WEEK 1
- Presentation of the course.
- Hands-on in the history of English: a passage from the Gospels
(John 2, 1-11) was presented in
class, in four versions: the Old
English version from the
so-called West-Saxon Gospels,
c1000; the
so-called Wycliffe's Bible
c1390; Tyndale's
Bible, 1534; King James Bible
or the Authorized Version,
1611. Here you can find the slides
presented in class, as well as an interlinear arrangement of
the four versions. For your convenience, you can also download a glossed version of the Old
English text.
- Informal introduction to the notion of loanword and the
composition of the English vocabulary. Lexical replacement in the
passage from the Gospels: presentation of a few examples.
ASSIGNMENT:
Browse some standard handbooks on the history of English,
limiting your analysis to the portions discussing loanwords in Old and
Middle English. Compare the handbooks, noting the similarities and the
differences in the way they cover this topic (you can do the assignment
in pairs or small groups).
Suggested handbooks (all available at the University libraries):
The
Origins and Development of the English Language, by John
Algeo and Thomas Pyles. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace &
Company. 1964, 1971, 1982, 1993.
A history of the English language,
by
Albert
C.
Baugh and Thomas Cable. London: Routledge. 1951, 1959,1978,
1993.
A history of the English language,
by
Elly
van
Gelderen. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 2006.