User:Joachim Grzega/AHEL

An Introduction to Applied Historical English Linguistics

= Goals of the Course =

The goal of this course is to provide learners with skills that allow them to answer questions on “irregular” forms and “strange” phenomena of present-day English with historical linguistic knowledge. Learners shall acquire knowledge of the basic developments in English language history and shall get a primary insight into the literature of earlier periods of English. This wikicourse book tries to use already existing Wikimedia material as far as possible.

= Structure of the Course =

Each lesson, or chapter, first presents the core knowledge for the corresponding topic. Key-terms will occur in boldprint. In a second section, the learners are encouraged to think about a number of questions. The questions can be discussed on the talk page.

The single lessons are:
 * 1) General Introduction
 * 2) Phonology and Spelling
 * 3) Morphology and Syntax: Nouns and Adjectives
 * 4) Morphology and Syntax: Pronouns
 * 5) Morphology: Verbal System
 * 6) Syntax
 * 7) Lexicology: Creating New Words
 * 8) Lexicology: Re-Applying Old Words
 * 9) Pragmatics and Text Linguistics
 * 10) Dialects and Sociohistorical Linguistics
 * 11) Medieval and Early Modern Literature

= Credit for the Course (Portfolio) =

In contrast to prior courses I've held, crediting will this time be based on a portfolio. You can decide whether you want to get 6 cr. (Übungsschein), 10 cr. (Proseminarschein) or 15 cr. (Hauptseminarschein). Apart from the two compulsory elements, the choice of assignments is up to you. The completion of the portfolio will be due on 15 March 2008 (but single elements can, of course, be handed in earlier).

(Grading [6-grade system]: Ü 6-5/4/3/2/1/0, PS 10-9/8-7/6-5/4-3/2-1/0, HS 15-13/12-10/9-7/6-4/3-1/0)
 * compulsory: I’ve led one session of the course in a team: I’ve delved into one sub-branch of English historical linguistics, conveyed the core knowledge in class and answered questions of class participants. (2 cr.)
 * compulsory: learning biography: (1) I’ve written a list of target(-competence)s that I’ve set myself at the beginning of this class, given reasons for these target(-competence)s; (2) at the end of this class I have noted down which of these I have realized and self-evaluated the overall quality of my learning progress based on the corrections of the instructor. (1 cr.)
 * I’ve handed in the preparatory work for four sessions (a written copy has to be handed in before the class starts). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve drawn a 2-page table of the most important phonetic developments with examples of my choice (to be used for exam prep later). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve drawn a 2-page table of the most important developments of nominal inflections with examples of my choice (to be used for exam prep later). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve drawn a 2-page table of the most important developments of verbal inflections with examples of my choice (to be used for exam prep later). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve drawn a 2-page table of the most important loanword layers with examples of my choice (to be used for exam prep later). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve composed index cards showing the development of 7 frequent verbs (to be used for exam prep later; a list with possible items will be handed out in class). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve composed index cards showing the development of the designations of 5 concepts (to be used for exam prep later; a list with possible items will be handed out in class). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve composed index cards showing the development of the semantic development of 7 words (to be used for exam prep later; possible items will be given in class). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve composed a bibliography on a diachronic topic of my choice (I’ve also given a reason for my choice). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve selected an Old English text (from the Anglo-Saxon reader) of about 30 lines and translated it literally (I’ve also given a reason for my choice). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve selected Middle English text (from Chaucer’s works) of about 50 lines and translated it literally (I’ve also given a reason for my choice). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve summarized (as an abstract) an article from the field of historical English linguistics which appeared in an academic journal (no longer than 30 lines) (I’ve also given a reason for my choice). (1 cr.)
 * I’ve written a review of about 3 pages on a monograph of my choice from the field of historical English linguistics (I’ve also given a reason for my choice). (2 cr.)
 * I’ve written a 5-page academic essay on a diachronic question of my choice. (2 cr.)
 * I’ve contrasted the phonetic, morphological or lexical variants from three varieties of English (standard or non-standard) for one linguistic variable and explained them historically (1 p.).
 * I’ve written three popular linguistic contributions of about 15 lines on a layperson’s diachronic question. (1 cr.)
 * I’ve contributed at least 15 lines to an already existing or new Wikipedia article from the field of historical English linguistics. (1 p.)

= Recommended Literature =

Among the printed literature, learners may want to consult the following books:
 * Baugh, Albert C. / Cable, Thomas (1978), A History of the English Language, 3rd ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
 * Denison, David (1993), English Historical Syntax: Verbal Constructions, London et al.: Longman.
 * Görlach, Manfred (1997), The Linguistic History of English, Basingstoke: Macmillan. (important is the collection of synoptic Bible texts)
 * Hogg, Richard M. (ed.) (1992-2002), The Cambridge History of the English Language, 6 vols., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 * Jucker, Andreas H. (2000), History of English and English Historical Linguistics, Stuttgart: Klett.
 * Mitchell, Bruce (1995), An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford: Blackwell.
 * Mitchell, Bruce / Robinson, Fred C. (1994), A Guide to Old English, revised ed. with texts and glossary, Oxford: Blackwell.
 * Nielsen, Hans Frede (1998), The Continental Backgrounds of English and Its Insular Development until 1154, [North-Western Language Evolution Supplement 19], Odense: Odense University Press.
 * Scragg, D. G. (1974), A History of English Spelling, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Good introductions in other languages are:
 * Brunner, Karl (1960-1962), Die englische Sprache, 2 vols., 2., rev. ed., Tübingen: Niemeyer.
 * Fichte, Joerg O. / Kemmler, Fritz (1994), Alt- und Mittelenglische Literatur: Eine Einführung, 2., compl. rev. ed.., [Literaturwissenschaft im Grundstudium 6], Tübingen: Narr.
 * Obst, Wolfgang / Schleburg, Florian (1999), Die Sprache Chaucers: Ein Lehrbuch des Mittelenglischen auf der Grundlage von Troilus and Criseyde, Heidelberg: Winter.
 * Obst, Wolfgang / Schleburg, Florian (2004), Lehrbuch des Altenglischen, Heidelberg: Winter.

Important text collections:
 * Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, ed. by the Humanities Texts Initiative.
 * The Riverside Chaucer (1987), ed. by Larry D. Benson, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 * Sweet’s Anglo-Saxon Reader in Prose and Verse (1967), revised throughout by Dorothy Whitelock, Oxford: Clarendon.

Important dictionaries and linguistic atlasses:
 * BoTo = Bosworth, Joseph & Toller, Thomas Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, repr. and enlarged ed., London: Oxford University Press; (1921), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary—Supplement, London: Oxford University Press.
 * EDD = Wright, Joseph (1898-1905), The English Dialect Dictionary: Complete Vocabulary of All Dialect Words Still in Use, or Known to Have Been in Use During the Last Two-Hundred Years, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 * MED = Kurath, Hans et al. (1956-2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor (Michigan): University of Michigan Press. [available as part of the Middle English Compendium online
 * OEC = DiPaolo Healey, Antonette (ed.) (2000), Dictionary of Old English – Old English Corpus. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
 * OED = Murray, James A. H. et al. (1928ff), The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 * SED = Orton, Harold & Dieth, Eugen (1964-1971), Survey of English Dialects, Leeds: Arnold.
 * TOE = Roberts, Jane et al. (1995), A Thesaurus of Old English [King’s College London medieval studies 11], London: King’s College London, Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies.

Etymological dictionaries:
 * Klein = Klein, Ernest (1966/1967), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language Amsterdam: Elsevier.
 * ODEE = Onions, C. T. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, with the assistance of G. W. S. Friedrichsen and R. W. Burchfield, Oxford: Clarendon.
 * OED = Murray, James A. H. et al. (1928ff), The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 * Terasawa, Yoshio (1998), The Kenkyusha Dictionary of English Etymology, Tokyo: Kenkyusha.

There are also some useful internet links


 * the Wikipedia article Old English
 * the Wikipedia article English
 * the Wikipedia article Early Modern English
 * the Online Etymology Dictionary

=Lessons=

Core Knowledge
English language history is normally divided into the following periods:
 * 450 (449) – 1100 (1066) Old English (Anglo-Saxon): the language of Beowulf
 * 1100 (1066) – 1500 (1476/1492) Middle English: the language of Chaucer
 * 1500 (1476/1492) – 1700 (1776) Early Modern English: the language of Shakespeare
 * 1700 (1776) – present Modern English

Read the following Wikipedia articles:
 * English language
 * History of the English Language
 * Language Change

Make yourself familiar with the books listed in the bibliography and think for what kind of questions (phonetic, morphological, syntactic, lexical, pragmatic) each single work might especially be helpful in later sessions.

You may want to start reading some short Bible passages in a synoptic way to get accustomed to older stages of the English language (cf. also the remarks in the last lesson).

Questions

 * What criteria is the periodization of English language history based on?
 * What is meant by the following terms: Norman Conquest, West Saxon, Anglo-Saxons?

Core Knowledge
Read the following Wikipedia articles:
 * History of the English Language
 * Great Vowel Shift
 * History of the English Spelling System

Make yourself particularly familiar with the following notions (you may need to consult books from the list of recommended literature beyond the Wikipedia articles): the ME sound system (roughly), the development of OE /y/, the elements of the Great Vowel Shift, the developments of ME /u/, vowels before /r/, OE and ME voice opposition in fricatives, the developments of ME /x/, /k-/, /g-/ and stress; the OE sound system (roughly), the developments of OE /a:/ and diphthongs, quantitative changes from OE to ME, the developments of OE geminates, i-umlaut, Grimm's law

Questions

 * How can the discrepancy between ModE spelling and pronunciation be explained?
 * How do you explain in the homophonies of write:right, wear:where? How do you explain the homographies in (vb.:adj.), (sb.:vb.), and (sb.:vb.)?
 * What are the differences between BrE and AmE pronunciation and how do you explain them: forehead, gooseberry, dance, clerk?
 * How do you explain the discrepancy between and [ˈbɪzi]?
 * How do you explain the phonetic history of o’clock, gospel, woman, lord, lady, daisy?
 * What is Grimm's law? Why is this phenomenon called a law? What does it have to do with Grimm Brothers?
 * How do you explain the use of the apostrophe with the possessive marker (e.g. Uncle Tom’s Cabin).

Core Knowledge
Read the respective sections of the Wikipedia articles:
 * Old English Morphology
 * Middle English

Make yourself particularly familiar with the following notions (you may need to consult books from the list of recommended literature beyond the Wikipedia articles): a-stems (in detail), ō-stems, root nouns, n-stems, further development of OE declension classes, further development of plural formations, further development of the OE possessive case, further development of grammatical gender, OE strong and weak adjective patterns and their further developments, OE gradation patterns of adjectives and their further development

Questions

 * How do you explain the following irregular plural forms: feet, women, oxen, dice, children, wives?
 * How do you explain the existence of the following double plural forms: brothers~brethren, mice~mouses, appendices~appendixes, referendums~referenda, fish~fishes, hoofs~hooves
 * We can sometimes read: “America and her 50 states”, “The Titanic—she is the most known ship world-wide.” Moreover, in British and American dialects we find many more instances of he and she with reference to inanimate objects.
 * Explain how we got the choice between I gave my dad this book and I gave this book to my dad.
 * Explain how we got the choice between my dad’s book and the book of my dad.
 * Explain how we got the choice between happier and more happy.
 * Adverbs are regularly formed with -ly. But how did we get the difference between he is a a hard-working man vs. he is a hardly working man?

Core Knowledge
Read the respective sections of the Wikipedia articles:
 * Old English Morphology
 * Middle English

Make yourself particularly familiar with the following notions (you may need to consult books from the list of recommended literature beyond the Wikipedia articles): personal pronouns of the 2nd sg. vs. 2nd pl., 3rd pl., 3rd sg. fem., 3rd sg. neut.; this/that/these/those, a(n)/the

Questions

 * Explain why there is only one form you for both one addressee and more than one addressee.
 * Comment on the bold-printed parts of the following Bible quotation (AV): “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted” (Mt 5.13)
 * Comment on the bold-printed parts of the following Bible quotations (AV): “Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?”
 * Comment on the bold-printed parts of the following Bible quotation (AV): “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my [in some editions also: mine] head with oil; my cup runneth over” (Ps 23.5).
 * Where does the form ’em as often found in written reflections of colloquial speech come from?
 * Explain how we got the choice between a and an.
 * Explain how we got the choice between Everybody has his rights ~ Everybody has one’s rights ~ Everybody has their rights.

Core Knowledge
Read the respective sections of the Wikipedia articles:
 * Old English Morphology
 * Middle English

Make yourself particularly familiar with the following notions (you may need to consult books from the list of recommended literature beyond the Wikipedia articles): strong verb system (classes I, III, IV, V in detail), weak verb system (class II in detail), preterite-present verbs, ablaut, grammatical change, suppletion, development of future tenses, development of subjunctive, development of 3sg. ending

Questions

 * How do you explain that the paradigm of be is I am, you are, he/she/it is, not I be, you be, he/she/it bes?
 * The two basic ways of forming the preterite is attaching -ed or changing the stem vowel. The form kept seems to be a mixture of both. Is there an historical explanation?
 * Where does the past tense went come from?
 * How do you explain the number opposition was vs. were, absent with other verbs?
 * How do you explain the difference between EnglE dive—dived—dived vs. AmE dive—dove—dived?
 * Comment on the bold-printed parts of the following Bible quotation (AV): “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” (Ps 23.5).
 * How do you explain that there is no -s with he can/could/shall/should/may/might/ought to/must/will?

Core Knowledge
Make yourself particularly familiar with the following notions (you may need to consult books from the list of recommended literature beyond the Wikipedia articles): word-order patterns (sentence elements, noun phrases, verb phrases) in OE/ME/ModE, relative clauses

Questions

 * How do we explain that it is possible to use need and dare either as full verbs or as auxiliary verbs? Is there a difference in meaning?
 * How do we explain the many future forms (will do, be going to do, will be doing, be doing, do, will have done)?
 * Why is it God save the queen, not God saves the queen or May God save the queen?
 * Why is there are differentiation between simple and progressive?
 * Why is there a variation in the following sentences? Is there a difference in meaning? (a) A whole bunch of students is/are waiting out there. (b) The orchestra is/are rehearsing right now.
 * Why do we have to use an auxiliary do to form a question?
 * How come that in an English passive sentence the subject can also go back to the indirect and not necessarily to the direct object of the active clause?

Lexicology: Creating New Words
A speech community can find designations by way of word-formation, by way of borrowing or by way of semantic change. The first two shall be the topic of this lesson, the latter on the topic of next lesson.

Read the following Wikipedia articles (or section of articles):
 * onomasiology
 * classification of borrowings
 * semantic change

A student-friendly introduction to historical lexicology is the book English and General Historical Lexicology (by Joachim Grzega and Marion Schöner).

Core Knowledge
Make yourself particularly familiar with the following notions (you may need to consult books from the list of recommended literature beyond the Wikipedia articles): loanword sources in OE (Celtic, Latin, Scandinavian), calques, later loanword sources (northern French, Parisian French, Latin & Greek, other languages), (morphological) dissociation, consociated vocabulary, hard words, inkhorn terms, opaque compounds, transparency, popular etymology, etymological dublets, cognates, prominent word-formation patterns in OE/ME/ModE (esp. agent-noun formation, conversion), superstratum, substratum

Questions

 * Where does the from -wright as in playwright come from? Explain what elements the OE consisted of and say what happened to these elements in course of time.
 * How are the words dish, disc, disk, discus, desk, dais related?
 * Where do the following words come from? What is special about them? chestnut, mistletoe, peacock, Sunday, Saturday, mutton, OE leorning-cniht vs. ME/ModE disciple, ask vs. question vs. interrogate
 * English distinguishes between living animal and dead animal as food: swine/pig—pork, calf—veal, ox—beef, deer—venison. Where does this differentation go back to?
 * Many anatomic terms are inherited and shared by both English and German (and other Germanic relatives), e.g. heart—Herz, lung—Lunge, blood—Blut, tongue—Zunge. But how can we explain the discrepancy between kidney and Niere?
 * Not infrequently you find inherited terms aside from Latin terms in English everyday language: what’s the difference between fatherly—paternal, deep—profound, building—edifice?
 * How do you explain the syntax in secretary general and princess royal?

Core Knowledge
Make yourself particularly familiar with the Bloomfield's, Ullmann's, Blank's and Grzega's typologies of semantic change.

Questions

 * The words ill, sky, nay, die, take, cast, skin, raise, (to and) fro are Scandinavisms. What happened to the original English words?
 * Describe the further history of the OE words sǣlig ‘happy,’ cniht ‘boy,’ cnafa ‘boy’, cwene ‘girl’?
 * What do the terms sandwich, boycott and kleenex have in common?
 * The semantic ranges of the following terms differ in EnglE and AmE: sick, student, bug, pants, chips, to be through (on the phone). What are the differences and how do you explain them?
 * Explain the use and history of let in the formula without let or hindrance.
 * Explain why corn means ‛wheat’ in England, ‛oats’ in Scotland and ‛maize’ in the US.
 * In older songs of the 20th c. you can still hear a couple of a boy and a girl being described as “gay”: What’s the semantic history of this word?

Core Knowledge
Read the following Wikipedia article:
 * Historical Pragmatics

A more thorough introduction with examples is given in Jucker (2000). As an example for a study in the field of historical pragmatics you should read the article "Adieu, Bye-Bye, Cheerio: The ABC of Leave-Taking Terms in English Language History" (by Joachim Grzega).

Questions

 * How do you explain the existence of one pronoun only as both an informal and a formal address term (you), in comparison to other European languages.
 * Explain the history of the following salutation terms: Welcome!, Hi!, How do you do!, Hello!, Good-bye!, Cheerio!
 * What’s the history of the word please and its use?
 * Where does the interjection Gee! come from and how did we get this ModE result?
 * In polls and archaic speech you can occasionally read or hear yea and nay instead of yes and no. Where do these forms come from?
 * In e-mails we not infrequently come across the preposition re and the verb to cc. What’s the origin of these terms?
 * The more formal the style, the higher the probability that you will step over one of the following abbreviations in an English text: etc., e.g., i.e., cf., et al., viz., RSVP, Esq., &. What do these signs mean, where do they come from?

Dialects and Sociohistorical Linguistics
Read the following Wikipedia articles:
 * Dialectology
 * Sociohistorical Linguistics
 * Survey of English Dialects

A more thorough introduction with examples is given in Jucker (2000).

Questions

 * Where do General American (GA) and Received Pronunciation (RP) originate in?
 * Is it true that American English is more innovative and that British English is more conservative.
 * In IrE the present perfect of some verbs is formed with be instead of have, e.g. He is gone out, she is run to the store, he is come in, she is swum to other side of the river, he is stood up. Do you see any system? Where does it come from?
 * A Cockney cab driver tells a professor: In Hapril there’s halways a big festival at the Hapollo Theater and some other ’ouses. Explain these aberrations from standard speech.
 * Explain the following differences.
 * StandE:	I love, you love, he/she/it loves, we love, they love
 * Wessex:	I loves, you loves, he/she/it loves, we loves, they loves
 * East Anglia: I love, you love, he/she/it love, we love, they love
 * Here are some features of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Try to explain them historically: (a) existential it: it is a lot of a people here, (b) lack of copula vs. habitual be: He busy right now vs. He be busy every Monday. (c) lack of 3rd sg. marker: She like ice-cream very much.
 * Is there any medieval work where English authors play with dialects, comparable, for instance, to Mark Twain, who played with dialect in Huckleberry Finn?

Core Knowledge
The earliest document of the English language are glosses. The most important literary work of the OE period is the epic Beowulf. Apart from that a linguistically as well as historically interesting work is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, or Peterborough Chronicle, shedding light on English history until 1154. The most important piece of ME literary work are the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The most important writer of EME is William Shakespeare. Read the respective Wikipedia articles.

The Wikisource project offers the following texts:
 * the Bible (see especially the West-Saxon version, Wycliffe's version and the Authorised Version)
 * Beowulf
 * the Canterbury Tales

You can actually hear Chaucer texts on The Chaucer MetaPage

You may want to proceed your voyage into older English literature the following way:
 * 1) synoptic reading of Bible passages
 * 2) Shakespearean texts
 * 3) introduction of the Canterbury Tales
 * 4) Anglo-Saxon chronicle
 * 5) other passage from the Canterbury Tales, other OE texts from the Anglo-Saxon reader
 * 6) Beowulf

Questions

 * Give an outline of the Beowulf story.
 * What is the structure of the Canterbury Tales?
 * Is Shakespeare's language conservative or innovative for his times?