DESCRIPTION

ASSESSMENT

READINGS

TIME-TABLE

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Peter Tan	Office: AS5/0604		EL2211
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: Mon 12.00–2.00		Lecture Venue: Lecture Theatre 12
Tutors: · Dr Peter Tan · Mrs Glenda Singh (Email: rohnali<at>singnet.com.sg - replace <at> with the appropriate symbol)		Tutorial group details (click here)

A discussion forum as well as self-assessment is available at the IVLE site for EL2211

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.

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Description

Have you ever wondered why some of the basic words in various European languages seem so similar? 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

• David Graddol, Dick Leith, Joan Swann, Martin Rhys and Julia Gillen (eds), Changing English (London: Open University/Routledge, 2007). Students can also consult the earlier version of this book: David Graddol, Dick Leith and Joan Swann, English: History, Diversity and Change (London: Open University/Routledge, 1996)

Other Prescribed Readings

• Barber, Charles (1993), The English Language: A Historical Introduction, 2nd edn. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

• Crystal, David (2003), English as a Global Language, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) [First edn (1997) is OK too]

• Jackson, Howard and Etienne Zé Amvela (2000), Words, Meaning and Vocabulary (London: Cassell)

Additional Print Resources

• Aitchison, Jean (2001), Language Change: Progress or Decay?, 3rd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

• Andersson, Lars-Gunnar and Peter Trudgill (1990), Bad Language (Penguin: Harmondsworth)
• Crystal, David (1995), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

• Culpeper, Jonathan (1997), History of English (London: Routledge)
• Fennell, Barbara A (2001), A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach (Oxford: Blackwell)

• Gopinathan, S et al. (eds.) (1998), Language, Society and Education in Singapore (Singapore: Times Academic)
• Gupta, Anthea Fraser (1994), The Step-tongue (London: Multilingual)

• Leith, Dick (1997), A Social History of English, 2nd edn (London: Routledge)

• McArthur, Tom (1998), The English Languages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

• McArthur, Tom (ed.) (1992), The Oxford Companion to the English Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

• Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo (1993), The Origins and Development of the English Language, 4th edn. (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
• Stockwell, Robert and Donka Minkova (2001), English words: history and structure (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
• Watts, Richard and Peter Trudgill (2001), Alternative histories of English (London: Routledge)

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

(The links will be uploaded when they are ready. Please see download requirements)

• The Writing System
• Grammar
• Phonology
• Vocabulary
• Reasons for change
• Genealogical classification
• The Old English period
• The Middle and Modern English period
• Standardisation and the development of academic writing
• The development of American English
• The rise of the non-Anglo Englishes
• Global English

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Other Resources

• Oxford English Dictionary, online (for NUS networked computers or if you use NUS dial-up; click on ‘Enter OED Online’)
• Online dictionary site, dictionary.com (which takes entries from, among others, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Webster’s Dictionary)
• Online English Grammar
• Internet English Grammar
• Essay Writing Guide for English Language (includes information about citation)
• Lecturer-student contract
• NUS Library Catalogue (LINC)
• ‘HEL’ (History of the English Language) WWW Home Page: http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/hel/hel.html
• Other interesting links

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Assessment

The final mark achieved in this module is based on the Continuous Assessment (50%) and Final Exam (50%). The breakdown is in the table. (Click on the items for further details.)

Class Test (1/3/10)	15 marks
Essay (due 17/3/10)	15 marks
Group Project (29/3–9/4/10)	10 marks
Tutorial attendance and participation	10 marks
Final Exam (27/4/10, 5–7pm)	50 marks

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EL2211 Time-table (links will be included when they are ready)

Week	Date	Topic	Tutorials
1	Monday, 11/1/10	Introduction and focus. Setting out of assumptions for the module. The writing system. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 50–55)	nil
2	Monday, 18/1/10	The grammatical system and change. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 56–59, skim through Ch. 6)	nil
3	Monday, 25/1/10	The sound system and change. (Skim through Graddol 2007, Ch. 5)	1 Spelling and Grammar
4	Monday, 1/2/10	Vocabulary and change. (Read Jackson & Amvela, Ch. 2)	2 Phonology
5	Monday, 8/2/10	Indo-European: the beginnings of English. Video: ‘The Mother Tongue’. (Read Barber, The English Language, Ch. 3)	3 Vocabulary
–	Mid-term break (13/2/10–21/3/10) Film screening of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (time and venue to be finalised)
6	Monday, 22/2/10	Reasons for change. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 61–64; 179–188; 229–232) PROPOSED E-LEARNING WEEK: Watch this space!
7	Monday, 1/3/10	Class test. Old English. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 40–50, 74–77)	4 Reasons for change
8	Monday, 8/3/10	Middle English and Early Modern English. (Read Graddol 2007 pp. 64–73)	5 The Beginnings
9	Monday, 15/3/10	Standardisation and the development of academic writing. Essay due 17/3/10. (Go through Graddol 2007, Ch. 3)	6 External and internal history
10	Monday, 22/3/10	The development of American English. Video. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 132–148)	7 Standardisation
11	Monday, 29/3/10	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, 5/4/10	Global English. (Read Crystal, English as a Global Language, Ch. 4)	9 Presentations II
13	Monday, 12/4/10	Overview, revision and discussion of the examination	10 Non-Anglo Englishes
	Revision week (20–24/4/09)
Exam week 1	Tuesday, 27/4/10, 5–7 pm	Final exam
Exam week 2

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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.
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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