Have you ever wondered why English has different words for what seems to be the same concept: 'kingly' – 'royal' – 'regal'; 'climb' – 'ascend'? Have you ever been puzzled by the fact that some nouns form the plural by changing the form of their stem ('mouse' – 'mice'), why 'better' and 'best' are comparative and superlative forms of ‘good’ and why French and Latin words abound in the English lexicon? English has a long history marked by changes at different levels of linguistic organisation that all languages undergo in the course of their history as well as by contact with other languages which have left their imprint on the organisation of the language.
In this course, we are going to follow the path the English language has taken in its development since Anglo-Saxon times. We are going to look at the characteristics of the different stages in the development of the language and the factors that have led to changes in the organisation of the language. We are also going to be studying the development of different registers and genres in English writing, especially in the news and the sciences. We are also going to look into methods and theories of studying and modelling historical language change on the basis of historical corpus data.
Textbook:
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Elly van Gelderen, A History of the English Language (Amsterdam, 2006).
A very comprehensive series which must be consulted for all presentations is:
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Richard Hogg, ed., The Cambridge History of the English Language, 6 vols. (Cambridge, 1992-2001).
Recommended further reading:
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Charles Barber, Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw, The English Language: a Historical Introduction, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 2009).
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Albert C. Baugh and Thomas Cable, A History of the English Language, 5th ed. (London and New York, 2002).
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Celia M. Millward and Mary Hayes, A Biography of the English Language, 3rd ed. (Boston, MA, 2011).
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