What You Will Learn!
- Basic concepts in theoretical (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax) and historical linguistics
- All about the history of the English language over thousands of years
- About Proto-Indo-European, its structure and its daughter languages
- About Proto-Germanic, its structure (e.g., phonetics, phonology, morphology)
- About Gothic, Old Saxon, Old High German, and other Proto-Germanic daughter languages (including Old English)
- About Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English, including their historic context, sounds, grammar, and literature, as well as hear texts from the period
- How linguists use the Comparative Method to reconstruct dead languages
- Enough to strike out on your own in learning to read Old, Middle, and Early Modern English texts in the original!
Description
This course is for people interested in the history of the English language, from its humble beginnings to the international language it is today. The course teaches you basic concepts in theoretical and historical linguistics as it traces the history of the language over thousands of years. You do not need to have any prior knowledge of linguistics to take this course, or knowledge of any language other than English. Do you want to learn about where English came from? And see (and hear!) how it has changed over millennia? Then this course is for you!
Who Should Attend!
- People interested in language and history wishing to learn more about how the English we speak today came about
- People with an interest in learning more about linguistics
- People who would like to learn the skills needed to begin reading and translating ancient texts on their own (this course is a great precursor to a full-fledged college-level course in Old, Middle, or Early Modern English language and/or literature)
Tags
- English Language
- History
- Linguistics
Subscribers
360
Lectures
57
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