An Introduction to the History of English - Einzelansicht

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This lecture acquaints students with the main historical periods of the English language, theoretical and methodological approaches in studying the corresponding varieties of English, and factors that turned it into a world language. The course outline is topic-oriented rather than chronological and consists of five parts. In the first part, a broad socio-historical overview is given, in which major historical events, developmental patterns as well as changes in the social roles of the language are discussed. In the second part, problems, causes, and mechanisms of language change are addressed, and a cognitive-linguistic take on these issues introduced. The third part covers specific kinds of linguistic changes (grammatical, phonological, lexical, and semantic) that have taken place in the history of English in more detail. In the fourth part, students are introduced to historical and diachronic computer corpora of English and basic methods and principles of corpus research. The fifth part widens the scope again by providing a short overview of the spread of English around the world. Note: For students of `B2 Anglistik und Amerikanistik 2008`, `BL Englisch 2008`, and `B2 Anglistik und Amerikanistik 2011` this course is part of the `Grundmodul`. For students of `BL Englisch 2013` and B2 Anglistik und Amerikanistik 2015 this course is part of the `Aufbaumodul 1 - Entwicklung und Variation der englischen Sprache`.

Bitte beachten: Die erste Sitzung findet am 26.04. statt.