Language change in Present-Day English - Einzelansicht

Please note that certain prerequisites (stated below) need to be fulfilled to take this course!

Note further: Due to the federal government's and the university administration's measures against the Corona/COVID-19 pandemic, this course will take place online in a predominantly asynchronous format. Coursework will therefore largely have to be done independently and in written form. Please understand that, in order to still ensure the provision of at least a minimally sufficient amount of mentoring, feedback and supervision, only a limited number of participants can be admitted.

Grammar books and dictionaries describe the inventory of words and syntactic patterns that exist at a certain point in time in a given language. However, languages inevitably change over time, and so earlier descriptions may become obsolete. The important point to realize about language change is that it is observable both over the course of hundreds of years but also as it is happening in Present-Day English (PDE). This course focuses on recent and currently ongoing changes of grammatical patterns observable in the everyday language use of native speakers of English. We will examine the development of a range of lexico-syntactic patterns in Present-Day English and discuss the possible motivations underlying these ongoing changes as well as their implications for language learning and teaching.

This course requires that participants have regular, independent access to a personal computer with an internet connection and some basic technical skills.

It also requires basic knowledge concerning mechanisms and factors governing language change as well as a sound command of basic linguistic terms and concepts. Specifically, this course will build on contents taught in Introduction to Synchronic Linguistics Pt. 1 & 2 (BMLin) as well as the lecture An Introduction to the History of English (ALin1).

To obtain credits for this course, students are required to engage in a small scale research project whose progress they document via regular active contributions to the course and whose results they publish in a final written report. They will also be expected to discuss and provide feedback for others’ projects.