Language History
Language History
Introduction
This module aims to provide students with a chronological grounding in the main historical phases of the development of English. Periods covered include Old English, the Norse invasions, the Norman Conquest, Middle English, Early Modern English and the worldwide spread of English thereafter.
Schedule
Week One: Introduction. The flux of language (Barber chapter 2)
Week Two: Old English (Barber chapter 5)
Week Three: The influence of Norse (Barber chapter 6, part one)
Week Four: The influence of Norman French (Barber chapter 6, part two)
Week Five: Middle English (Barber chapter 7)
Week Six: The Great Vowel Shift (McIntyre chapters A4, B4 and D4)
Week Seven: The Great Vowel Shift extra session (Barber various pages)
Week Eight: Early Modern English (Barber chapter 8)
Week Nine: English in the scientific age (Barber chapter 9)
Week Ten: English as a world language (Barber chapter 10)
Week Eleven: The future of English (Barber chapter 11)
Week Twelve: Plenary.
Readings
Main text-book:
Barber, C. (2000). The English Language. A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: CUP.
Recommended texts:
Baugh, A. and T. Cable. (2002). A History of the English Language (5th ed.) London: Routledge.
Blake, N. (1996). A History of the English Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Burnley, D. (2000). The History of the English Language. A Sourcebook. London: Longman.
Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP.
Fennell, B. (2001). A History of English. Oxford: Blackwell.
Freeborn, D. (2006). From Old English to Standard English. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Graddol, D. et al. (2007). Changing English. London: Routledge.
Gramley, S. (2012). The History of English. Abingdon: Routledge.
Jenkins, J. (2003). World Englishes. London: Routledge.
Leith, D. (1983). A Social History of English. London: Routledge.
McCully, C. and S. Hilles (2005). The Earliest English. Harlow: Pearson.
McIntyre, D. (2009). History of English. A Resource Book for Students. Abingdon: Routledge.
Singh, I. (2005). The History of English. London: Hodder Arnold.
Referencing
Careful referencing of sources is vital when making use of the work of others. You are expected to employ MHRA referencing conventions. These conventions apply to information taken from internet sources, as well as books, journals and lectures. If you are unsure of the way to reference properly, seek advice from a member of staff before you submit the assessment. These are some of the points you should check before submitting your work:
· are all direct quotations, from both primary and secondary sources, suitably acknowledged (placed in quotation marks or indented)?
· have you provided full details of the source of the quotation in MHRA format?
· have you acknowledged the source of ideas not your own, even if you are not quoting directly from the source?
· have you closely paraphrases a source without mentioning it? (Check that you are not presenting other people’s words or phrasing as if they are your own.)
· if you have worked closely with others in preparing for this assessment, is the material you are presenting sufficiently your own?
Class Materials
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Some Old English Language spoken in the TV series 'Vikings' URL
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Recording: The Nunnes Preestes TaleURL
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Link 1: The Great Vowel ShiftURL
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Link 2: The Great Vowel ShiftURL
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Link 3: The Great Vowel ShiftURL
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ASSIGNMENT
HM5206 Assignment UEF
Due: Friday, 12 January 2024, 3:00 PM
Assignment
1. Tutor with responsibility for this Assessment
Dr. Tran Tin Nghi nghitt@uef.edu.vn is your first point of contact for this element of assessment.
2. Arrangements for submission
Your individualised submission deadline will be available through your Assignment Summary page for this assignment. Although the Assessment Brief on the Module Guide includes details of the standard submission deadline, in all cases those become individualised for you, and presented to you through the assessment point itself.
Your assessment will be submitted online as an MS Word document via Moodle.
The Maximum file size for uploading is 50MB.
3. The requirements for the assessment
Answer BOTH sections
a) Write 1500 words on one particular aspect of the development of English that you're interested in from the year 450 onwards. Show which aspects of the history of English you found new, surprising and interesting. Also say which aspects you were already familiar with. You should try to use a range of evidence from different sources.
b) Now write 500 words on what future changes could occur in the phonological system of English, using evidence from currently observed changes. Cite all sources and give examples.
4. Assessment criteria
The essay should show an ability to distinguish and describe the main periods in the history of English, and to describe in some detail the specific features of change in the language in different historical periods.
A student passing this module should be able to demonstrate that they:
have a good knowledge of the history and structure of English
have a good understanding of the specific changes in the English language over the different historical periods
have a good sense of the diversification of English as it becomes a world language in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Can think critically about modern standard language forms and how they fit into the socio-historical framework
The pass mark is 40%. If you fail, but attain a mark of between 1 and 39%, you will be entitled to do a re-assessment for a maximum of 40%.
Percentage
Assignment Template: Download