History of English

Course Description

The aim of the Course is to help the students gain a deeper understanding of Modern English in its linguistic cultural-historical diachronic perspective.

The course is aimed at investigating how Modern English can be traced back to the heritage of its earlier developments of which it is a dynamic result. We shall deal with both the particular historical periods of English and their current linguistic presence or modifications.  Based on studying texts and theoretical and cultural-historical materials, the students should gain a clarifying view of numerous phenomena in the contemporary linguistic systems and the related dynamic reasons, and be able to answer a variety of questions concerning both deep-rooted phenomena in English and the later developments, including irregularities or synchronically non-transparent but earlier systemic phenomena. They will also get familiarized with Old English and Middle English texts in their original wording, and will compare them with their Modern English translations, analyzing them from linguistic as well as wider philological perspectives.

Course Requirements and Evaluation

Attendance at the seminars, including arriving on time, is required and indispensable for successful completion of the course. In case of serious reasons preventing the attendance, the teacher should be notified in advance by mail, while only a maximum of two absences are admitted.

Preparation for each seminar and active participation in it is essential. Non-compliance with this may result in a lower grade or count as absence.

Any other policies, i.e. academic honesty, the need for mutual communication if the student has any problems concerning course work, preparation of assignments, etc., will be specified at the first seminar.

For each seminar the students are required to do all the assignments, i.e. study the historical texts, study the assigned theoretical materials from the list of Reading Materials, and participate in discussions. In addition, each student will prepare a 10-minute presentation  highlighting a selected linguistic phenomenon in Modern English from the diachronic perspective.

The evaluation will be based on:

• Continuous work in seminars (assignments, text translation and analysis) 50 %
• Individual presentation 10 % (linguistic research 4, presentation skills 3, level of English 3)
• Final written test 40 %

 Taking into account active attendance and the final test results the grading will be as follows:

 Schedule of Lectures, Readings & Other Materials for the Seminars and Bibliography of Literature for the History of English