AJLA20003 The Historical Development of English

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Jiří Lukl, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
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
Wed 18:00–19:40 G32, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11.
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 aim of the course it to acquaint the students with the development of the English language from the earliest stages of Indo-European to Modern English. The course presents gradually the Indo-European, Proto-Germanic, Old English, Middle English, and Modern English periods. Attention is paid especially to the relationship between changes at the phonological, grammatical, and the lexical levels, and the socio-political background of the development of English language.
Learning outcomes
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. The origin, development and classification of IE languages 2. Germanic languages and the periodization of English 3. Historical and socio-political background of Old English 4. Old English phonological system 5. Old English morphological system 6. Basic features of Old English syntax 7. Historical and socio-political background of Middle English 8. Middle English phonological system 9. Basic features of Middle English morphology and syntax 10. Historical and socio-political background of Modern English 11. Basic features of Modern English 12. Foreign influences on English 13. Old, Middle, and Early Modern English texts
Literature
    required literature
  • CHAMONIKOLASOVÁ, Jana. A Concise History of English. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2014, 93 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-7479-8. Digitální knihovna FF MU info
  • SCHENDL, Herbert. Historical linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, xi, 130. ISBN 9780194372381. info
    recommended literature
  • VACHEK, Josef. Historický vývoj angličtiny. Edited by Jan Firbas. 8. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 1994, 276 s. ISBN 8021004878. info
  • HLADKÝ, Josef. A GUIDE TO PRE-MODERN ENGLISH. 1st ed. Brno: MU, 2003, 359 pp. ISBN 80-210-3219-7. 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
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2024/AJLA20003