Welcome to HEL, also known as
English 403: The History of the English Language
jump to the syllabus
Course description
An examination of the history of the English language from its beginnings to the present, this course will treat in detail, and with equal emphasis, the English of the middle ages, the Renaissance, and the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as the English used in the Americas and elsewhere in the world today. Our focus will be on language in its social context, and so we will develop a picture of English as it functions in the real world of people communicating: speaking, writing, reading, and using language as a social, political, literary and economic instrument. We will consider as well what happens when when languages come into contact, both more violently, in terms of wars and colonial conquests, and more peacefully, in terms of trade, globalization, cultural exchange, tourism, and the Internet.
We will concentrate on relationships between language and literature; dialect and the process of language standardization; the social implications of linguistic variety; and the nature of World Englishes. We will also study new word formation, the impact of technology on language, and the attempts, over the past four centuries, to reform English spelling, grammar, and usage.
This course should be of particular value to students of language and literature who seek a greater understanding of the linguistic forces at play in the texts they study, and to prospective teachers hoping to show their students that language is a living, ever-changing, user-friendly part of their lives. No previous background in language study is necessary, although such experience will not be held against you.
Requirements: There will be a short language history exercise, a mid-term exercise, a final exam, and a "language in the news" presentation. In addition, there will be an 8-10 page term paper/critical research project on a topic to be chosen by you and approved by me.
For the "language in the news" report, a daily feature of the class, each presenter/group is allotted no more than 10 minutes at the start of class to summarize a current issue related to what we're studying this semester, and lead a short discussion on their topic. Good resources for finding information are Lexis/Nexis (available through the university library site), electronic editions of various newspapers and journals, the web sites of the major news stations (CBS News, CNN, NBC News, the BBC, and so on), GoogleNews, Yahoo! news, and sites like YouTube (read the Web of Language to get some ideas, but don't report on Web of Language news items -- instead, I want you to find your own). You will be graded on class participation as well.
Attendance policy: Attendance is required -- much of the learning that takes place in this class occurs in class sessions, and your active participation in the discussions is vital. Excessive absence may adversely affect not just your participation grade, but also your overall grade in the course. More than three unexcused absences will result in a lowered grade.
Grading: Your grade will be based on the following weighted average --
Language History exercise 10%
Midterm Quiz: 20%
Language in the news presentation: 10%
Class participation: 10%
Final exam: 25%
Final project/term paper: 25%
Textbook: Jan Svartvik and Geoffrey Leech, English: One tongue, many voices. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Paperwork reducation notice: This will be pretty much an all-electronic course. All handouts and supplemental readings will be available at the class website: http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron403. Any of the readings that are not in the textbook, and all supplementary powerpoints, are online, accessible either from this syllabus or from the class homepage.
Read the Web of Language: a good place to start for language in the news.
Weekly schedule of topics, readings and assignments
Week 1 - Introduction to the course:
Weds Jan 21 • What is language? Why does it change? Is it changing now?
If you were the boss of English, what would you change?
Assignment: Language history and your language historiography. Due Feb. 2 (Submit your essay by email – debaron@illinois.edu -- before the start of class on Monday, 2/2)
Week 2 English -- the early years
Mon Jan 26 Yola! The changing English language – from its prehistory to the present
Read S&L 1: English -- the working tongue of the global village
Yo: A new pronoun? Read: A new gender-neutral pronoun in Baltimore
also read about another school's take on linguistic assimilation: Court rules "talking while Spanish" grounds for expulsion
Wed Jan 28 Must language change? How do we feel about that?
Read: Better Speech Week Pledge for Children (1918)
Week 3 Early history of the individual and the language
Mon Feb 2 Essay on your language historiography due by email before class today (or hard copy due at the start of class)
a discussion of your findings.
How complete and how reliable are the sources, documents, memories of your language history?
How complete and how reliable are the sources, documents, and memories of the history of English?
Weds Feb 4 The early history of English
Read S&L 2: The first 500 years
The two histories of English: standard and real.
The Pre-history of English. View the slides here.
A brief history of writing. (view the Powerpoint presentation here)
Week 4 Old English
Mon Feb 9: the first 500 years, continued (they took 500 years to happen, we can spend two days on them!)
Some characteristics of Old English (view the Powerpoint here)
Weds Feb 11 Old English No language is a pure language
Polonius told Hamlet, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." But he was wrong. Why do we borrow words?
Reading Old English prose and poetry:
Apollonius
Week 5 Old English
Mon Feb 16 Reading Old English
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: The Coming of the Angles
Language in the news: Jon Cragoe
Wed Feb 18 Reading OE
Caedmon's Hymn and 2 Old English Riddles
Selection from Beowulf
Language in the news: Kristin Lavelle, Michael Folsom
Week 6 Middle English
Mon Feb 23 the beginnings of ME
Read S&L 3: 1066 and all that –
When does Middle English start?
Why is it so much more familiar?
A Middle English chronology
The structure of Middle English (link to the online materials)
Reading Middle English: The Death of King Arthur
Language in the news: Michael Schwartz, Adam Halatek
Weds Feb 25 The relative status of English and French in the Middle English period
Reading ME: The Canterbury Tales
Language in the news: Lisa Schraub, Kimberly Pfeifer
Week 7 Middle English
Mon March 2 ME
Reading ME: the Paston Letters ME workshop
Language in the news: Gretchen Shaw, Rachel Smith
Wed Mar 4 Readings comparing OE, ME, and Early Modern English:
The Lord’s Prayer
The Prodigal Son
Language in the news: Kelsey Mapes, Gina Warner
Week 8 Recapping and Assessing Old and Middle English
Mon Mar 9: Review for the midterm (link to the study guide)
Weds Mar 11: Midterm Exam
Week 9 Early Modern English
Mon Mar 16
Read S&L 4 Modern English in the Making
Early Modern English: The Great Vowel Shift
features of EMnE grammar and vocabulary
Reading Early Modern English: Shakespeare
Language in the news: Tiffanie Bui, Doug Greene
Wed Mar 18 Early Modern English:
Sidney on the double negative
Prescriptive rules in EMnE
Language in the news: Rachel Ramsey, Ellen Goleas
- - Spring Break --
Week 10: Standardizing English
Mon Mar 30 The age of dictionaries
Cawdrey, Johnson, Inkhorn terms, Webster's spelling, Webster's definitions
Term paper explained and assigned. Due Mon, May 4, by email, before start of class
Language in the news: Tim Polacek, Brittany Johnson
Weds Apr 1 (no kidding) Language standardization in EMnE: Where do the rules come from?
Stuff white people like: grammar
Your usage panel
Language in the news: Jennifer Roemer, Shelby Milton
Week 11 English exported
Mon Apr 6 Read S&L 5: English goes to the New World
Language in the news: Janie Sullivan, Michelle Yoo
Wed Apr 8 Read S&L 6, English Transported
Language in the news: Natalie Schawel, Katie Konkoleski
Week 12: Separated by a common language
Mon Apr 13 Read S&L 8: American and British English
Language in the news: Nichol Chontofalsky, Veronica Montes
Wed Apr 15 Read S&L 9: From Caribbean English to Creole
Week 13 English Today
Mon Apr 20 Read S&L 10: The standard language today: myth or reality?
Language in the news: Grant Dawson, Steve Seo
Wed Apr 22 Read S&L 11: Linguistic change in progress
Language in the news: Glenn Beckwith, Mark Koll
Week 14 English Today
Mon Apr 27 AAVE, Black English, or Ebonics.
Read: What happened in Oakland? (on the web)
Language in the news: Melissa Jackson, Emily Contugno
Wed Apr 29 Minority languages in the US.
Read: English spoken here? What the 2000 Census tells us about language in the USA (on the web)
Language in the news: Shauntel Reed, Adam Boczar
Week 15 English today
Mon May 4 Term paper due by email before start of class today.
Laws and language • Making English Official?
Read: Official English from the school house to the White House
Read: The Babel Proclamation (1918)
Wed May 6: English into the future
Read S&L 12: English into the future
review for final
final exam study guide
FINAL EXAM 8:00–11:00 AM, Thursday, May 14, in our classroom, 108 English
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