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 11 |
|
|
Tutors: ·
Dr Peter Tan ·
Mrs Glenda Singh (Email: michelle<dot>glenda<at>gmail<dot>com
- replace <at> na d<dot> with the appropriate symbols |
|||
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.
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. |
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; Joan C. Beal and Philip A. Shaw
(2009), The English Language: A Historical Introduction, 2nd edn. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) [First edn (1993) is OK too]
- Crystal, David (2003), English as a Global Language, 2nd edn
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) [First edn (1997) is OK too]
Additional
Print Resources
- 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)
- McArthur, Tom (ed.) (1992), The Oxford Companion to the English
Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
- McIntyre,
Dan (2009), History of English: a resource book for students (London: Routledge)
- Pyles,
Thomas and John Algeo (1993), The Origins and Development of the English Language,
4th edn. (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
- Schneider,
Edgar S. (2011), English around the world: an introduction (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press)
- 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.
Online
Material
(Please download a few days before the lecture in case there are
updates. 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
Other
Resources
A five-part television
series entitled The Adventure of
English by Melvyn Bragg is available on youtube.
- 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)
·
History of English - Elly van
Gelderen
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 (4-iii-2013) |
15 marks |
|
Essay
(due 25-iii-2013) |
15 marks |
|
Group
Project (1-iv–12-iv-2013) |
10 marks |
|
10 marks |
|
|
Final
Exam (6-v-2013, 5–7pm) |
50 marks |
EL2211 Time-table
(links will be included when they are ready)
|
Week |
Date |
Topic |
Tutorials |
|
1 |
Monday, 14-i-2013 |
Introduction and
focus. Setting
out of assumptions for the module. The
writing system. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 50–55) |
nil |
|
2 |
Monday, 21-i-2013 |
The
grammatical system and change. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 56–59, skim through Ch. 6) |
nil |
|
3 |
Monday, 28-i-2013 |
The sound
system and change. (Skim through Graddol 2007, Ch. 5) |
|
|
4 |
Monday, 4-ii-2013 |
Vocabulary
and change. (Read Jackson & Amvela, Ch. 2) |
|
|
5 |
Monday, 11-ii-2013 |
Chinese New Year holiday |
no tutorials |
|
6 |
Monday, 18-ii-2013 |
Reasons
for change. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 61–64; 179–188; 229–232) |
|
|
– |
Mid-term break
(23-ii-2013–3-iii-2013) Film screening of Much Ado About Nothing (details to
follow) |
||
|
7 |
Monday, 4-iii-2013 |
Class test. Indo-European:
the beginnings of English. (Read Barber, The
English Language, Ch. 3) |
|
|
8 |
Monday, 11-iii-2013 |
Video: ‘The Mother
Tongue’. Old
English. (Read Graddol 2007, pp. 40–50, 74–77) |
|
|
9 |
Monday, 18-iii-2013 |
Middle
English and Early Modern English. (Read Graddol 2007 pp. 64–73) |
|
|
10 |
Monday, 25-iii-2013 |
Standardisation
and the development of academic writing. Essay due
25-iii-2013. (Go through Graddol 2007, Ch. 3) FOR SELF-STUDY: The
development of American English. Video. (Read Graddol 2007, pp.
132–148) Alternatively, watch The Adventure of English –
English in America on youtube. |
|
|
11 |
Monday, 1-iv-2013 |
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; ) |
|
|
12 |
Monday, 8-iv-2013 |
Global
English. (Read Crystal, English
as a Global Language, Ch. 4) |
|
|
13 |
Monday, 15-iv-2013 |
Overview, revision
and discussion of the examination |
|
|
|
Revision week (22–26-iv-2013) |
||
|
Exam week 1 |
--- |
|
|
|
Exam week 2 |
Monday,
6-v-2013 |
Final exam |
|
|
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. |
|
