Description

ASSESSMENT

Readings

TIME-TABLE

 

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Peter Tan

Office: AS5/0604

EL2111

Email:

PeterTan<at>nus.edu.sg (Replace <at> with the appropriate symbol.)

Office Hours:

by appointment

Historical Variation in English

Telephone:

+65 6516 6038

Lecture slot:

Monday 10.00–12.00noon

Lecture Venue:

LT9

Tutors:

·      Dr Peter Tan

·      Ms Liu Ya

Tutorial group details (click here)

 


A discussion forum as well as self-assessment is available at Canvas site

 

This syllabus is located online at:
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/history

It will be constantly updated, so please keep don’t download material too early.


Description

Have you ever wondered why some of the basic words in various European languages seem so similar (Welcome, Willkommen, Welkom)? Or why it is that doctors and botanists use so many words that are derived from Latin? Or why some words associated with the law are based on French borrowings (‘treason’, ‘judge’, ‘court’)? Or why the French themselves use English borrowings like ‘le weekend’ or ‘le parking’, like how Malay speakers might use ‘lesen’ (licence) or ‘tiket’ (ticket)? Why did Shakespeare and Chaucer use thou and thee and why don’t we today? Why are there these strange inconsistencies in English, where -ough can be pronounced so many ways (‘bough’, ‘cough’, ‘tough’, ‘though’, ‘thorough’, ‘through’)?

          The answers to these and other questions lie in where English comes from. Before the time of Shakespeare, it was pretty well confined to the few million speakers in Britain; today it is the world’s preferred language.

 

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Readings

 

Main Text

Other Prescribed Readings

 

Additional Print Resources

 

 

If you have a fascination with Old English and want to try learning it, look up Stephen Pollington (1997), First Steps in Old English (Norfolk: Anglo-Saxon). Or if your fascination is with Latin, there are some interesting sites: click here to view them.

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Online Material

(Please download a few days before the lecture in case there are updates. Please see download requirements)

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Other Resources

 

·       The History of English website by Luke Mastin

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Assessment

The final mark achieved in this module is based on the Continuous Assessment (60%) and a Take-Home Exam (40%). The breakdown is in the table. (Click on the items for further details.)

Class Test (27-ii-2023)

20 marks

Essay (due Tues, 21-iii-2023)

20 marks

Group Project (27.iii–7-iv-2023)

10 marks

Tutorial attendance and participation

10 marks

Final Exam (3-v-2023, 1–3pm)

40 marks

 

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EL2111 Time-table (links will be included when they are ready)

Schedule

Week

Date

Topic

Tutorials

1

Monday,
9-i-2023

Introduction and focus.
Setting out of assumptions for the module. The writing system.
(Read 
Graddol 2007, pp. 50–55)

nil

2

Monday,
16-i-2023

The grammatical system and change. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 56–59, skim through Ch. 6)

nil

3

Monday,  
23-i-2023

No lecture: holiday for Chinese New Year

No tutorial: CNY

4

Monday,  
30-i-2023

The sound system and change. (Skim through Graddol 2007, Ch. 5)

1 Spelling and Grammar

5

Monday,
6-ii-2023

Vocabulary and change. (Read Jackson & Amvela, Ch. 2)

2 Phonology

6

Monday,
13-ii-2023

Reasons for change. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 61–64; 179–188; 229–232)

3 Vocabulary

Mid-term break (18-ii-2023–26-ii-2023)

7

Monday,
27-ii-2023

Class test. Indo-European: the beginnings of English. (Read Barber, The English Language, Ch. 3)

4 Reasons for change

8

Monday,
6-iii-2023

Video: ‘The Mother Tongue’.
Old English(Read Graddol 2007, pp. 40–50, 74–77)

5 The Beginnings

9

Monday,
13-iii-2023

Middle English and Early Modern English. (Read Graddol 2007 pp. 64–73) 

6 External and internal history

10

Monday,
20-iii-2023

Standardisation and the development of academic writing(Go through Graddol 2007, Ch. 3)

Essay due Tuesday, 21-iii-2023. Topic skipped:
The development of American English. Video. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 133–148) Alternatively, watch The Adventure of English – English in America on youtube.

7 Standardisation

11

Monday,
27-iii-2023

The rise of the non-Anglo Englishes (Read Crystal, English as a Global Language, Ch. 2; skim through Graddol 2007, Ch. 1; pp. 222–223; 149–152)

8 Presentations I

12

Monday,  
3-iv-2023

Global English. (Read Crystal, English as a Global Language, Ch. 4)

9 Presentations II*

13

Monday,  
10-iv-2023

Overview, revision and discussion of the examination*

10 Non-Anglo Englishes

 

Revision week (19–23-iv-2023)

Exam week 1

Exam week 2

Exam: 3-v-2023, 1–3pm

 

*The lecture on 10th April will be for one hour. The second hour will be the make-up for the tutorial group affected by Well-being holiday (Thursday, 6th April).

 

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Download requirements                                                                         

 

Some of the notes are in PDF format. You need the Adobe Reader to view these files. If you haven’t got it, please download it by clicking on the icon on the right.

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Sometimes I will use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). The font that I use is Times New Roman Phonetic. If you haven’t got the font in your system, you will encounter problems in displaying the characters. You can download this font by clicking on the icon on the right.

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