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Philology 3: History of the English Language

Vak
2024-2025

Admission requirements

Successful completion of Philology 1 (Introduction to Middle English) and Philology 2 (Introduction to Old English Language) or equivalent.

Description

How did English come to look the way it does in the present?
From the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to today, English has gone through tremendous transformations and is now spoken far beyond the British Isles.
This course is a follow-up from the introductions to Middle English and Old English in the first year, but now offers a bird’s eye view of the major developments which the English language underwent from its very roots and beginnings until the present day.
You will examine changes in the English lexicon, grammar and sound system from past to present. In doing so, you will consider important historical, political, social and linguistic factors that contributed to the rich variation and change that can be observed throughout the ages. We will trace the development of Standard English, but also look at other varieties of English. We draw on the skills you acquired during the courses Linguistics 1 and 2, as well as Philology 1 and 2. For instance, some aspects of Old English and Middle English will be considered, but this time the emphasis will be on how and why Old English, Middle English and later Englishes are different and look at how the linguistic system transformed from fully inflectional to one that has very few inflections.

Course objectives

At the end of the course:

  • You can provide a survey of the characteristics of Old, Middle, Early and Late Modern English

  • You can describe the rise of English as a world language and identify features that are characteristic of language contact across time and space

  • You can explain the social and linguistic factors that contributed to the transformations of English

  • You can work with the online Oxford English Dictionary and use this digital tool to interpret, analyse and explain formal and semantic changes in English words over time and report your findings in written form

Timetable

The timetables are available through My Timetable.

Mode of instruction

  • Lecture (one hour per week)

  • Seminar (one hour per week)

Assessment method

Assessment

  • 2 Written exams (multiple choice, short open questions and essay questions)

  • Written assignment

Weighing

  • 2-hour midterm exam: 30%

  • 3-hour final exam: 50%

  • Written assignment: 20%

The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.

Resit

You may not resit the midterm exam or the written assignment. If your course average is below 5.5, you may do a resit exam that covers all course material. The resulting mark will replace all previous marks.

Inspection and feedback

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.

Reading list

Barber, C., Beal, J. Shaw,P. 2012. The English language: A Historical Introduction (2nd revised edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(be sure to purchase the 2nd revised edition!)

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.

General information about MyStudyMap is available on the website

Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange

Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.

Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.

For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.

Contact

  • For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.

  • For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal

Remarks

Not applicable.