounce and read short pieces of literature, and we
shall learn something of the political and cultural influences
on the language at these various stages.
We will begin the course with a discussion of dialects and the
recent controversy concerning the Oakland School Board's decision
to recognize Ebonics as a language. We will begin to analyze the
components of the decision and its critique as a way to grapple
with a very significant topic in language education in America
and as a way to frame the course material.
REQUIRED TEXTS AND MATERIALS:
Pyles, Thomas, and John Algeo. The Origins and Development
of the English Language. 4th ed. Forth Worth: Harcourt,
1993.
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
Any edition.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
T 1-7: Intro. to course; Overview of linguistics
R 1-9: Pyles chap. 1: Continue overview: Language vs. dialect
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T 1-14: Pyles chap. 2: Phonetics, phonology, phonemics
R 1-16: Pyles chap. 2: Cont'd.
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T 1-21: Pyles chap. 3: Graphemics and orthography - history of
writing
R 1-23: Pyles chap. 4: Indo-European hypothesis
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T 1-28: Pyles chap. 4: Indo-European history continued.
R 1-30: Test # 1 ***
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T 2-4: Pyles chap. 5: Old English (Anglo-Saxon): Caedmon's Hymn
R 2-6: Pyles chap. 5: Old English continued: Beowulf
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T 2-11: Pyles chap. 6: Middle English: Chaucer's General Prologue
R 2-13: Pyles chap. 6: Middle English: Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
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T 2-18: Pyles chap. 7: Early Modern English - Renaissance: Shakespeare
R 2-20: Pyles chap. 8: Early Modern English - 18th
century: Pope
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T 2-25: Test # 2 ***
R 2-27: Pyles chap. 9: Modern English Dialects
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T 3-4: American dialects: Handouts - Historical, geographical
dialects
R 3-6: American dialects: Handouts - Socio-economic dialects
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T 3-12: Dialects, standards, teaching English: Handouts
Presentation (a short description of the project for the class)
of student projects; then, they must be turned in, alas.
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EXAM, Test # 2: March 18, Tuesday 8:00-10:00 am: Final
Exam
Average of three exams 60%
Class Project 30%
Participation 10%
Course Objectives:
By the end of the quarter, students will understand:
the basic concepts of comparative linguistics;
the most significant external historical causes of change in the
English language;
the key internal changes in the history of English;
the pronunciation of Old English and Middle English, at least
well enough to teach high school students;
the fundamental difference between the grammars of Old English
and Modern English;
the concept of dialect or variety in English;
the difference between grammar and usage and the difference between
prescriptive and descriptive grammars.
Class Project: Several options
1. A standard research paper (10 pages long, 8 to 10 references)
on a topic related to the history of the language (e.g. teaching
dialects of English, theories of the Great Vowel Shift, dialectal
variations in Chaucer). (Samples available in the library on reserve.)
2. A curriculum/course pack for teaching a segment on the history
of English for a high school class. This should include day-by-day
curriculum as well as visual and audio aids and class projects.
(Samples available in the library on reserve.)
3. A computer "edition" of an old text of English literature
or a modern English passage. (A sample is available on the internet
at the following address: [http://www.westga.edu/~stu815/crafton.html].)
4. A history of a passage in Modern English. For this the student
traces the history of each word and anything else relevant to
an understanding of the history of English. (Samples available
in the library on reserve.)
Useful internet sites for the
history of the English language:
History of the English Language :
The home page for many useful files for studying the history of
the English language.
Edwin Duncan's HEL Page:
This page provides a variety of interesting links, some of which
I have stolen for my home page, but most helpful are the links
to primary texts.
Luke in Four Stages of English: Go to this site if you are interested in tracing the history of the English language through Bible translation.
Ebonics Home Page: A new posting of information on the Ebonics debate.
Natural Language Analysis and Computing:
A good site to begin a sampling of recent theories of generative
linguistics.
Regia Anglorum: This
is a collection of links to historically related pages devoted
to medieval England. Some are useful; some are whimsical.
Tests and Study Guides:
This site is a protected area. You will need to get a user name
and password from me before you can access it. You may e-mail
me for this, or get it from me in class.