Description

History of the English LanguageCourse No. 2250 (36 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture) Taught by Seth LererUniversity of California, San DiegoPh.D., University of ChicagoSixteen centuries ago a wave of settlers from northern Europe came to the British Isles speaking a mix of Germanic dialects thick with consonants and complex grammatical forms. Today we call that dialect Old English, the ancestor of the language nearly one in five people in the world speaks every day.How did this ancient tongue evolve into the elegant idiom of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Twain, Melville, and other great writers? What features of modern English spelling and vocabulary link it to its Old English roots? How did English grammar become so streamlined? Why did its pronunciation undergo such drastic changes? How do we even know what English sounded like in the distant past? And how does English continue to develop to the present day?The History of the English Language, 2nd Edition, is Professor Seth Lerer’s revised and updated investigation of the remarkable history of English, from the powerful prose of King Alfred in the Middle Ages to the modern-day sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr.Throughout its history, English has been an unusually mutable language, readily accepting new terms and new ways of conveying meaning. Professor Lerer brings this second edition up-to-date by including discussions of the latest changes brought about through such phenomena as hip hop, e-mail, text messaging, and the world wide web.Are you a logophile—someone who*Pauses over a word to wonder about its origin*Stops to consider if a phrase or word is “proper”*Savors a colorful idiom or slang phrase*Is concerned about the use—and abuse—of English*Is just plain curious about words?Then you will find these 36 half-hour lectures endlessly fascinating and immensely rewarding.More info and reviews at: http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=2250Course Lecture Titles1. Introduction to the Study of Language2. The Historical Study of Language3. Indo-European and the Prehistory of English4. Reconstructing Meaning and Sound5. Historical Linguistics and Studying Culture6. The Beginnings of English7. The Old English Worldview8. Did the Normans Really Conquer English?9. What Did the Normans Do to English?10. Chaucer’s English11. Dialect Representations in Middle English12. Medieval Attitudes toward Language13. The Return of English as a Standard14. The Great Vowel Shift and Modern English15. The Expanding English Vocabulary16. Early Modern English Syntax and Grammar17. Renaissance Attitudes toward Teaching English18. Shakespeare—Drama, Grammar, Pronunciation19. Shakespeare—Poetry, Sound, Sense20. The Bible in English21. Samuel Johnson and His Dictionary22. New Standards in English23. Dictionaries and Word Histories24. Values, Words, and Modernity25. The Beginnings of American English26. American Language from Webster to Mencken27. American Rhetoric from Jefferson to Lincoln28. The Language of the American Self29. American Regionalism30. American Dialects in Literature31. The Impact of African-American English32. An Anglophone World33. The Language of Science34. The Science of Language35. Linguistics and Politics in Language Study36. Conclusions and Provocations