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English
7160X: History of
the English Language Tanya
Pollard |
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2307 Boylan
Tuesday 4:30-6:10 E-mail:
Tpollard@brooklyn.cuny.edu Web:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/tpollard |
Office:
3108 Boylan Phone: 718-951-5000 x 6216 Hours:
T 12:15-1 & 3:30-4:15, Th 10:30-11, and by appointment |
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The English language,
like the United States, and like Brooklyn in particular, is a crazy quilt of
countless languages and cultures.
This course will explore the development of English from its earliest
forms to the present day, with an emphasis on the cultural encounters that
have kept it in a constant state of mobility and expansion. We will examine the languageÕs
Anglo-Saxon beginnings and its early evolution in response to encounters with
French, Latin, and Greek; we will then go on to explore some of the far-flung
shores where EnglandÕs colonial and imperial ventures brought the language,
and look at what they brought to it in return. We will consider the distinctive
status of American English, the question of when and how neologisms and slang
terms become official components of the language, and the status of English
as a global phenomenon, alongside the phenomenon of mixed linguistic forms
such as Spanglish, Franglais, Danglish, Singlish, Hinglish, Tanglish, and
Globish. StudentsÕ experiences
with, and perspectives on, alternate forms of English will be welcomed into
discussions. |
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Week |
Date |
Assignment |
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1 |
9-2 |
Introduction |
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2 |
9-9 |
Origins: Crystal 15-33, 57-85; Bryson, 46-53; Bragg, 6-7
(Blackboard); texts at http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/stella/readings/OE/OE.HTM (1) |
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3 |
9-16 |
Middle English: Crystal 105-107, 121-139, 145-162, 222-253;
Bryson, 53-63 Bragg, 32-39 (Blackboard); texts at http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/stella/readings/Middle/MIDDLE.HTM
(2) |
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4 |
9-23 |
No class: classes follow Friday
schedule |
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5 |
9-30 |
Renaissance: Crystal 254-333, 339-341; Bragg, 109-120
(Blackboard) texts at http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/stella/readings/EMod/EMODERN.HTM (3) |
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6 |
10-7 |
Standardization: Crystal 365-414; Bryson 147-160; http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?page_id=8
(4) |
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7 |
10-14 |
Exam |
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8 |
10-21 |
America and elsewhere: Crystal 419-452; Bryson 161-178; https://archive.org/details/americandictiona01websrich (1) |
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9 |
10-28 |
English expands: Crystal 453-479; Bragg, 236-260 (Blackboard);
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/hobsonjobson/frontmatter/frontmatter.html
; http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hakluyt/voyages/v12/chapter11.html (2) |
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10 |
11-4 |
Fusion Englishes: Crystal, 502-509; Abley, 54-100 (Blackboard);
Chotiner, ÒGlobish for Beginners,Ó http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/05/31/globish-for-beginners (3)
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11 |
11-11 |
The Future of English: Crystal 514-534; Bryson 179-195, 239-245; Crystal, "Language and the Internet," http://medicine.kaums.ac.ir/UploadedFiles/Files/Language_and_%20The_Internet.pdf ; Learn English online; The
Internet and language change; How the internet is changing
language; Oh Twitter,
what will become of our language?; Experts
divided over internet changes to language; (4) ** proposal for final project, including bibliography
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12 |
11-18 |
Exam |
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13 |
11-25 |
Research presentations and responses (1 & 2) |
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14 |
12-2 |
Research presentations and responses (3 & 4) |
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16 |
12-9 |
Research paper due; peer-editing workshop |
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17 |
12-16 |
Revised research paper due |
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Course Requirements and
Expectations: |
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Attendance Because your contributions
to class discussion are a central part of your work for this course,
attendance is crucial. If you
miss more than two classes, your overall grade will drop; at four absences,
you will fail the class. Class will begin promptly at 4:30; arriving after that time will count as one-third of an
absence.
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Texts I have ordered two texts
for this course: David Crystal, The Stories of English, and Bill
Bryson, Mother Tongue.
Both are available at Shakespeare & Co.; you may purchase them
elsewhere if you prefer. Excerpts
from other texts will be provided electronically. It is essential to bring all required
texts with you to each class session. |
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Participation Learning is a collaborative
process, which works best when each of you engages fully with the texts and
with each other. To this end, I
will expect you to participate actively in class discussions, and you will be
required to present ideas for class discussion on a rotating basis. Your contributions will determine a
significant portion of the semesterÕs grade. In order to build a classroom
atmosphere of courtesy and concentration, please avoid behavior that is
disrespectful and interferes with othersÕ learning, including rudeness,
talking while others are speaking, and ringing from cell-phones, pagers,
watches, etc. |
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Writing Over the course of the
semester you will write two short (2 page) papers accompanying in-class
presentations, as well as one longer (12-15 page) research paper; other
assignments will include regular quizzes and two in-class exams. All written
work should have a central claim that is well argued, clearly written, and
directly supported by close readings of textual passages; the research paper
will also incorporate, and respond to, at least five secondary sources. All papers should be stapled, typed,
double-spaced, in a 12-point font, with one-inch margins on all sides. Written work is due at the start of
class, and lateness will result in lowering of the grade by one-third of a
grade per day. Any use of othersÕ
ideas must be fully acknowledged in footnotes; speak to me if you are unsure
about what this means. Plagiarism
is a serious offense, and will result in failing the class and being reported
to the DeanÕs Office. |
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Coursework and grading: Brief weekly quizzes Short (2 page) essays, 5%
each Presentations and
participation Midterm exam Final exam Final research project (5%
proposal, 5% draft, 10% final) |
20% 10% 20% 15% 15% 20% |
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Selected Recommended
Additional Readings (some excerpts
available on Blackboard):
Mark Abley, The Prodigal
Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English (Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
Melvyn Bragg, The
Adventure of English (Arcade, 2003)
David Crystal ed., The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Cambridge, 1995); more at
http://www.davidcrystal.com/David_Crystal/english.htm
Philip Durkin, The Oxford Guide to Etymology (Oxford,
2009)
Dennis Freeborn, From Old
English to Standard English: A Coursebook in Language Variation Across Time
(Ottawa, 1998)
Henry Hitchings, The Language Wars: A History of Proper
English (FSG, 2011)
Seth Lerer, Inventing
English: A Portable History of the Language (Columbia, 2007)
Tom McArthur, The Oxford
Companion to the English Language (Oxford, 1992).
Robert McCrum, Globish: How the English Language Became the
WorldÕs Language (Norton, 2010)
Robert McCrum, William Cran
and Robert MacNeil, The Story of English (Faber & Faber, 1986)
Celia Millward, A
Biography of the English Language (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1996)
Haruko Momma and Michael Matto, ed, A Companion to the History of the English Language (Blackwell, 2008)
Lynda Mugglestone, The Oxford History of English (Oxford, 2012)