AJ20003 The Historical Development of English

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2013
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 3 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. RNDr. Václav Blažek, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each even Monday 14:10–15:45 C33
Prerequisites
The course is taught in English. It is designed for students with a very good command of the English language who are able to understand scientific texts and lectures dealing with specialized topics in diachronic linguistics. The prerequisite is a good ability of analytical reasoning.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The students will get acquainted with the development of the English language from the earliest stages of Indo-European to Modern English. Attention is paid especially to the relationship between changes at the phonological, grammatical, and the lexical levels. The subject aims at achieving the following learning outcomes: 1. The students will understand the relationship between different branches of the Indo-European languages, and the process of the transformation of the Indo-European language into the individual modern Indo-European languages. 2. The students will grasp the main tendencies in the development of the English language from the Indo-European and Germanic periods through the Old, Middle, and New English periods to Modern English. 3. The students will be able to assess the socio-political influence upon the development of language. 4. The students will be able to explain the complex relations between the written and the spoken form of English.
Syllabus
  • 1. Classification of IE languages 2. Germanic comparative historical phonology 3. Germanic comparative historical morfology: nominal forms 4. Germanic comparative historical morfology: verb 5. Old English phonological system 6. Old English morphological system 7. Old English syntax 8. Middle English phonological system 9. Middle English morphology and syntax 10. Early and late Modern English 11. Old English texts 12. Middle English texts 13. Early New English texts
Literature
  • HLADKÝ, Josef. A GUIDE TO PRE-MODERN ENGLISH. 1st ed. Brno: MU, 2003, 359 pp. ISBN 80-210-3219-7. info
  • VACHEK, Josef. Historický vývoj angličtiny. Edited by Jan Firbas. 8. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1994, 276 s. ISBN 8021004878. info
  • BAUGH, A. C. and Thomas CABLE. A history of the English language. 4th ed. London: Routledge, 1993, xiv, 444. ISBN 0415093791. info
  • HLADKÝ, Josef. An Old English, Middle English, and Early-New English reader [Hladký, 1996]. 3. dopl. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1996, 265 s. : i. ISBN 80-210-1377-X. info
Teaching methods
The course makes use of the following teaching and learning methods: lecture, interactive in-class exercise (text analysis), out-of class exercise - text analysis and translation, homework - reading study materilas.
Assessment methods
The subject is closed by a test, which takes about two hours. The focus of the test is topics dealt with during the whole semester. The test consists of 100 questions; the students answer the questions by choosing the most suitable variant or by supplying the only correct answer. In order to pass the exam, the students have to answer correctly at least 60 % of the questions.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information about innovation of course.
This course has been innovated under the project "Faculty of Arts as Centre of Excellence in Education: Complex Innovation of Study Programmes and Fields at FF MU with Regard to the Requirements of the Knowledge Economy“ – Reg. No. CZ.1.07/2.2.00/28.0228, which is cofinanced by the European Social Fond and the national budget of the Czech Republic.

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The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Spring 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2013, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2013/AJ20003