History of the English Language
Tentative Syllabus for English 4300: Spring Semester 2006
Time: MWF 1:00-1:50
Place: HUM 208
Instructor: Dr. Micheal Crafton
Office: TLC 2225
Office hours: M,W 9:30-11:30, and by appointment.
Email: mcrafton@westga.edu
Home page: http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton/
Required for certification in Secondary English Education. May be repeated
for credit as topic varies.
Brief
Description:
Why do we spell might with a gh
and yet we don’t pronounce it? What in the world
does “Ye olde sworde shoppe” mean? If Shakespeare is not written in Old
English, then what is? We shall answer a few of these and other questions in
this a survey of the major periods of the development of the English Language
from pre-Old English to Present Day English and some varieties therein. Some
attention will be paid the basics of linguistic analysis and the relationship
between language and social change. 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, descriptive, and scientific grammars.
Course
description
Course Goals
Program Goals
ASSIGNMENTS
AND THEIR GRADE WEIGHTS :
1.Exam # 1 = 20 %
2.Exam # 2 = 20 %
3.Exam # 3 = 30 % (counts more because of comprehensive
essay question)
4.Participation = 10 %
5.Project = 20 %
Text:
(Baugh) Albert C., and Tomas
Cable. A History of the English Language. 4th
ed.
Daily Assignments:
Week 1: Introduction to Course and
Linguistics
M 9 Introduction to course (Section [§]
38, p 52); begin Baugh Chapter 1 (§1-4); the cultural subject of HEL: handouts.
W 11 Introduction to articulatory phonetics
and the IPA; Politics and the English Language; Baugh Chapter 1 (§ 5-7)
F 13 Transcriptions of English sounds and
dialects; a description of the English language; Baugh Chapter 1 (§ 8 ff)
-------------------------------
Week 2: More Introduction
to Linguistics and Indo-European
M 16 MLK, Jr. Day: No Classes
W 18 More transcription; dialects; Baugh
Chapter 2 (§ 13-14)
F 20 Comparative linguistics; begin
Indo-European; William Jones and the hypothesis; Baugh Chapter 2 (§ 15-17)
-------------------------------
Week 3: Indo-European
M 23 Indo-European family tree; Baugh Chapter
2 (§ 18-24, 26-27)
W 25 Germanic; Grimm’s
Law; Baugh Chapter 2 (§ 16, 25)
F 27 Review of the important family members;
Indo-European homeland; Baugh Chapter 2 (§ 21-23, 25-28)
-------------------------------
Week 4: Old English: External History
M 30 The Story of English videotape 2;
Early Anglo-Saxon history; Baugh Chapter 3 (§ 29-35)
W 1 Christianity and Anglo-Saxon; Baugh
Chapter 3 (3.36, 3.37) and Chapter 4 (§ 53-66)
F 3 Vikings and Old English: Baugh Chapter
4 (§ 67-80)
------------------------------
Week 5:
Old English: Internal history
M 6 Description of OE; dialects and
pronunciation; Baugh Chapter 3 (§ 39,40); begin
reading Beowulf out loud
W 8 Grammar: noun, article, adjective;
grammatical gender; synthetic vs. analytic; Baugh Chapter 3 (§ 41-44)
F 10
Grammar continued: pronoun, verb;
Baugh Chapter 3 (§ 45-46, 51)
-------------------------------
Week 6: Old English: Internal history
M 13 Vocabulary; Baugh Chapter 3 (§ 48-50);
review Chapter 4
W 15 Review for exam: Reading Beowulf
out loud
F 17 Exam
-------------------------------
M 20 The
Story of English videotape three; Baugh Chapter 5 (§ 81-83)
W 22 Baugh
Chapter 5 (§ 81-89)
F 24 Baugh Chapter 5 (§ 90-92): Visit
the
-------------------------------
Week 8: From
Anglo-Norman to Middle English
M 27 Loss
of
W 1 The 100 Years’ War; Baugh Chapter 6 (§ 99-103)
F 3 English
becomes legal; Baugh Chapter 6 (§ 104-110)
-------------------------------
W 8 ME grammar and changes from OE; Baugh
Chapter 7 (§ 111-122)
F 10
Vocabulary; Baugh Chapter 7 (§
123-136)
-------------------------------
Week 10: Complete Overview
of Old and Middle English
M 13 Changes to
OE; other foreign influences on ME; Baugh Chapter 7 (§ 137-145)
W 15 Finish Middle English; dialects; Review
for Exam # 2; Baugh Chapter 7 (§ 146-151)
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
Week 11: Early
Modern English: The Renaissance
W 29 Renaissance
Humanism and Enrichment; Dictionary of “hard words”; Baugh Chapter 8
(§ 157-172)
F 31 Pronunciation;
Great Vowel Movement; practice with Shakespeare; Baugh Chapter 8 (§ 173-177)
-------------------------------
Week 12: Early
Modern English: Renaissance and the Neoclassical Period
M 3 EmodE
grammar; changes up to now; Baugh Chapter 8 (§ 175-185)
W 5 Eighteenth-Century
“Temper”; Ascertainment; Baugh Chapter 9 (§ 186-195)
F 7 Dictionaries
and Grammars; Baugh Chapter 9 (§ 196-204)
-------------------------------
Week 13: Modern
English: Romantic and Victorian Inflections
M 10 Empire
and Industrial Revolution; Baugh Chapter 9 (§ 205-210) and Chapter 10 (§
211-223)
W 12 Slang;
Standard; and World English; Baugh Chapter 10 (§ 225-229)
F 14 Pidgins,
Creoles; OED; Baugh Chapter 10 (§ 230-237)
-------------------------------
Week 14: English
Comes to America: Anglophone Settlements
W 19 Westward
expansion; Baugh Chapter 11 (§ 240-245)
F 21 Noah
Webster; Baugh Chapter 11 (§ 246-249): Projects
Due
-------------------------------
Week
15: English in America: Non-anglophone Settlements
M 24 Baugh
Chapter 11 (§ 250); dialects; African-American English
W 26 Baugh
Chapter 11 (§ 250); dialects and European immigration
F 28 Baugh
Chapter 11 (§ 256); American and World English
-------------------------------
M 1 Last
Day of Classes: Course Evaluation, Review for Final
-------------------------------
Class
Project: Several options
Here are some other
student projects:
For a list of useful web sites see the
following:
< http://www.westga.edu/~mcrafton/hel-web.htm
>.