Admission requirements
Successful completion of Philology 1, 2 and 3 or equivalent courses.
Description
Letters, journals, memoirs, presentments, wills, recipes and newspapers: these are all different text types the study of which aims to illustrate the use of English other than that commonly found in printed documents. In this course, we will read a large variety of texts to study the English as it was used during the Late Modern English period (1700–1900). We will focus on differences between these texts and printed documents, as well as from present-day Standard English. In addition, we will look at texts by men and women, as well as by people from different sociolinguistic backgrounds, including people who were practically illiterate. We will concentrate on spelling, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and style of writing, and in doing so we will make use, wherever possible, of databases that are available online. We will also analyse relevant texts with the help of the concordancing program WordSmith Tools.
Course objectives
This course builds on experience acquired during the first two years of the BA curriculum in English philology, particularly as it regards the history of the English language, but also on the linguistics courses. At the end of the course students will have a good insight into the nature and language of different text types from the Late Modern English period (1700–1900), and of their relationship with the more standard printed texts of the time. They will be able to analyse and identify the typical textual and linguistic characteristics of these text types, and apply their skills when writing a BA thesis in the field of Late (or Early) Modern English.
Timetable
The timetable will be available by June 1st on the website
NB: The first seminar will take place on Tuesday 9 September from 5.15-6.45pm in Lipsius 3.08!
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Course Load
The course load of this course is 140 hours.
hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 26 hours
time for studying the compulsory literature/preparing weekly assignments: 60 hours
time to prepare for an oral presentation and the writing of a paper (including reading/research): 15 + 40 hours
Assessment method
presentation 15%
final paper 75%
weekly contribution in class 10%
Students will have successfully passed the course if the average course mark is a 6 or higher.
If the final grade is 5 or less students may only resit the insufficient course component(s). Students may not resit the weekly contribution in class (10%).
Attendance is compulsory. Unauthorized absence will mean that you cannot take part in the relevant exam(s).
Blackboard
There will be a Blackboard module for the course where the weekly programme and other relevant information can be found. Students will be expected to post weekly comments and/or questions on the basis of their reading.
Reading list
Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (2009), An Introduction to Late Modern English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Additional reading material (texts and background reading), available through Blackboard or in one of the reading rooms of the University Library.
Students are expected to have a copy of the book from week 1 onwards, since it will be used for the weekly reading.
Registration
Enrollement trough uSis is mandatory. If you have any questions, please contact the departmental office, tel. 071 5272144 or mail: english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact details
English Language and Culture student administration, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; english@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Coordinator of studies: Ms T.D. Obbens, MA, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 103C.
Remarks
Please note that ordering books published abroad through bol.com may take longer than expected.