History of the English Language

obligatory courses

Acquaintance with the basic principles of English phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics.

Classroom

Lectures in the History of the English language present the origins and the development of the language from the Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Germanic until modern times. The lectures embrace external history, i.e. the historical and social conditioning of its evolution through the ages (e.g. the Norman Conquest, the introduction of the printing press by Caxton, etc.) as well as elements of internal history and historical grammar.

The lectures give students the opportunity to understand the nature of linguistic changes and the process of shaping English against the background of historical, cultural and social events. They shed light on the structure of contemporary English, its exceptions and irregularities discussing the latter in the light of general linguistic processes.

The lectures give students the opportunity to understand the nature of linguistic changes and the process of shaping English against the background of historical, cultural and social events. They shed light on the structure of contemporary English, its exceptions and irregularities discussing the latter in the light of general linguistic processes.

Topics:

1. Proto-Indo-European language family (origins, language families, reconstructed sound system of PIE, satem-centum change; comparative method, family tree model, wave theory; cognate forms);

2. Proto-Germanic (Germanic language family – East Germanic, North Germanic, West Germanic; Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law; extant sources, language and writing);

3. Early Invasions (Roman Invasion and Anglo-Saxon Invasion);

4. Anglo-Saxons (early sources on Anglo-Saxon history; the heptarchy, Christianization, early Christian borrowings);

5. Old English language and culture (king Alfred the Great and his reform; Old English prose and poetry, alliteration; manuscripts; Viking invasions; the Benedictine reform, Ælfric, Wulfstan and the first English standard);

6. The Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings (social, linguistic and cultural changes in post-Conquest England; Peterborough Chronicles; the Bayeux Tapestry);

7. Middle English dialectal diversity (East-Midland, West Midland, Northern, Kentish, Southern; selected morpho-phonological changes; West Midland Alliterative Revival; Chancery English); ME phonological processes (Homorganic Lengthening, Trisyllabic Shortening, CC-Shortening; Open Syllable Lengthening);

8. The language of Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry;

9. The Great Vowel Shift (evidence and interpretation);

10. Introduction of the printing press; transition from manuscripts to printed books (William Caxton; incunabula; editors and their texts);

11. Renaissance English and the language of William Shakespeare;

12. Modern English (selected regional varieties)

Blake, N. F. 1996. A History of the English Language. Macmillan. (selected chapters)

Bough, A. C. and T. Cable, 2002 (6th ed.) A History of the English Language. Routledge. (selected chapters)

Fisiak, Jacek. 1993. An Outline History of English. Volume I: External History. Poznań.

Hogg, Richard, 2002. An Introduction to Old English. OUP.

Hogg, Richard, 2002. An Introduction to Middle English. Edinburgh University Press.

Pyles, Th. and J. Algeo, 2010 (6th ed.) The Origins and Development of the English Language. Wadsworth.

Wełna, J. 1996. A Brief Outline of the History of English. Warszawa: WUW.

The Cambridge history of the English language.(1992-2001) Vols. 1-6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (selected fragments)

A student is able to place in time the most important events connected with the evolution of English. S/he can perform a linguistic analysis of texts representing different stages of the history of that language on the phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic levels. S/he can identify variants of English in the worldrepresented by written texts or spoken language

Acquiring knowledge

K_W10 The student acquires the knowledge of the historical development of language, especially English, and the process of semantic change in its complexity.

K_W09 The student learns how to use research tools and research techniques of phonology, especially as they are applied in historical phonology.

Acquiring expertise

K_U01 The student acquires the expertise to use linguistic terminology in the area of English philology.

Acquiring social skills

K-K02 The student acquires the understanding of professional standards, especially the understanding of the ever changing environment in research and as well as the understanding of the importance of continuous education.

Education at language level B2+

Obligatory course for the first-level (BA) students.

Grading: final exam based on the material discussed in lectures and in practical classes; a retake exam during the retake exam session

Three absences are allowed

Non-applicable