Admission requirements
Linguistics 3B must have been successfully completed. It is strongly recommended to have passed Linguistics 4.
Description
All languages change, and all languages change all the time. In this course we examine how this happens, and why. Using the tools and methods from earlier linguistics courses, we will look at changes in meaning, word order, and sounds. Some of these changes occurred a long time ago, like Grimm’s Law and the Great Vowel Shift, while others are currently unfolding, like the sound change that is causing ‘three’ to sound like ‘free’. Our knowledge of linguistic change will give us a better insight into the history of languages, and also into why languages are the way they are. Most of the data that we will consider are drawn from English, but we will also look at changes in a variety of other languages. The subject matter of this course should be of interest to all students of English language and linguistics.
Course objectives
Students:
become acquainted with the aims of (English) historical linguistics;
become acquainted with the terminology needed in the study of (English) historical linguistics;
learn to describe different types of linguistic change;
learn to evaluate different approaches to linguistic change;
learn to apply knowledge to new linguistic data from English and other languages;
acquire a nuanced view of linguistic change (a topic which attracts interest from both linguists and laymen, and which sometimes evokes strong feelings in the latter)
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Active participation/cooperation in class
Oral presentation
Essay
Final written exam with short open questions
Weighing
Presentation and participation: 20%
Essay: 30%
Final written exam: 50%
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
If the mark for the final exam is below 5.5, the exam will have to be retaken during the resit period. If the mark for the essay is below 5.5, a resit essay will have to be submitted, with a different topic than the first essay. There is no resit for the presentations.
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
Robert McColl Millar & Larry Trask. 2015. Trask’s historical linguistics (3rd edn.). London: Routledge.
Additional reading material will be made available during the course.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment 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
None.