History of the English Language

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course examines the history and diversity of the English language. After an introduction to the methods of historical and comparative linguistics, the development of English will be chronologically surveyed. Much of the course will concentrate on specific historical topics, such as the introduction of writing, the influence of writing and printing on the standardization of English, the spread of English outside England itself, the diversity of English, contact between English and other languages, and the status of English as a world language today. Throughout the semester we will work with both empirical data and also the discovery of competing narratives for writing linguistic history.